Physical Game Sales Have Declined by 85% Since 2008

[Moonface]

Physical game software spending in the US saw an accelerated decline in 2024, dropping by more than 50% since 2021 and more than 85% since 2008, which was the peak period for spending.

Source: Mat Piscatella on Bluesky

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Not surprised to see this drop really, even if I dislike it. 2008 was a couple of years into the generation where consoles began offering digital purchase options for games, and also since then there's also a lot more games that are exclusively digital due to the boom of the indie scene. I suspect Xbox focusing on Game Pass over game sales plays some factor too because I can't imagine an entire console becoming a minor player in the physical game space to not have a noticeable effect. People being home during the height of Covid might have also encouraged them to check out digital storefronts more and deciding to buy more of their games via that method than before?

If this decline keeps at its current pace then we'd see another 50% drop by 2027 or so, and that's probably the time Sony would be considering a new console. I wonder if this will encourage them to make the PS6 primarily digital and just offer a disc drive add-on like they've already done with the PS5 Pro? Like the social media post says, maybe Switch 2 will boost the numbers a bit but I doubt it'll be enough to stop the decline entirely.

Not sure how I feel about a future where consoles go entirely digital. I don't hate digital at all, but I would miss having physical copies of games.

[Mr EliteL]

Oof that hurts looking at that chart. Although what is the left axis in measured in, some type of average, thousands, millions, billions...?*checks the link* Ah, in Billions. Phew.

Yeah I agree that the PS6 will likely go console digital with a separate disc add-on, if the decline continues. I unfortunately can't see Switch 2 improving the sales, might maintain for a couple years or go up very slightly. Only if there's a change of value in the mindset of the audience for physical media we might hope to see a proper increase again, but even with that there's no way it'll reach '08 ever again. At best probably 2016-2018 period or if we're insanely lucky, 2012. I wish to hope for that, but nah. Now it's buy it and have it now, so you just have to wait for the download and installs to finish, instead of waiting for the game to arrive, have the case in hand with a cheesy grin as you slip in the disc and...wait for the install, all the while of having the joy of the official game art and what have you in front of your face, not only on a screen. Or for the oldies, a game manual to read through, yay! (< Not happening again unfortunately)

[ShiraNoMai]

Yeah with the advent of Steam and XBOX Live Arcade (and subsequently PlayStation and Nintendo's answer), the convenience of digital storefronts has exponentially increased the access of this specific media to the effect of industry ballooning. So while yeah, it's a shame it's slowly killing the physical media industry, it has lead to the industry's growth and expansion beyond what was possible before.

I do fear for a future where, because we do not own these digital copies, that for any reason, the rights to use our paid-for products will vanish, and we will be left with nothing but thin air. Having a physical copy that (theoretically) cannot be taken from you has WAY more mileage and value.

[Moonface]

Oof that hurts looking at that chart. Although what is the left axis in measured in, some type of average, thousands, millions, billions...?*checks the link* Ah, in Billions. Phew.

Oh it's in billions? I thought it was in millions which makes the 2024 stat look bad by itself, but for that drop of 85% to be a loss of billions is definitely worse.

Yeah I agree that the PS6 will likely go console digital with a separate disc add-on, if the decline continues. I unfortunately can't see Switch 2 improving the sales, might maintain for a couple years or go up very slightly. Only if there's a change of value in the mindset of the audience for physical media we might hope to see a proper increase again, but even with that there's no way it'll reach '08 ever again. At best probably 2016-2018 period or if we're insanely lucky, 2012. I wish to hope for that, but nah. Now it's buy it and have it now, so you just have to wait for the download and installs to finish, instead of waiting for the game to arrive, have the case in hand with a cheesy grin as you slip in the disc and...wait for the install, all the while of having the joy of the official game art and what have you in front of your face, not only on a screen. Or for the oldies, a game manual to read through, yay! (< Not happening again unfortunately)

I could see Switch 2 improving sales if the storage for it is as garbage as the Switch 1 is. At the same time though, anyone using it on the go a lot will have an easier time with a digital library than a physical one unless they have a case that stores both the Switch 2 and game carts.

I do fear for a future where, because we do not own these digital copies, that for any reason, the rights to use our paid-for products will vanish, and we will be left with nothing but thin air. Having a physical copy that (theoretically) cannot be taken from you has WAY more mileage and value.

To add onto this, digital products just disappearing is awful for preservation of media, whether it's gaming or anything else. At least on PC any game that disappears can be kept alive with pirated copies, but anything on console only would probably be doomed to disappear forever or just become incredibly rare, i.e. P.T.


I'd be curious to see charts for European countries to compare. My impression is that internet isn't as fast as it is in the US in most places, so downloading a game (especially with how big they are nowadays) might not be as viable compared to buying physical copies.

[Kyng]

Doesn't surprise me at all: I don't have any means of playing physical games on my laptop (since it doesn't have a CD drive), and didn't have one on my previous laptop either. Indeed, I don't think I've bought a physical game since 2011 - and I can't see myself ever going back to buying them.

[Moonface]

Doesn't surprise me at all: I don't have any means of playing physical games on my laptop (since it doesn't have a CD drive), and didn't have one on my previous laptop either. Indeed, I don't think I've bought a physical game since 2011 - and I can't see myself ever going back to buying them.

Even if you did have a disc drive I always thought physical PC games stopped being a thing shortly into the 2010's so people would have to buy them digital anyway.

I'd actually be surprised if anything for PC gets put onto a disc anymore given that most laptops don't have disc drives anymore even when the body is still thick enough to support one.