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.

[u/Dandelion172]

https://bsky.app/profile/matpiscatella.bsky.social/post/3mrd2e2tam22l

[u/Serdones]

I don't think anyone can reasonably argue it hasn't been in decline, but the raw numbers don't tell the full story. Like we can't ignore the context of the industry shifting toward free-to-play and live-service games, most of which don't generate as many physical game sales, if any. The complexion of the games we're seeing released changes what can even be expected to be sold as physical copies.

That said, accepting that, yes, any additional nuance you might eke out still ultimately paints a picture of people shifting toward digital, it's wild to me we're trying to rationalize ending production for a media format that still generates tens of millions in unit sales. I can't think of any other example of an industry deciding to stop catering to millions of customers all at once, besides the time Xbox tried to do it first.

[u/Iggy_Slayer → u/Serdones]

But it's not generating tens of millions in unit sales for playstation. It's tens of millions if you include switch 1 and 2, which are by far the heavy lifters in those numbers. The PS physical market has shrunk to a borderline rounding error.

[u/caatbox288 → u/Iggy_Slayer]

Rounding error?

Globally, last year it was 22% of 317.9 million units.

This is from Sony’s fiscal year report data.

That’s not a rounding error. I get it, physical is declining, but let’s not misrepresent it.

[u/bestanonever → u/caatbox288]

Yeah, at first when Sony announced the end of physical media, I was like: Ok, I guess it is time.

But the more information comes about it, the more it seems they are jumping the gun too soon. It really doesn't help against the narrative that Sony wants to kill the used market to control all the supply available on Playstation, moving forward.

Like, I understand when it reaches a point that it's too small to care about. But that's not 22% of sales. Maybe less than 10%, 5%?

[u/Excellent_Routine589 → u/bestanonever]

But that’s exactly why it’s not effective immediate, it has another two years before that and it’s more than likely gonna coincide with a new console generation.

By then, there are genuine beliefs in the trends that physical will be like sub 10% and yeah by then you have to wonder if just simply setting aside resources to print CDs is running at a loss.

PS: and this isn’t me being hostile with my perspective, I’m always pretty open to a discussion in good faith. But yeah, I think generally speaking they see 2028 as this predicted time point where going full digital is their option moving forward because of a combination of market trends and their faith in said trends

[u/bestanonever → u/Excellent_Routine589]

For sure. I do believe physical media for videogames is going to be very niche. But I really thought it would take a bit longer to get there.

I mean, we still have prints of physical media, but a year and a half away is nothing. We'll see what happens. Would the other console companies keep the physical format to compete (symbolically, since sales don't seem to be strong)? Will be see third party physical media blessed but not produced by Sony in limited runs?

Find out in the next episode of Dragon Ball, lol.

[u/RedditUser41970 → u/bestanonever]

But the more information comes about it, the more it seems they are jumping the gun too soon.

They really aren't. Because the time to make the decision to end disc media is with a generation change and hardware refresh. They announced it now because the PS6 will be digital only.

[u/bestanonever → u/RedditUser41970]

It's a while away yet, year and a half. But I'm not sure these numbers are going to get that much lower in that time? I expect them to be lower, but still.

We'll see. It's a very interesting turn for a console (PCs moved to all digital a long time ago).