More and more people are opting to buy games digitally in the UK, and the shift towards purchasing titles from online marketplaces such as the PlayStation Store is happening faster than most predicted. According to data that Games Industry has obtained, we're seeing a huge increase in users buying AAA games digitally rather than physically. To be honest, the numbers are quite surprising.
"Last year, the split was estimated at between 15 per cent and 25 per cent, depending on the game," writes the publication. However, this new data shows that "the digital-to-physical split on some AAA console games now exceed 45 per cent in the UK". That's a pretty big jump.
The article goes on to say that recently released titles such as Destiny 2, The Evil Within 2, and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, as well as Assassin's Creed Origins, have been highlighted following reports that physical sales have been down on previous entries. However, this fresh data suggests that some of these games are actually up on their predecessors because of digital sales -- digital sales that still aren't being tracked by various analytical firms. It's about time they started, isn't it?
It seems as though we're now well on our way to an age where digital sales are going to outstrip physical, but are you contributing to this change? Do you buy many games digitally? Start that download in the comments section below.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 44
Yeah, I'm gradually moving to digital now. I think for a single player heavy game like Assassin's Creed I'd probably still go physical unless there's a particularly good offer on the PS Store, but if it's FIFA or something like that I'm getting it digitally now.
EDIT: Also, I don't own a single PSVR game on Blu-ray. I can't understand why anyone would want to deal with the hassle of discs while they've got a headset on.
I can totally see that, I've noticed physical prices going up lately, so the price difference becomes a smaller factor than it used to be. Add to that the convenience of not having to swap discs when jumping between games, I've moved almost completely digital in the past couple of years.
I don't think it's surprising at all. Digital sales have been increasing every year.
I don't think there will ever be a time that Physical is gone but Digital is without a doubt going to become the more popular choice.
I would say over 80% of my games are Digital.
I don't buy any games physically any more on PS4. The only physical games I get are a) on Switch because the comedy 32gb storage is hopeless, and b) games I get for Christmas/birthdays. If I'm buying games myself I always go digital because it's just easier.
I didn't buy a single digital title last generation.
This gen on PS4 I owe:
51 physical games
77 digital games
On vita I'm all digital and own 100+ games.
Also, I really need to stop buying so many games.
Depend on the games, if it's open world like horizon zd or rpg like persona 5 I usually bought the steelbook special edition, for $40 games I usually bought it digital. And I bought many games digitally when it's discounted on psn.
I started all physical with the PS3, then slowly switched to digital. This generation I have over 200 games, either through Plus, Flash sales, or just buying them outright. Of the 200+ games, only Farpoint and Robinson: The Journey are physical copies. Farpoint for the bundled Aim controller, and Robinson because I could get it for $21 on Amazon at launch.
No, I don't own any AAA games digitally. Even when destiny 2 was on sale on psn for £39.99, it was £30 on disc in my local tesco. Unless you want to play it on two consoles in the same house or there's a lot of game-sharing going on, it seems like the height of laziness or impatience to me to opt for digital versions at inflated prices.
Also the report doesn't say where it's getting its information from. Sony and MS tend to be quite secretive about actual sales numbers.
If I buy a game myself it is usually digitally in a sale as I don't really buy on release time, physical tends to be gifts or if I spot an insanely good deal while out shopping.
If they came out with two PS5 one with a disc drive and cheaper one without I would buy the one without in a heartbeat.
It's not going to happen just saying.
They definitely need to start tracking digital sales alongside their retail counterparts. We're just not getting an accurate picture of game sales anymore to the extent that many games are being labelled as market failures when that may not actually be the case.
I tend to buy most games physical unless there's a good deal on PSN. I do own quite a lot of digital PS3 titles and a few PS4 ones (and lots of digital only games of course). My brother gets almost everything digitally now, mostly because it is convenient. I can see why the gap is closing. Game prices have certainly gone up on shopping websites and are closer to their RRP than I can ever remember. Margins must be a lot smaller. I remember getting Mass Effect 2 at launch for £30 from Amazon. That sort of discount just wouldn't happen now!
bought alot of digital games i mean deadpool only a fiver yesterday
4 DS games, 1 3DS game, 1 Vita game, 1 PS4 game. That's all I have.
...on physical media out of 198 total on the aforesaid platforms combined. Yeah.
I tend to buy physical for larger AAA games or those on sale (I do quite like discs) but I tend to buy more digital overall, mainly indies and sales.
In terms of sales results, I do really want to see digital sales because I think the market is actually more varied than the weekly sales suggests. I mean, would Hellblade have appeared on the list in launch week etc?
I also think that retail sales affects game performance - games get labelled as failures on these lists when they may actually be doing alright.
I still prefer an actual physical disc game but all these great PSN sale bargains recently have been too good to pass on. I still only have a 500 gig hard drive so I'm constantly deleting old games. I really should buy a 2tb drive.
I pretty much only buy indie games digitally. I like to have the physical version still in case I want to sell it otherwise I'd probably be all digital...
I was having a look at my games library and I currently have about 200 installed and on my shelf, physical, I have 15 discs. I also just bought another 4tb HDD so my storage is now 8.5TB inc the pitifully small internal HDD.
I buy physical mainly, unless there is a deal on where I will get the same thing for at least a tenner cheaper digital. I used to be in the mindset that I would recoup money from selling older games. Turns out I'm a hoarder, so that never happens.
Digital sales definitely need to be tracked alongside physical sales. I think I have probably around 15 games on disc, which is a considerable minority of my collection.
