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62% of all full PlayStation game sales were digital in 2020

How often do you buy physical copies ?

  • All my games

    Votes: 51 22.8%
  • Most of my games

    Votes: 68 30.4%
  • 50/50

    Votes: 31 13.8%
  • I buy some physical, but mostly digital

    Votes: 29 12.9%
  • I only buy digital games

    Votes: 45 20.1%

  • Total voters
    224
  • Poll closed .

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
While just a few years ago the number of physical games sold greatly outweighed that of digital sales, the scales are quickly being rebalanced with digital overtaking the market across all console manufacturers

sony-anuncia-state-of-play-de-30-minutos-para-proxima-quinta-25.jpg


As reported by Ars Technica, “nearly 63 percent of [Sony’s] ‘full game’ sales for the 2020 calendar year came via digital downloads rather than games sold on discs at retail”.
For the sake of comparison, during the 2019 fiscal year, digital sales made up 55% of all software sold. Just one year earlier in 2018, much less than half of all sales were digital, landing at 43%.

While COVID-19 and the global pandemic led to many highstreet retailers closing in a number of countries, there were many other avenues which players could buy physical disks, such as e-commerce.
Furthermore, as is evidenced by the data, this trend began way before COVID-19, and is likely to continue after the fact.

 
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Zok310

Banned
Any wonder why their software revenue increased so much, they selling more games and it’s costing them less to sell it to you. Lower expenses and increased sales.
 
Digital is nice and any indie game i own is always digital, but when a LOT of places in the world still have bellow average internet speeds and the balloning size of games it's a diffcult sell, of course it's only a matter of time before physical copies end up being regulated to niche sites like limited run games.
 
I prefer playing digital games, because I'm lazy, and its nice not to bother with discs. That being said I usually buy physical, so I can play them and then resell them. I play mostly Destiny digitally the past few years, and am also playing God of War digitally right now on my PS5. The last 2 games I bought were Miles Morales and Demon's Souls on discs. I bought them on ebay for $45 each. Completed Miles and abandoned Demon's Souls. All done with both of them, so I sold them both on ebay for essentially all of my money back.

My general rule of thumb is if it is a single player story driven game, I'd rather buy physical so I can recoup some money, when I'm done. If it is multiplayer that I will be coming back to for years, I go digital (Destiny, Street Fighter V, etc). The exception is when games are on killer digital sales and I just want to add them to my digital backlog, and PS Plus games of course.
 

Certinty

Member
I’ll pretty much always go physical since it’s cheaper and I can sell the games.

But if there’s a digital game with a really good sale I won’t say no to that.
 

Rayderism

Member
Well.....depends on the gen. PS1/2 is about 99% physical, a few have been bought as digital BC for PS3/4.

PS3 is about 50/50.

PS4 is 100% digital.

PSP is 100%....er.....ahem.....digital. Yeah. :messenger_smirking:

Vita is 100% digital.
 

Kupfer

Member
>90% physical. I like owning things I spend money on and not just having a license to use it.
But this becomes obsolete, since games often are unplayable in its V1.00 form.
 
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graywolf323

Gold Member
I've been all digital since the end of the 360/PS3 gen

I think the only physical game I've bought in the past few years was Ring Fit because it's physical only

edit: hopefully mods can fix the poll?
 
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RaySoft

Member
Failed the poll, the question is about digital games, not physical :messenger_face_steam:

While just a few years ago the number of physical games sold greatly outweighed that of digital sales, the scales are quickly being rebalanced with digital overtaking the market across all console manufacturers

sony-anuncia-state-of-play-de-30-minutos-para-proxima-quinta-25.jpg


As reported by Ars Technica, “nearly 63 percent of [Sony’s] ‘full game’ sales for the 2020 calendar year came via digital downloads rather than games sold on discs at retail”.
For the sake of comparison, during the 2019 fiscal year, digital sales made up 55% of all software sold. Just one year earlier in 2018, much less than half of all sales were digital, landing at 43%.

While COVID-19 and the global pandemic led to many highstreet retailers closing in a number of countries, there were many other avenues which players could buy physical disks, such as e-commerce.
Furthermore, as is evidenced by the data, this trend began way before COVID-19, and is likely to continue after the fact.

