Fans Are Buying Fewer Boxed Video Games Than Ever in the US

If there's no longer a market for physical games, that's because I'm dead.

I am a physical game supporter to the very end.

and yet my dumb*** bought a Series S.

I'm not surprised at all. My younger siblings only buy games digitally nowadays.

I might as well start buying games digitally as well and less physical games (if there are any fancy physical pre-order bonuses).

I still buy most AAA and AA physically but indies digital… I’m basically a dinosaur these days 🫠

Physical games will be around as long as there is a profit in it for the publishers and not a moment more.

Ultimately physical games are on borrowed time and if I'm honest I'm quite torn about it.

Just wonder what the plateau point is for sales or if they just keep declining now until there is next to nothing left.

I don’t know anyone that buys physical games anymore although I always see a lot of people complaining online when a game doesn’t get a “physical release” - I’ve always assumed they were in the minority

Considering I just pre ordered MHwilds physical in the UK for £48 I think I’ll keep buying discs when the deal is better!

@Clytorial_Impact it is probably a majority of the enthusiast crowd - like the ones that gather here but most gamers buy a handful of games a year and will usually buy digital or play free to play stuff and they make up the vast majority of gamers.

It’s simply that people are willing to pay much more for the convenience of digital. Especially with gaming shops closing down all over the place. It’s a shame as it’ll kill the (second hand) budget market and prices will be able to rise more and more because eventually people will have no other choice but to buy digital.

Much prefer getting games physically than buying them digitally given the choice.
It’s a shame that Game is going more into merchandise such as Yugioh cards, Pokemon cards, Lego, Pokemon mega sets, plushies, D & D, board games, Pop vinyls etc now then actually having physical games in

@thefourfoldroot1 people will always have the choice not to buy something. Even when something is cheap or there is no competition, it doesn't always sell well.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
Yeah physically is quite often cheaper.
Shame BG3 still doesn’t have a physical edition outside of the US deluxe edition that ranges from £120 to ridiculous prices and are available to get on eBay

I try to buy most of my games physically because for one Download sizes are getting ridiculous and I like not being tied to an Internet connection just to have access to my games.

There's only so much space my shelf can hold now and I don't have room for a second book shelf lol

I like physical games because, first, get off my lawn, and second, because it keeps competition in the space. No physical games means no competition for PlayStation software - if a game's been out for 4 years and they still want to charge full price for it, well, they can do that, and there's nothing you can do about it. A physical copy means that it's either significantly cheaper on eBay (like the copy of Diofield Chronicle I picked up a few months ago, win for me) or significantly more expensive (Trails from Zero, why didn't I buy you for $40 when I had the chance? Win for them). Digitally, Sony wins in most cases.

I'm not completely anti-digital - I grabbed Fobia: St. Dinfna Hotel last week for $3. Great buy for a cool RE7 clone. I've also purchased many of my favorites in both formats - Resident Evil 2 (original and remake), Final Fantasy Tactics, Persona 4 Golden, etc - I get to have my cake with the box on the shelf and eat it too with the convenience.

The writing has been on the wall for awhile now. I think Covid just sped up process. People got used to buying games without leaving the house. 🤷‍♂️

@IntrepidWombat

“ if a game's been out for 4 years and they still want to charge full price for it, well, they can do that, and there's nothing you can do about it.”

What digital games market are you talking about?

Everything 4 years old is 95% off rrp. Nothing is full price for more than a month. This is because of the fierce competition between games, and because it is the established digital model for maximum profitability. You keep appealing to a wider audience at a lower price until you have every penny you can get. Everyone does it. Digital games get cheaper and cheaper until they’re whatever price you want it to be. You pay a premium day one, a pittance year four.

It’s cheaper in the long run, because manufacturing and distributing round bits of plastic is a wasteful expense. It can’t help but be worse value.

I only buy first party Nintendo games physical. I have a digital ps5. I used to have this huge stack of ps4 games that didn’t fit anywhere then I realized I could just buy everything digital. Never turned back and I assume this is true for a lot of people based on the data

If there's no option for physical in the future for Playstation then a lot of my gaming time disappears with it. Hopefully Nintnedo don't follow suit.