@ApostateMage I was the same for a long time. I finally caved in and bought a 2TB external drive, and it's so nice not to have to worry about storage issues
I always go with digital now so much less clutter around. No stacks of boxes collecting dust. The sooner publishers move towards limited runs of physical games with a greater push on digital the better it will be. Steam is a prime example of how digital games should be sold. Proper customer reviews not just ratings and actual reccomendations that make sense
@get2sammyb So you'll pay £59.99 for Fifa 18 on the PS Store over £45 for the physical? I've bought loads of games digitally and I'm happy to do so, but I would never pay that price difference just for convenience.
@Jake3103 Nope, but I'll happily wait for the Christmas sales and get the digital version for £40 then.
That's why I wasn't worried about wolfenstein 2 when eurogamer tried to doom and gloom it. It's in the top three on steam behind only origins and I forget the other game right now and on amazon it's been in the top three behind only cod and origins so it seems the game has been selling really well. Weird enough I got that information from a polygon article talking about sp games not being dead so taking in account now that we know digital is way up in Europe plus the fact new colossus released on a Friday instead of a Tuesday like new order I seriously doubt sales were down by over half on new order. Its most likely about neck and neck if not a little more in favor of new colossus so we should def get that trilogy capper in a few years
@get2sammyb But then you can usually get the physical copy even cheaper than the £40. In my experience, when Fifa drops to £40 on the PS Store, it's available for about £25 physically elsewhere. It seems to me that it's only when we get crazy deals on older or less popular games, such as we're seeing now with the double discounts, where digital sales become worthwhile. Like I said, I have loads of digital games, but they were almost all purchased in sales 12-months or even years after they came out.
i usually go for the one that's cheaper. if it's the same i'll go physical.
I'm liking digital but they really shouldn't cost as much as physical discs do.
Need for Speed Payback I was all set to buy on PSN... It's £60 for the standard edition. I ordered it for about £45 from simplygames instead. Now I have to hope it arrives on time >_<
@Jake3103 Doesn't really bother me if it's cheaper elsewhere, just as long as it's an agreeable price on the PS Store. Like you say, no way I'm paying £60, but if it's below £40 or better then I'll bite.
Haven't bought a physical game in over two years...all purchases are digital for me now... can't stand giving GameStop money... I have good broadband so downloads only take a few minutes...
@get2sammyb You do know my dude you wait like a month for physical you can buy the game for 25-30$ easy if you know where to look for.
Digital all day long now given Game's sh1tty trade in values! Can't be bothered with eBay so sooner they just sit in my library waiting to be played again!
@Dodoo I even get a lot of indies on disk from Limited Run.
@THEH4MM I thought that the trade in was crap to but a lot of games get me a decent price plus trade
2 games and get the new game for €19.
I think sport games should go digital only the games dont bring anything in value same goes for the big shooters.
I still buy disks, although I downloaded most multiplayer games, since I dont value them as much as SP games. But Horizon, Uncharted and many other SP games will still be in my collection alongside my other discs and cartridges, even when this generation is long gone...
NoFor the sake of my collection I cannot opt digital.Although I buy most indie titles or psn games digitally. Sales like the one actually running right now on the stores are a big factor in going digital. I bought sniper ghost warrior agents of mayhem Deadpool Titanfall 2 for as little as 48 Sterling ie 55 60 euro.
I am more inclined to buy physical, but am gradually converting. I still prefer having something physical to hold onto, trade in, loan, or sell. But if the price were just a bit cheaper, then I would go digital for the convenience. But for now, I’m about 75% physical in my collection (which is large)
I prefer digital just so I don't have to worry about swapping out disc's. However I did just buy a physical copy of Assassin's Creed Origins because it was dropped in price. Still waiting for that price drop on Shadow of War hopefully that's a digital store sale.
my broadband is capped at 500gb download per month, and i often hit 80%+ of that without downloading 50gb games from psn. i've only bought 4 games this year (all on disc) and all of them arrived before release date. so earlier, cheaper, and bandwidth saving. i think if PS5 has no optical drive, i probably won't bother.
@Wormold I used to buy music CD's, even brought a new metal album with a T-shirt very recently. However it's just started taking up too much space, and once I have the files uploaded on my laptop they are pretty much redundant.
Technically speaking I'm about half and half, but in terms of money spent I've easily spent more on physical because I buy AAA games on disc, whereas indies and small games that are on sale I get digitally.
Being a PC gamer also I'm used to digital sales, but despite having been buying them for over a decade now I still prefer physical. I will buy digital where it makes sense (deep discounts) or I'm basically forced to (aforementioned PC as well as Vita), but physical still has major advantages over digital.
First advantage is the resale market, while I'll usually hold onto my games for future prosperity, it is a safeguard against buying something I find I dislike. The second is, and call me paranoid here, the thought of having my account compromised and potentially banned would both lose me a huge investment and probably end gaming as a hobby for me. Third is digital is almost always more expensive despite having no physicality.
I do have to give digital a plus though for allowing indie devs to publish where they otherwise would not have the ability to. On the subject of charts though I don't really care if game X sells more than game Y
its crazy to me they already dont!
@ShogunRok I'm from Barbados. Video game prices are almost prohibitively expensive here for physical discs (e.g. Gran Turismo Sport is $190.00). Unless it's something I'm REALLY going to want to keep around, possibly sell later on, I've been getting some games digitally from Amazon. Much cheaper than buying on disc.
I had like 40 to 50 PS3 Blu rays last generation. Nowadays PSN prices are hard to best especially since I almost never buy a game on launch day. I still buy physical discs sometimes though.
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