Phil Rectangle @philrectangle - Twitter Profile

9 days ago

Everyone is talking about the digital-physical-split percentages. So we will too! The TL;DR: Most of what has been parroted about consumer preference is wildly exaggerated at best, or a mix of a bad faith campaign and severe negligence at worst. Sony has announced the death of physical media because of "changing consumer trends". Most of us can already smell the bullshit it in this fake excuse. It is when we take a closer look that we discover just how much of a lie that statement really is. Let's start by scrutinizing the most repeated number lately: 85 % of sales are digital. This number exists. But in what context? It comes from the Fiscal Year Q4 report for 2025. ONLY IN THIS QUARTER did we get this number. The overall percentage for the entire year 2025 is "only" 78 %. Still sounds bad. Where is the lie, then? It comes with what both sides include. The digital part also accounts for digital-only games. AKA products which didn't give a choice to the customer. You could either add to the digital tally or not play these games at all. This alone should show you how they use statistics to deceive the public. But we are not done. If you look at honest comparisons, like those we got through the infamous Insomniac leaks in 2022, or certain market reports from the UK more recently, you will find games that even sell predominantly physical. Many of which are Sony's own first party titles. So their games sell more physical copies, but they still dare to use consumer preference as the excuse. Not convinced? Let's look at the even broader picture. Researching online we can find an infographic illustrating the development of the physical-digital split over the years. Admittedly, there is a constant decline for the physical share. Abysmal even in the years up to 2020. HOWEVER, in recent years the year on year decline has slowed down and has almost reached a stable plateau. Oh, and have we mentioned that the vaaaaaaast majority of all players own a console that can read discs? 82 % is the number floating around online. We take a page out of Sony's book and just run with it for now. Only, let's add that even the other 18 % might not be digital-only die-hards. After all, there were times when both the disc console and the detachable disc drive were sold out at some point. What would you say does that show about consumer preference? Less than 18 % actually prefer digital. Just with a little research we have come from "85 % prefer digital" to "less than a fifth of the customer base actually does". So why does Sony push for a change? You know by now. Money! Multiple areas they benefit in in an all-digital future: 1) Margins for digital games are simply better. The save the entire overhead for physical production, logistics, customer service/returns, retailer cuts, etc. 2) This is the big one: The death of the second hand market. Or at least they think that's beneficial, if they ignore the facts that second hand buyers can also contribute to digital revenue, and they help with discoverability/word of mouth advertising. We wouldn't be surprised if this comes back to haunt Sony. 3) Pricing monopoly: They set the prices. They decide discounts. They decide the number of sales that happen, if any. The key word is REVENUE! Because that is another great opportunity to play with alarming numbers. The revenue percentage split between digital and physical makes the gap look even wider, of course. Despite selling almost 70 million physical copies, that area generated relatively low revenue. It accounts for only a little over 10 % of the revenue generated by game sales. That's the moment when "reliable" analysts and "quality" media could formulate headlines like "Physical media is dying - Makes up only 10 %". But that's not alarmist enough. They can do one "better". You might ask, "But DoesItPlay?, why do I see people claim that the gaming space is over 95 % digital?" Let's reveal the most evil trick of them all, shall we? Let's take a look at that FY 2025 report again. The overall category is called "Game Software". In here (and subsequently in the blogs of the anti-physical crowd) the biggest lie materializes. "Game Software" does not only include digital and physical game sales. It also accounts for ANY TYPE OF ADDITIONAL CONTENT (expansions, in-game currency, microtransactions of all sorts) and "Other Software", which is not even specified as to what that could be exactly. If we now lump all of this together and check the percentage of physical game revenue, we land at roughly 4,7 %. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the single biggest gaslighting this industry has pulled on you when it comes to lying about consumer preference. It was never about consumer preference. It was about maximizing profits and control over what should be rightfully yours after a purchase.

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Phil Rectangle

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