Gaming is becoming a more and more expensive hobby, without the option to sell my games to help fund future game purchases then I will be buying less games overall, especially on release. I would be more picky with what games I buy and would rely heavily on metacritic ratings to make sure. I'd say demos of games would also become a necessity to me.

I also know a few people who rely on second hand purchases, and probably wouldn't upgrade to a non disk console.

It's so much easier to buy digital and convient to play so no wonder physical is almost dead

I like physical and I always buy them when I can because they are always cheaper than the psn store prices. However I am seeing that more games appear to release on digital and then physical a bit later on down the line. Maybe this is why it appears that physical is in decline because everybody wants the big games day one and don't want to wait. Somebody's going to tell me I'm wrong but I always wait on a sale for digital only editions as I have plenty to be getting on with plus by the time I get round to them they are usually patched to high heaven and not so messed up 🤣

Digital is more convenient in any way, physical is bound to dissappear in a few years, its just normal.

@Areus nowadays almost every game needs a day1 patch, and the same install size as a digital one, sadly you are tied to internet either way

Exactly why this gen I decided to start a collection of high quality PS4 and PS5 games that I will not be selling.

Convenience trumps everything. It is not like those discs last forever, in that sense you don't own it forever. Buying physical means you need to have place to store the, you need to change the disc to play another games etc. People like me who keeps moving usually don't want extra baggage. I have been entirely digital since 2016, and I have over 500 games in my library (including PS plus and some demo). Imagine where would I keep them if they are physical copies.

Things have been going this way for a while and will continue to do so. Not just games either. I don’t like it but perhaps I’ll live long enough to see the pendulum swing back the other way as it so often does. Eventually, people remember the power of ownership, the value of craftsmanship and how healthy economies actually function.

That's because everyone is trying to find a disc drive....

USA ain't the world. If you check play-asia, most games that are digital only in western regions are still being produced physical, so that does signal different consumer behaviours in different regions.

As for the US, of course a majority willingly give up their consumer rights for convenience, just as a majority would give up their civil rights for ignorance.

This situation is manufactured by Sony.

They're carving up both supply (limited software) and demand (limited drives and increased costs to get a device with a drive)

E.g. this week Sony media announced they'll stop producing physical disks, leaving to independents. Costs will go up for remaining production.

It's a horrid circle with only one ending of Sony's design... Sony owning all profit on all sales that will be now digital and no second hand market.

I'm all for choice but they really need to be made to get rid of the term "ownership" with these online streaming rentals that they still call purchasing.

We really need an anti trust suit now before it's too late.

I've been buying physical games, but mostly for older consoles, and the games I've been buying on current consoles tend to collections of older games (always physical when available). The new games of this console generation haven't really been impressing me. On a technical level, some of them are really cool, but they tend to be bloated with too much story dialog, checklists, NPC fetch quests, crafting/simulation, and a focus on Trophies/Achievements instead of being able to simply enjoy a fun game.

The most recent new game (not remaster, remake, or port) I bought is Fantasian: Neo Dimension (haven't played yet), and the last new game to truly excite me was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. There have been remakes of games that I didn't get the chance to play earlier, such as Trials of Mana and Star Ocean: The Second Story R, that I really enjoyed too.

I've been a reliable games purchaser since the NES but I feel like game companies generally don't seem to want my money anymore

Well I mean sony did just shut down there blu ray division

Its a difficult one. I started gaming in the late 1970s, and was obviously all about physical media. But the convenience of digital means I haven't bought a physical disc in about 10 years. Things like the Portal would be useless if all you had was physical, and having digital also means (in theory) easier and greater compatibility with future hardware. Also, this generation I have found the discounts available on digital games to be on par with physical. It used to be digital never really saw a discount, now PSN constantly has a sale on. It also has the benefit of being able to share 1 copy of a game with a second machine, which you can't do if physical.

Sure is fun having this topic parroted every week.

I’ve been noticing that the digital releases markdowns during sales have been getting worse compared to physical recently, I guess this is why.

You don’t see people carrying around CDs they burnt off of LimeWire nowadays, do you? Sure there are some hobbyists who still collect old records but it’s definitely not the norm. Gaming media will be the same, especially since companies can make more $$$ that way.

@Majin_Deicide you are very welcome 😀

Same as most of the world then. I buy digital because it's more convenient for me, unless I see a physical copy of a game cheaper then I'll buy it but I don't see that often because were I live no shops sell physical games just download cards

@Clytorial_Impact Hi there, I am a person who buys physical games whenever possible!

