PS5 Fans Won't Like This New Data About US Physical Game Sales 1
Image: Sammy Barker / Push Square

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella got roasted this week for sharing legit US sales data about the state of physical games.

If you believe social media, this is all part of a Sony-led propaganda campaign to silence criticisms of its decision to stop manufacturing disc-based games.

In reality, it’s just valuable context that helps illustrate – but, crucially, not excuse – the manufacturer’s direction.

So in response to the vitriol, he’s come back with a ton more data, and it continues to be eye-opening.

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Remember when he revealed just seven physical games had exceeded 100k units in the US so far this year? Well, at its peak in 2008, that number peaked at 100 different titles.

You can see the decline plotted in the graph below:

As for those seven games that managed to sell more than 100k units physically: none of them reached 275k units. So this isn’t a case of those seven games selling millions upon millions of boxed copies. They didn’t.

Piscatella acknowledges that supply and demand play a role in these results, as it’s been noted that physical copies of games like Resident Evil Requiem were in short supply at launch.

But it’s worth remembering the real customers here are the retailers themselves – the likes of Walmart et al surely would have ordered many more copies if the demand for them was there.

Of course, so far this data only accounts for PlayStation games, but it’s a similar trajectory across all consoles.

Again, for the 12-month period ending June 2009, a total of 292 million physical games were sold in the US across all consoles. That number for the same period ending June 2026? Just 37 million.

See the graph below:

Piscatella is clear with his analysis: Circana only tracks the US, so that’s the only data he can share. Other markets may have different trajectories, and that should be considered.

I think it’s also important to point out that 37 million units is certainly not nothing – I’ve repeatedly said that I think PlayStation has pulled the plug on physical games far too early. But remember, it’s 37 million across all platforms – at best, Sony’s consoles will represent roughly a third of that.

So interesting data that should add a lot more context to this decision, then – regardless of your own personal feelings. It’s not propaganda, it’s just facts; you can still choose to disagree with the decision if you so desire.

[source bsky.app]