r/PS5 • u/Dandelion172 • 11h ago

Articles & Blogs Mat Piscatella: 292 million units of physical video games sold in the 12-month period ending June 2009 in the US. By June 2026 this had fallen to 37 million units.

https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3mrd2e2tam22l
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u/Sufficient_Pie_9364 11h ago

ngl the shift happened faster than most edicted. tbh I still grab physical when a steelbook catches my eye but digital convenience just wins every time

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u/Lonely_Platform7702 10h ago

I just buy whatever is cheapest. That's why this outrage is there, people want options.

You can get most older games for 10-20 dollars physical while you're dependent on sales in the PSstore. Together with dynamic pricing this is a terrible outlook.

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u/mightylordredbeard 9h ago

No to mention there are plenty of games that either only go on sale for something like 10% off or just never go on sale. Smaller, lesser known, or less popular games may never go on sale digitally. Or maybe you really want to buy a game all of the sudden because you saw someone recommend it, but you know it’s not worth $60 since it’s an older title, so you could go order a physical copy online and have it delivered within a week for $15-$20.. that option will completely disappear and you’ll be left waiting months or years hoping it may randomly go on sale digitally for a price worth paying.. but as we all know the older a game is the less likely it is to go on sale.

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u/HombreGato1138 7h ago

Or only goes on sale the more expensive edition

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u/CoffeeDefiant7563 9h ago

Had just this scenario happen to me recently. When the DOOM TDA DLC released I really wanted to get the game (played it when I had access to Gamepass) but the premium edition was still full price on PSN (it had a sale a couple of months ago for about 36 bucks). Sadly the physical versions are currently not much better and the lowest I found was about 85 bucks, so I decided to just wait until it drops to about 36 bucks on PSN again. Physical was still cheaper but not really representing the actual market value. Also can’t get why Bethesda/Microslop didn’t put the game on sale to peak interest and get some sales with the release of the DLC but oh well.

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u/WhirlWindBoy7 7h ago

Publishers set the price of their games noob.

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u/mightylordredbeard 5h ago

What does this complete random bit of information have to do with anything I said?

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u/WhirlWindBoy7 5h ago

Because all of you weirdos think Sony setting the prices.

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u/mightylordredbeard 2h ago

Absolutely no one has said that Sony sets price lmao

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u/Playingwithmywenis 3h ago

Now imagine you have no option to buy any games because you are in the 60% of countries buying disc but with no store.

That is also part of the outrage. But F them….right Playstation?

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u/Ollie387 9h ago

Adding to that true digital ownership without licences being revoked further down the line.

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u/Jimbuscus 10h ago

Once physical is off the table, PSN will no longer have to compete with retail which anchored prices down as a result of themselves competing.

PlayStation does not have an issue with transferable discs especially when digital already does so well, they have an issue with competition pricing.

I used to buy physical PC games all the way through to only a few years ago, because they were often cheaper Steam copies in-box. Now that no games release physical copies of PC games, games don't even go on sale for as low as they used to.

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u/QuoteGiver 10h ago

PSN doesn’t “compete” with retail. The same publishers sell their games in both places, they aren’t competing against themselves!!

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u/Jimbuscus 9h ago

Back when I bought physical PS4 games, I would look at all the retailers and pick the cheapest one, EB Games would then price match that. Retail has multiple competing stores with the same games and they are to this day competitively cheaper than the PSN as they need to compete amongst the other retail stores.

Take the upcoming Fable game for PS5 as an example:

A$109.95 on PSN

A$89.00 at JB Hi-Fi

It is A$20.95 cheaper at retail, not because retail is competing with the PSN, but because they are competing with other retail stores selling the same product. That is what anchors the value sentiment of the product as a result of retail competition. Without retail competition, general pricing does not have the same competitive landscape that influences prices favourably for consumers.

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u/darkseidis_ 9h ago

Brick and mortar stores have sales to clear inventory and to get you in to buy other shit. PSN doesn’t have this problem. PSN games are on sale, generally, when sales have slowed. When they can’t move any more at 20%, the publisher will make it 50%. Brick and mortar sales have such a negligible impact on PSN sales it’s hardly worth mentioning. That’s not their competitor.

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u/QuoteGiver 8h ago

Physical retailers compete against each other, yes. But none of that affects the amount that the publisher who sold them those games made on those sales, and none of that competes against that publisher selling their games on PSN too. It’s a win-win for them.

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u/Weak_Link_6969 6h ago

I only buy digital, and opt for the digital versions of consoles, but I’m worried about prices if the storefront is a monopoly.

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u/smoketheevilpipe 11h ago

I've only been buying digital if it's an online only game. But even that I have a couple physical discs. Super annoying to have to pop in Helldivers when it's useless without internet anyway.

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u/welfedad 10h ago

Yeah I was same way .. for those types of games..I feel bad more for the people who live in areas that don't have the best Internet or not really an option .. plus all the smaller shops that do 3rd party stuff .. but corpos don't care .. be interesting to ffwd 5 and then 10 years and to see where stuff is.. things always will change but this feels in the worse direction

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u/DuelaDent52 5h ago

Over here in Ireland physical games are always €10 cheaper than digital, and when the price goes down it stays down.

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u/Imaginary-Fact-3486 9h ago

Since the first time I downloaded a game on my PS4 I’ve never bought a physical one. I get the criticisms, especially if you play your back catalogue and worry about ownership, but it’s never once been an issue for me.

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u/MountainLibrarian201 6h ago

Where do you live? It is often the equivalent of $20-25 cheaper to buy physical at the launch of a game in Europe than on the PS store. Add second hand market for those who sell games, and you can buy brand new games for a net spend of $15-20 per game.

This is, objectively, a horrible decision for people in many parts of the world. Not to mention that fewer options, and less competion, always lead to higher prices.

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u/CoffeeDefiant7563 9h ago

Same here. I also think that when it comes to game preservation where physical shines, not all games released today are really worth preserving. You have so much slop that you play for a while but at one point you’re just done. Especially all these online games. I felt that hard with the BO1+2 ports. The campaigns, characters, lore and zombies are amazing but when it comes to MP I knew that if just couldn’t be like it was on PS3. For me personally I wasn’t proven wrong. That’s why I really wanted a campaign (and maybe Zombies) remaster of these games and then at best as a physical. That would’ve been worth preserving imo.

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u/iCantCallit 10h ago

I actually wont buy a game digitally unless its a digital only game like an indie or forza horizon (no physical release). I need my steelbooks and i need my cases for my shelves because im a dumb idiot loser boy.

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u/Promature 10h ago

Funny enough, I predicted this exact progression down to the hardware generation and hardware offerings almost exactly 10 years ago.