Now you know someone.

@Nekomichu True But for the most part you don't need an Internet connection to install that game off the disk.

I have a Series S and a digital version PS5. Steam Decks are also digital only and if Nintendo sells a cheaper digital only switch 2 I'll buy that as well.

The trend is obvious and not going to end until physical is way down low.

The drop off from 2023-24 I think has a little more nuance to it though. It was the first year that CoD was available on Gamepass, so I’m guessing that cut down on some physical sales. This is the US we’re talking about.

Despite Astrobot doing well 2024 did not seem like a great year for big physical games. FF7 Rebirth, but we know that didn’t do well. I remember when FF7-9 released in 3 straight years 97-99, now it takes them 6 years to release 3 parts of 1 game. So I do think 2024 was just an off year all around.

As the Bluesky comment said, maybe this year Nintendo gets some physical sales on Switch 2? And if GTA 6 releases? A lot of people will still get it digital but physical will be there as well, with all the special editions it’s likely to have. But that could also be 2026. 🤷🏻‍♂️

So yes, the days of physical are drawing to a close, but that does seem in part b/c the games people want to buy physical are also slowing down. How many Hoyoverse games are bought physical? Fortnite? PC? Games on Gamepass? Only a matter of time. Switch 2 may very well be the last one.

Edit: Besides physical game sales hardware sales were also down last year by a significant amount it seems. Certainly can’t expect physical game sales to do well if the hardware isn’t. Correlation and causation both perhaps. 🤷🏻‍♂️

“ Compared to 2023, the PS5 only dropped in sales by 11.8%. That's better than the Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch, with sales falling by 31% and 33.7% respectively. “

https://www.notebookcheck.net/New-Xbox-sales-numbers-confirm-the-console-s-struggles-as-the-PS5-outsells-the-PS4.952839.0.html

I only buy games digitally because:

1. I'm too lazy to go to a game store.

2. Ordering it to my house isn't cheaper due to the shipping fee.

3. I can play immediately on release day with the patched version.

Looks like I'm the minority there. I buy digital if I have to. That's it. At least what I have will appreciate in value because i take of it and my kids can have it. And I double dip on amazing games or rare physical games. So I have plenty still in the cellophane and a digital to play. The industry should love me lol

How is price a factor? You pay way more for digital, and they can’t be resold. If you buy a physical at hit or 365 games - or on eBay - then sell it once you’ve finished it it’s cost you about a tenner in depreciation.

@Clytorial_Impact I only buy games physically. And I’ll only accept this for consoles. I’m also someone that pays for new blu-ray movies.

The big companies will soon have what they always wanted; the end of the used game market. 😔
Which sucks because with the cost of living always increasing it's nice for people to have options to get games at cheaper prices.

Many retailers have purposely throttled physical media. In the USA Best Buy for example decided to stop carrying physical media in their stores to make room for other products. Even online they stopped selling physical media. So I don’t give them business anymore. If I cannot buy physical media for a console then I won’t buy said console.

This is the goal for internet of everything where everyone is on a subscription. Beholden to the corporations.

@JackiePriest this is what they want for the internet of everything world. More subscriptions. And they can control the narrative with price and what gets listed/delisted.

I still use physical box games.digital is nice option also.word up son

nintendo will be the last console to offer physical games.. you can collect and sell physical games and get good resale value..

I just sold 10 games that I had back to cex for 150 euros. Only have 3 disks left of special editions with metal cases and such. Will sell them too but on eBay for more profit. Basically will have nothing left. Sold my PS2 and PS3 games to cex last year too. Was contemplating to go between PS5 pro disk drive and or go all digital and realised going digital is just much less hassle for me. Disks use space, makes annoying vibrations and extra sound and in general I barely ever touch the game back once I complete it unless it's very few extra special titles.

It's nice to have options but physical media is game over. If someday someone discontinued a service and I lose my access there will always be a way to download it from internet via third parties, so I am not stressing because I grew up with a poach on an eye and will wear it when needed.

@Bamila you may have lost interest in physical, but the fact that you were able to sell them for a decent amount of money suggests lots of people haven't.