Flawed questionare when you don't have any options for people who only by digital.. What are you trying to prove?
I went digital when PS4 dropped, since I then don't have to change discs. I can do what I want from the couch. I still have a problem with it since even tough you only buy a license either way, you still feel better off with a physical copy in your hand.
 
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graywolf323

Gold Member
Flawed questionare when you don't have any options for people who only by digital.. What are you trying to prove?
the OP had a brain fart while typing the poll question, it's supposed to say digital copies not physical copies hence the first line in his post
 

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
Flawed questionare when you don't have any options for people who only by digital.. What are you trying to prove?
I went digital when PS4 dropped, since I then don't have to change discs. I can do what I want from the couch. I still have a problem with it since even tough you only buy a license either way, you still feel better off with a physical copy in your hand.
Or maybe you can literally read the FIRST sentence of the topic where I said "Failed the poll, the question is about digital games, not physical".

Edit:
So the question is rather "How often do you buy digital copies ?" instead of physical?
Well There It Is Jurassic Park GIF



Hope a mod can fix it soon
 
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I used to NEVER buy digital. However, this generation (PS5) I purposely made a decision to go 100% digital. Now it’s weird, I feel like physical games feel so old and antiquated.
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
Bought TLOU remastered digital, drive club physical.

Returned drive club, I'm stuck with TLOU remaster.

Switch is the only platform I still buy physical. All other platforms are digital.

I used to NEVER buy digital. However, this generation (PS5) I purposely made a decision to go 100% digital. Now it’s weird, I feel like physical games feel so old and antiquated.

Welcome to 2003.

You'd feel that long ago if you were a PC Gamer.
 
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CyRuZ

Banned
Mostly digital to split the cost with my bro. Can't even say when I bought a physical release in the last 4-5yrs itself. Quite sure the last physical releases I got came bundled with the pro(Skyrim?).
 

Portugeezer

Member
I wonder how many of those are "new".

I buy a lot of old shit on sale on PSN, but new games I'm waiting for I always get physical.
 
I have boxes of old games since the NES era just sitting in my place, that I just move from place to place.

I've been going digital as I've realized I've early go back anymore to older generations. Getting older and less time for games, something's gotta give.
 

Arimer

Member
Give it another generation of console and there will no longer be a collectible market not to mention they'll just be selling us the same shit over and over. You won't be able to pick up the ps5 20 years from now and play it unless the hard drive is still good and your licenses are still good. They'll be selling you "your favorite game" over and over on each generation of console like they did with music from record to tape to cd to mp3 and so on. Or they'll just follow that trend and make everything subscription based so you still never own and you'll have to continually be giving them money.
 

Soulja

Member
I clicked on the wrong option after not reading the OP 🤦‍♂️

I only ever buy digital games when they're on sale. I will never, ever pay full RRP for a digital game.
 

Rockondevil

Gold Member
I'm still physical only and will be as long as I can.
I do love the convenience of digital, but I prefer the option to trade back games I don't want anymore.
 

Goro Majima

Kitty Genovese Member
I'd say 99% of my purchases are physical for console games. Bought a couple Lego games on sale recently and before that was probably the Mega Man collection on Switch in like 2017 or 2018?

It's probably been since 2015 when I last purchased a full $60 game digitally. I rarely have the need to play something immediately anymore so I can wait a couple days for a physical copy.
 

Skifi28

Member
Can't remember the last time I bought a physical copy. Covid has certainly not helped, digital is just so convenient.
 

zcaa0g

Banned
All digital. I replay games several years later and don't have a desire to resell physical games nor a desire to swap disks. I have gigabit internet and no data caps so it's the most optimal solution for me. I'm not worried about MS, Nintendo or Sony going out of business in my lifetime.
 

NullZ3r0

Banned
Soon the disc player will be removed completely from console gaming. There are kids growing up today who think consoles with a disc slot looks odd.
 

Shakka43

Member
All digital, especially now with a digital only PS5. Only disc PS4 game I bought for myself was inFAMOUS Second Son at launch.
 
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