You're quoting Statista. You might aswell be using VGChartz. I'm losing brain cells just looking at your posts, some of the dumbest stuff on NeoGAf
.
Did you get a physical game in a box for Christmas? Or better still, a new console? When it came to the new consoles yo…
www.gamesindustry.biz
With the growing popularity of digital games, DLC and microtransactions, it feels as if the physical video game does not quite belong in this new digital world. Data from GSD reveals some ominous signs: FIFA 21 launched in early October in the UK, and by the end of its first week 69% of the games were downloaded when measured by sales value. If this is a secular trend it is hardly surprising when Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, concluded that the PlayStation 5 digital version will help accelerate digital-only games to account for
80% share of global game sales, compared to just 20% for physical games in 2025.
The second quarter of 2020 is instructive of how the shift from physical to digital games globally coincided with the high street shutting down due to government rules to manage the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Sony, only 41% of Sony's PlayStation games in the second quarter were
sold in the physical format, down from 55% in the same quarter in 2019. This only helped to consolidate PlayStation's revenue from digital sources -- including downloaded software, add-ons, and networking services -- which reached 77% of all global game revenue. GSD data for the UK shows a similar trend. Across the first three quarters of this year, physical game sales only accounted for 25% of sold units and 32% of sales value (among the 18 major publishers who share digital data with ISFE).
All of this looks ominous for physical games, but this is not the complete picture. A lot of downloaded games are back-catalogue titles, and when it comes to looking at data for new games, especially for the first two weeks of sales, the story changes -- physical game sales accounted for 41% of sold units and 41% of sales value.
According to Retail Economics, a consultancy,
most UK retailers are not equipped for a 50% share of online sales, nor for the possible 15% spike in sales over the festive period. One of the issues is that supply chains are operating in slower, socially distanced warehouses. Another is delivery constraints, so much so that some delivery companies have imposed parcel limits on retailers.
The first 2 weeks is when the physical sales are good, then go downhill. This could be blamed by the supply constraint, and supply chains. Covid had also huge impact on changing the devs to digital sales.