I've decided to stop buying physical a few years ago, mainly due to digital being so much more convenient and to save space on my shelves.

I only buy Nintendo switch games physically. I don’t even know why exactly. It just feels right. There is something great about it. But I lost that sensation for physical PS games since PS3, and for PC since steam. I haven’t bought a physical game for those platforms since the digital stores existed.

But there is something nice about putting in a cartridge with the Nintendo switch. It reminds me of gameboy days. And the Nintendo eshop experience is horrible anyway.

@McDosy
I figure he was talking about PSN. Although MS and Nintendo are the same, pretty much. Quite often there are very old games rolling for £50,60,70, which you can pick up for under a tenner physically (and then sell to get most of that back).

That’s the case in the U.K. anyway, not sure where you are so it could be different I guess.

@tameshiyaku you do know that you can be locked out of playing your physical games too right ?

Ngl a lot of people do like digital because you don’t have to constantly get up to change a disc and you can just go to the digital store on the console that is open 24/7.👀

It also shows why the market isn't growing.
Covid had a nasty effect and publishers incentive you not to go out and buy.
But at the end if the day, you need to buy a physical console. Not having a presence on retail will prevent the capture of casuals and free advertisement that provides. It's a big mistake to pigeon hole on digital.

Personally, if retail stops existing and the ps shop is the only way to aquire games it's probably the day i will abandon playstation cause that will be a monopoly and extremely consumer unfriendly.

I will buy physical for as long as i can and when i cant my spendage on games will go down by a hell of a lot. Physical game ARE cheaper upon launch and when im done or i dont like something i can get something back for them in trade ins or online selling. Paid £22 for Metaphor a few weeks ago from Amazon, didnt like it and sold it today for £26. £44 is the all time low PS store sale price so far.

The last game I bought a physical copy of was, I believe, NHL 23. There was a reason why but I can't remember what it was. Otherwise I had Sackboy and Demon's Souls in boxes but that's because they came with the PS5 bundle I bought. Spiderman, too, I think.

For me the digital games are just easier. I like having it all there on the system and not having to swap discs. I understand the digital stuff is not guaranteed to be "mine" forever, but I'm okay with that. I usually move on each generation, and my saves are there in the cloud.

This is happening mainly because
1. Publishers made less and less physical release and that forced gamers to buy digital. Why? Publishers doesn't want second hand market, wants zero cost from printing disc + box + paper, and zero cut from retail aka publishers want full control and revenue from their games. That's why they keep forcing digital only release.

Like the recent Ninja Gaiden 2 Black for example. KT just released it digitally while the physical release will come out in march but limited for Playsasia

Or Alan Wake 2 where Remedy only released digitally while ignoring people who asked for physical release. Then Remedy realized hey why the game isn't selling well and decided to put physical release one year later which is too late.

Or Soul Reaver remaster and Kunitsu Gami which i'm still waiting for physical release.

2. There's subscription service like GamePass, PS+, Ubisoft+ etc etc that condition gamers to go fully digital.

The day Sony go full digital that's when i'm gonna stop supporting them.

@nomither6 playing them online perhaps, but short of getting your entire console bricked, having your account suspended doesn't stop you playing your physical single player games.
Worst case scenario you can just move them to a new account.

Odd considering I see people whine for physical copies when games come out digital only

@nomither6 You actually can’t. You can always buy a new console or make a new account. Unless a physical game REQUIRES some kind of server interaction (i.e. the publisher didn’t even include the full game on the disc…looking at you, Ubisoft and EA…) and that server is no longer responding, you cannot be locked out of a game you own on disc.

I almost exclusively buy physical games. Buy at a discount months after initial release when games are actually properly patched. And then resell once finished. I play games not more than a year old for a third of the new digital price. Saves me hundreds a year and thousands over the past several years. No brainer for me, so it would be a major bummer if physical went away completely.

@dskatter haha hiyas

@nomither6 your point being? name me 5 examples that aren't online requirement, live service or plain multiplayer. So no the crew, mag and similar stuff that for obvious reasons are games that can be locked. Or better yet, tell me how you'd sell your digital games without giving up an entire account.

