Games
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As gaming software sales have dropped significantly over the lifespans of the PS4/PS5 vs the overall sales of the PS3, it becomes apparent that digital game sales are winning in this day and age.
In 2019 the physical software sales for PlayStation were 6% of their revenue. That number has decreased year over year and what they are trying to do is make up the difference by shunting people to subscription services like PS+. We knew this already. This data has been spread out over several articles especially over the last 2 days.
https://www.resetera.com/threads/playstation-only-made-3-percent-of-its-money-from-physical-games-sales-last-year-decline-comes-amid-rumors-the-ps6-will-have-a-detachable-disc-drive.1298754/?__cf_chl_f_tk=Yoi4Otjfg4PCM6UxPYx0.9qVGrSBt1EtIb6ar5y7J2c-1783185677-1.0.1.1-ocB6TpBYux8vHfjbxBRohy1usls7Qm.rQyZu.CNjtDk
And they know PS5 numbers are bad which is why they are goosing them under PS4 sales
And yet physical discs make up over 60% of game sales.
Just because they've enshitified new more profitable revenue streams outside of game sales doesn't mean they're not shitty for dumping the core competency that brought them customers in the first place. If physical game sales were less than 3% of their profit then they aren't a game company and are already lost.
If all this data is leading somewhere it's towards more live service microtransaction slop anyway. If the 60%+ physical of sales that all of their massively popular single player games are that small a percentage of their profit and "digital sales and add on content" is that large or means that are mostly a microtransaction company already.
You seem to be under the impression that I am defending Sony or other game sales distributors who are getting rid of physical media. That is not what is happening here.
I agree it's shitty. I am pointing out the trend, not trying to mount a defense for a corp.
Edit: I would also like a source for the 60% of games being physical because that's not what I found when I looked it up and if it's based on 2023's data it's not accurate to today's market.
https://twicethebits.com/2025/06/19/the-shift-to-digital-gaming-why-physical-sales-are-declining/
I got the sixty percent from the op. It says quite plainly that total digital sales are near 30%
Not quite. It says that FY2021 had 68% digital sales. The physical sales largely seem to come from 2020 and earlier (which puts the net total at 60% physical, but that's mostly the PS4 games).
It's 2026 now, I doubt the trend to digital has reversed in that time.
Thanks for sharing the link, it’s good to see some more recent data. The 3% is tough to swallow as someone who likes to buy games day 1 and sell them later. From Sony’s perspective, it’s understandable they want to kill this, and focus on the higher margin digital segment. Still, I’m not going to applaud a giant corporation when they do something that benefits them but not the customers. At the end, digital buyers will also see the effect of this change, as Sony can keep prices higher with no competititon from physical new & used retail.
The crazy thing is, all gaming sales are dropping and I think they're really trying to keep profits up with sales declining by forcing people like you and I who buy physical media to go digital. Forcing people to go digital means they can eliminate manufacturing of physical media, but it also means they can eliminate the resale market and sale market when physical stores want to liquidate old stock to receive new stock. That and the subscription model are a win for them to the detriment of consumers.
Yes, the used market is huge, and they are not profiting from it.
The whole this is just so sad. And I cannot even begin to think about the impact on the retailers. I trade a lot with a few small stores, without discs they’ll surely have to close, and people will lose their jobs.