Seen several quote #PlayStation's 78% digital full game sales, thus omitting important context.
That figure includes countless digital only releases, from back catalogue to indie games etc. Even Capcom revealed 84% of its sales were "older catalog titles", many of which are only available digitally.
So using such data is somewhat misleading.
To gauge REAL physical demand you need to look at splits of games that released both physical AND digital only. Thanks to the Insomniac leaks, we have such data on PS first party games.
Playstation Physical / Digital splits
Sackboy - 77% / 23%
R&C Rift Apart - 76% / 24%
Ghost of Tsushima DC - 71% / 29%
Demon's Souls - 70% / 30%
Miles Morales - 66% / 34%
Spider-Man - 66% / 34%
Returnal - 61% / 39%
The Last of Us 2 - 61% / 39%
Ghost of Tsushima - 51% / 49%
MLB The Show 21 - 39% / 61%
So per Sony's own internal data, 31/33 first party games from their chart sold more PHYSICAL than they did digital.
Uncharted 4 actually has an insane 83% physical split.
Granted it only covers through to a few months into 2022, but we can see from other more recent data, things haven't drastically changed. For example GSD data shows ~60% of Astro Bot sales across Europe were physical.
So what skews revenue and data more digital, beyond digital only releases and platforms? The answer is games with LIVE SERVICE components, especially multiplatform ones.
As you can see from Sony's internal data, MLB has the highest digital split, and it's a live service game.
Generally the highly popular live service or annualised games such as Call of Duty, NBA 2K, FIFA etc, have higher digital splits, as gamers are constantly launching them (often daily) and don't want to be constantly switching discs, thus skewing digital/physical splits.
It's very different to single player games which are shorter and have different play and consumer trends. So again, context matters.
Then there's a MASSIVE audience of gamers that aren't even accounted for in any of this data; the countless consumers that buy and sell used physical games, because they simply can't afford as many new games, but still buy/own consoles, accessories, games, services etc. Everything from poor parents, kids etc.
Ultimately, the data rejects the notion physical is dead or meaningless, even if digital accounts for the overall lionshare of revenue/sales, especially when you look at things with the proper context and/or focus on single player tentpole games, which is PlayStation's bread and butter.
Keep in mind platforms make a 15% licensing fee from third parties on physical games, while they get a 30% cut on digital.
Likewise first party lose a 30% cut to retailers on physical, while they keep all of the revenue on digital.
As I said before, this move to kill physical is more about PlayStation trying to make far more profit and squeeze away the last remnants of consumer ownership, control, flexibility and resale, and could have greater negative market ramifications.
PlayStation manipuluje danymi!
Według ich raportów, 85% sprzedanych gier na PS to wersje cyfrowe. Tak, ale liczą tam dostępne tylko cyfrowo indyki, starsze produkcje czy nawet GRY Z PLAYSTATION+. To absurd.
Tymczasem wyciek wewnętrznych danych z Insomniac Games pokazał jasno(1/2)
With over 105m views, the PlayStation post has been community noted
The push back against this is as strong if not stronger worldwide than the PS3 launch ”get a second job”
@XxSephGMxX Yo llevo tiempo diciéndolo..
Las ventas del digital son mayores pq hay juegos que solo salen en ese formato y aparte que los juegos de servicio (COD, BF6, Helldivers 2 y etc) sus mayores ventas son en digital. Al vender mas en digital esos juegos el porcentaje tiende a ser alto.
cutting physical media cuts costs only for the company. they get to save on production, design, shipping and still charge the same thing with nothing being passed on to the consumer
I understand everyone prefers different things, but for someone to go out here and try to defend SONY and PlayStation over this... no words. Just no words for these kind of people
In addition to PlayStation recieving insane backlash from consumers, they're now becoming a meme too.
Companies are satirically mocking their physical announcement and gaining tens of thousands of likes doing so.
No creo que mucha gente llegue a leer este hilo por que todo lo que pongo es como si nada pero bueno.., aún sigo dándole vueltas a todo esto.
PlayStation ha dicho que su futuro estará cada vez más enfocado en lo digital y, sinceramente, era algo que muchos veíamos venir desde hace tiempo.
Durante esta generación de PS5 hemos visto cómo se ha ido acercando poco a poco a un modelo más digital, con funciones y decisiones que recuerdan cada vez más al ecosistema de Steam.
Sigue el post abajo
PLEASE READ AND UNDERSTAND:
We have to talk about the physical vs digital data, A LOT of people still buy Physical games on PS5.
More than you think, like WAY MORE! Please read and understand what Sony is doing it trying to FORCE DIGITAL games! IMO this should not even be legal:
- FY2025 Full Year (Apr 2025 – Mar 2026) = the digital to physical split was 78%/22%.
But this does NOT tell the whole story. Because this is all games sold, not all games that have physical copies and digital! So majority of the 78/22 split don't even have physical, let's look at some real numbers from leaks and stats we have:
From Insomniac Leak:
- God of War Ragnarök: 76% Physical / 24% Digital
- Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: 63% Physical / 37% Digital
- Astro Bot: 55% Physical / 45% Digital
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: 54% Physical / 46% Digital
- Assassin's Creed Mirage: 49% Physical / 51% Digital
- Resident Evil 4 Remake: 45% Physical / 55% Digital
- Hogwarts Legacy: 44% Physical / 56% Digital
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor: 40% Physical / 60% Digital
UK / Europe Retail Data (GSD – 2023/2024):
- Astro Bot: 55% Physical (UK) / and 60% Physical (Europe) – 2024
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2: 54% Physical (UK) – 2023
- Assassin's Creed Mirage: 49% Physical (UK) – 2023
- Hogwarts Legacy: 45% Physical (UK) – 2023
- Resident Evil 4 Remake: 45% Physical (UK) – 2023
- Horizon Forbidden West: 51% Physical (UK) – 2022
People still buy a lot of physical games on PS5, especially when it's SINGLE PLAYER GAMES. When it's more mp then it goes down to more digital. But please don't just listen to the 78%/22% split, those numbers are overall numbers and don't represent the full story AS YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE!
Because it's not a fair comparison since all games don't have a physical copy or eventually stop printing it. They are trying to paint a narrative to control prices and take ownership from you, that is the truth and spread it!