@Majin_Deicide right

@tameshiyaku Can you give me 5 examples of people losing access to their digital games , besides account bans? Because i only recall losing access when you subscribe to the ps plus scam service and your sub runs out, but that hardly counts as a legitimate digital purchase.

as for selling games, how is that an infringement to consumer rights? That’s just a natural con to buying a game digitally

I'm in the US and buying physical games! I wish they'd make some more available though, because I'd prefer as much as I can. But also my PS Plus games are digital too.

@dskatter Sony could revoke access via firmware updates or licensing revocations. the only way to avoid it would be to never connect a ps5 console to the internet

@nomither6 you say psplus is a scam service? What makes you think that? Is netflix a scam?
Anyways, unless you buy digital games from GOG you're just getting a licence to play, not actual ownership, so yeah, theoretically you can loose access to all of your digital games. You're argument with Sony putting out a firmware update to revoke access to specific physical games is also quite outlandish.

Lastly, just because I own something digitally, doesn't mean I couldn't be able to sell it again. F.e. there's a market for skins, cosmetics, etc... Not being able to handle digital games however is an active choice by companies because they want to kill a 2nd hand market.

It's pretty funny seeing this and then also seeing the news about Sony, MS, and Nintendo sending a message to Trump about the tariff increase.

@tameshiyaku Because it’s forced on PS users to play online. PS Plus used to be a genuine premium service for PS3 users that wanted to subscribe and receive exclusive benefits like free games, not because they had to. PSN is a storefront & PS accounts are used to make purchases and add other users; in no way is PSN involved with using your own paid for internet to connect to a game developers servers. PS Plus is now used as a gratuitous nickel & dime barrier to force users to pay again to use their already paid for internet to access individual game servers .

“ Your argument with Sony putting out a firmware update to revoke access to specific physical games is also quite outlandish.”

the point isn’t whether it’s outlandish or not , it’s that it’s possible either way & can happen. the same way our digital library can be gone , but it doesn’t happen - both physical and digital revocation can still happen .

“ there's a market for skins, cosmetics, etc”

where ? what games ?

I shifted recently and it was maybe the best argument for going digital. Asia doesn't really have big houses and space is a luxury especially in Hong Kong. Had 50 or PS4/PS5 games. Realised I wouldn't play around 25-30 of them. Threw them away. It felt great and it was eye opening just how much stuff accumulates because we are naturally hoarders.

@tatsumi I buy Switch games physically because in Hong Kong they can be up to 15 usd cheaper at LAUNCH!!! Also, the ESHOP is truly the worst. I think if Nintendo had a better store people would move to digital faster.

No Blu-ray RW is one thing, but games physical, less collectors editions/limited copy companies being around and such (IF they stick around and blu-ray alliance are still willing to allow support for them with games).

Then again why this is new disks/carts, what's up with used sales and changing hands hmm? Where are THOSE NUMBERS in other reports that no one seems to want to cover or we don't see enough info focused on by sources.

If people want company control then well hacking or archiving and whatever selection of builds, a disk not needing to be in the console to read the license and more, yeah that will never happen ever. That is what 'actual' flexibility by users/players is not the controlled functionality it currently has.

Blu ray apparently lasts 10 years, DVD 20 or so. I'm not surprised but that's why it takes ripping them to archive things or backing up digital builds of games with updates. Companies don't want that though.

Whether 2020, 2008 or whether tariffs or whether other factors come in to change things it is going to be an interesting period for sure as things go on for physical media production and sales.

Archives if people can of digital games, cloud and more restrictions so companies go 'you can't do that' when I mean if they want to do so and make a worthless product why should we buy a license from them in the first place.

Young people don't care and want skins. I couldn't care less I want a product and a good one, a gameplay focused one not half the garbage we see these days.

But like anything people given an iPad don't know computers, just how a touch screen and the few apps they use work. They can't build a computer, they don't care to solve a problem. Just get a new one. What local storage is versus a cloud service being for their storage. Among other things. People don't know and don't care to know. Their own stupidity.

Like bit rate with movies, people don't care, whatever is easiest for them is what they will go with. They don't care to refund, they don't care if in their Will they have to worry about people accessing their accounts and no physical left, eshops going down, re-downloads or not of software, oops no one thinks about Wills do they? At all when they are a big deal extra layer to consider. Their cloud storage being gone if not used in a period of time as companies will just remove it.

Regular people don't care to realise the situation effecting them, just whatever is easy for them.

The rest of us can have a brain, regular people don't and go whelp whatever works for us in our small world.

Hardcore into digital that's fine but you know the situation regardless right of Wills and ownership and whether you really care about games or to sell games, buy them at a discount, refund and so on right? If you really care about them that's fine, if you don't and just play, access that's all you care about that's fine.

DRM/cloud future if want to go back/never cared for them that's totally fine. For us that do yeah we go archive it or give up and move on to others to focus on instead. But even the worst can explain history. Not the good only and ignoring the bad or whatever was learnt and kept. Some bad games inspired good games just differently using ideas from them but like most people care anyway.

Regular people do not.

Been digital only for nearly 10 years now, don't regret a thing.

@nomither6 DRM is one thing but people likely work around it yes XD, sure we get offline versions officially sometimes like GT Sport, sure people have fan private servers of networks and worked around old console networks or game support.

In terms of removed content from accounts I can't say for sure as of course the Discovery thing was back tracked. But it depends who gets away with things and isn't reported/worked out too and what the licenses and contracts say as well.

Those people that hack or backup or archive will always do so and find a way from things like eshops or digital purchases or ripping disks/carts.

Any mods I've not backed up when could have (or files I have left on my drive) for PC games well if those creators remove them, and not archived by someone else they are gone forever. The download links or download sources being active. Archive.org being attacked was clearly a bad sign and was down, that being the internet in general wouldn't happen just a user's but still. The reliance factor is there.

Cloud hard to say how companies handle it more and more and make things inaccessible and just a session in the cache of the console (so temporary files) then cleared later. Say upon exiting the apps. Or if people find a way to access and archive all on the service (but that being do they have to load all games to access them in doing so probably, but maybe not if they have service access and find a way to go around that which isn't viable but the other is more likely).

SNES Satelliview and Sega Channel had data still on the carts before backing up, but I assume like the NES Famicom carts those being re-writeable any that weren't commonly written were overwritten and lost to time. Of course not account related but still.

With cloud gaming I see more a reason as it may be a 'temporary' instance set of files for the session. Maybe the game on there for enough assets to be accessible but most of the game is hosted on the company end and whatever is accessible via their phone/tv during that session whether a level or whatever they did play then the whole game there.

An easy one to point out is people not using their Google Drive (not sure about other companies but may be the case) for a period of time, Google will straight up remove it. Makes sense why have space unused. People have to watch that storage. I haven't heard anything about it as people likely actively use theirs but still a factor.

Wills are a factor too. Who has access to accounts, is it accessible to the users that aren't that person. Kept used or forgotten or whatever. Very different then physical objects to put into a Will.

The obvious of internet access is it's own thing and people not having access to it so in turn 'oh I can't do this or that till I am in an area where I can'. But that varies of course where people are.

I usually go for whatever's cheapest. At the same time, my shelf is not infinite and it's mostly full of PS1/2/3...

Every generation since I owned a Sega Genesis, I kept my consoles and games until I got into my 30s and realized I am never going to play them again and have just been pointlessly carting around what is effectively just a large, annoying to move box containing nostalgia with no real practical value to me.

Eventually I realized I'm not going to play any of those games again, or if I did it would be as "remasters", and sold it all. This "cured" of the desire to own physical games. If Steam/PSN ever go offline, I will probably be too old to care, or dead, or society will have collapsed and video games will be the least of my worries... I haven't bought a physical game in over 10 years.

Although, I'm still not 100% cured because I did hang onto 1 game: my original PS2 copy of Okami, which is my favorite game of all time. I don't know why or what I'm ever going to do with it (I've since bought the remastered version on multiple platforms and don't have a PS2 itself)...but at least it doesn't take up too much space.

Bought two games physically just yesterday. I don’t have time to play them yet but I had to grab them when I found them at a good price because, yeah, it’s getting harder to find physical copies of a lot of games.

@SuntannedDuck2 I'm pretty sure blu rays generally last a lot longer than 10 years, to be honest the talk about any disc media dying or rotting away seems very much guesswork, plenty (I dare say even most) discs from even the 90s are still working fine.

Everyone get their butts in the car and go to any store that sells video games and pick up a few! Physical is still king imo! But unfortunately I’m relying more and more on Amazon and EBay to find physical copies of games I want. But I still physically get myself to the stores at least once a week.

It really depends on the country. In some, digital is way cheaper.

Well, vinyl constitutes a tiny part of the music market and still every major (and a lot of minor) releases are released on the format.
A tiny part of something worth billions and billions is still worthwhile. As long as there are core gamers, games will be released on disc/cartridge. Many gaming companies are not willing to give up that slice of the pie.
Personally, the day physical disappears is the day I can finally start on my ever expanding backlog…

"According to analyst Mat Piscatella, 49% of all PS5 hardware sold in the US last year did not include a disc drive."

That gives us no information. How many of those were the PS5 pro? And how many of them were bought with the intention of adding a disc drive to it later?

@nomither6 but it's not forced on the player. You have choices and you can choose the free to play games. Nobody is forced into anything unless you are not able to make your own choices. I understand your point and I still think that Sony should bring back the basic "free" psn accounts for just online play but under no circumstance is anybody forced into the psn subs..

Gamers need digital bill of rights, and fast. The fact that sony can just ban your ps5 and it will render all your thousand of dollars worth of digital games gone is sickening. Especially when they can ban you with their tos even though the tos isn't the same as the country law.

Imagine if honda, mazda, or other car companies have their own tos and can take your car if you don't comply. Fortunately there are a lot of car companies so they can't do that, of course with console companies (sony, nintendo, xbox) it's different. Also smartphone companies, it's only apple ios or google android.

@Sweetz I am beginning to find myself of a similar thought process. I used to trade all my 360 and ps3 games in but I've never traded one ps4 game in..not one and I have about 40+ physical games. Currently around the 25 mark on physical ps5 games. The only 360 games I still have are a few guitar hero games and I have one original xbox game which is the punisher and that's only because its part of my massive punisher collection. I'm in my 50's now and I'm dreading the day when my wife has to sort through my man cave and let things go.

@Northern_munkey If someone wanted to play COD(multiplayer not warzone), Helldivers 2, Street Fighter, GTA etc , they have to pay . they may not be forced in the literal sense, but they essentially are. it’s either “pay up or you cannot play this game online” .

funny how helldivers 2 servers are free to connect to on PC, but is paywalled by PS $cam too; i’d imagine someone who wanted to play it would either have to be “forced” to pay up or pay even more for a PC. Otherwise the games unplayable.

@nomither6 if you have options you are not forced into one singular thing. Its your decision to pay to play and it all depends on how badly you need to play online. Again not saying you are wrong as I understand where you are coming from. I do not feel forced into anything.

People who only buy digital is down to them being lazy! Physical copies are always £5 - £15 cheaper than digital! So they must not care about saving some cash which comes down to being lazy as you pay more for convenience

@Northern_munkey you have the option to play offline or online , but you don’t have the option to play online for free - that’s where the option ends. there is no option to play a non f2p game online without being scammed out of your money.

also, it’s not about “needing” to play online , it’s about wanting to , and to do that - you have to pay. If someone wanted to play a paid online only game , they’d literally be unable to play the game without paying. it’s happened to me several times before i was able to just get a pc and bypass any paid games being barred by a ps plus subscription .

anyone stuck with a console and wants to play non f2p games online (especially those that are online only) are basically (not literally) forced to pay , because there’s no other option if they want to play online.

but i hear you, it’s all just a discussion/debate . i like debating 🙂

@nomither6 we are both mass debaters..🤣

@nomither6 https://gameflip.com/

I will keep buying physical until the bitter end.

These misleading articles... It's like article about "There is not enough meat in vegan restaurant." I cannot buy game physically when it is not released physically. Simple logic.

...btw I'm still waiting for Diablo 2 Resurrected physical copy...

@themightyant I personally think it shows some people still use their machines for playing media, and its a stretch to state this means half of people want physical. They quite clearly don't.
But we are likely to have this same tired old conversation until you finally see it - most people simply don't care about a physical format, and the quicker all that plastic and nonsense is stopped the better in my opinion.

This is the one area of conversation where I feel your responses are formed by your heart rather than your intellect.

@Dragoon1994 I remember them saying that it wouldn't be a limited thing, so I'm sure they'll sell it in their site at some point again, just sign in for the notification.

@Athrum
True but I live in the UK and the postage costs is about an extra £30 here so with how much it costs on there it’s no for me

Since COVID started back in 2020, I found myself buying digital games more and more. Even my FFVII Remake and Rebirth are both in digital.

But I still prefer physical and I will keep supporting it

@Dragoon1994 They're sending the items from Belgium, but I feel you. I paid 10€ for the delivery alone when I bought the PS5 version.

@themightyant
' other companies with a vested interest in going digital, might be telling us about it's decline in a bid to wipe it out faster.'

I follow matt on Bluesky. He is 'Executive Director & Video Game Industry Analyst at Circana (NPD)' Would you like to explain to me how his position gives him a 'vested interest in going digital', or are you just blindly reaching for a defense that doesn't withstand any scrutiny?

Do I wish with my heart that people would change the way they consume to avoid all the plastic and shipping etc? I absolutely do, but I won't gaslight people into questioning reality just to support my own position, whilst you clearly will.
I admire your passion, but not your willingness to obfuscate and twist facts.

@Athrum
Yeah I’ll just get the game digitally when I can

Lukewarm-take: The industry bends people over the front by letting them pay FULL PRICE digital games. Yet as long as people feel safe and comforted because it's their favourite company from way back they don't see that it's overinflated bs.

People are way too busy stanning for a triple billion industry to realise how st*pid this is.
Corporations are not your friends fyi.

@Dragoon1994 (#12) get the japanese retail version at a shop you trust. It has all typical language options and is to be had for $70!

@DennisReynolds (#81) not yet!

@Vaako007 (#49) my man!

@Northern_munkey "when my wife has to sort through my man cave and let things go."
It's a huge relief dude - I got half my house back when I decided to get rid of all physical media. I've hit 60 - I have many decades of experience to show that I practically never go back to all that old media I used to hang on to, I'm far too keen on playing the latest titles. If I ever fancy a trip down memory lane, I just get the emulators up and running... but its a very rare day when I bother

@PerpetualBoredom Why would i regret it?

Hi All, - As I see it, each time a Game has a Digital Sale a small amount is given to the Developer - whereas, once a Physical Copy is Sold, any Resale, no matter how many times, sees No Monetary Return for the Developer. - Yes, I realise a Pre-owned Game may generate Digital Sales via DLC. However, with continual News of Studios Cutting back Workforce or Closing Down, surely every little helps (Sorry Tesco)

The report of Sony ending Blu Ray production was fake news, btw.

Yup, we get it guys, digital is taking over. Still wonder if these reports take into account how many games have no physical version available.

I'll continue to buy physical until the option is gone.

I stopped buying physical like 20 years ago. It was a taper though as storage and internet speeds had to catch up.

Now its so much faster to just click and dl a game than to wait for a box. (I have a 5gbs uncapped connection, so im only limited by device speeds)

The only real reasons to buy physical are a) because you collect the special editions or b) you are interested in resale. I have no interest in either scenario so digital suits me well.

@wiiware Only if you break there t&c. If your doing that, its a just reward for breaking you end of the agreement. (By purchasing and using the console and games you are agreeing to the terms)

@Balosi Probably, I saw it on a diagram/table somewhere I can't remember where. Companies can be particular so you never know but I would find it strange of a life span as well I'm just going off what I remember reading/hearing from a certain tech source (pretty sure).

With how particular blu-rays were in production then I assume made cheaper and probably still able to be scratched a fair amount of coatings then the PSP/early blu-ray casings (even if the failure rate with scratches I've seen is still less then DVDs and probably because newer eras used blu-rays as well but the odd PS3 games I've come across that's the case not PS4/Xbox One).

Whatever the case of presence of disks and collectors editions or other factors as well we see of disks as things go on as well, who knows. Will PS6/next Xbox have one, an optional attachment as well.

Then again Blu-ray RW not regular ones is also niche so people going 'oh blu-ray is going' no only the niche audience one for data storage is. Big difference. But people group things or don't understand what RW is like SD cards and their variations.

I would assume, whatever VHS (other tape/other material formats), Laser Disks and more still work. I've never encountered them but when seen in videos sure many still work if good enough condition and I assume without rot, scratches or other factors.

But does the games sales account for second-hand markets? people are buying less new because of the price are more second-hand I haven't purchased a game at release since God of War Ragnarok and haven't purchased a new gaming years