As the physical games market continues to dwindle, new figures from Sony highlight how PlayStation players are continuing to shift towards digital purchases.
The decline of physical games has been an ongoing story for years, with retailers like GAME being gradually chased off the high street, as more people opt for the convenience of digital.
We’re now seeing companies like Nintendo try to deter people away from buying physical games, with higher prices and the introduction of half-digital measures like Game-Key cards. Microsoft’s entire strategy, with its emphasis on its Game Pass subscription service, has also downplayed the need for physical games.
In its latest financial report, Sony has revealed just how much of the PlayStation audience is buying physical media and it’s sadly (but unsurprisingly) a dwindling small number.
As noted in Sony’s earnings report for Q4 2024, which ended March 31, 2025, 80% of all worldwide software sales across PlayStation 4 and 5 worldwide were digital, up 3% over the same period last year.
Most notably, 76% of all sales were digital over the entire 2024 financial year, which is a 6% increase from last year’s total.
While this figure might be slightly skewed, as it appears to include digital-only games as well as those with physical versions, the sharp increase is still a worrying sign for anyone still clinging onto the joys of a physical box.
It’s long been understood that Xbox fans are even more likely to buy digital than PlayStation, with a GamesIndustry.biz report revealing that just 19% of Xbox game sales in 2024 were via retail stores. This was down from 26% in 2023.
This increase also tracks with prior reports. As noted by The Game Business, 64% of all PlayStation 5 games sold in Europe in 2024 were downloaded (however, this only counts games released digitally and physically, and in one specific region).
According to GSD data, meanwhile, the physical games market in Europe dropped 22% in 2024, while UK physical unit sales fell 26%.
Nintendo is still the company with the biggest presence at retail, as it’s more targeted towards families (according to reports, sales of Switch games are still around 80% physical in Europe), so while physical copies might stick around for a while there, it feels like the next gen consoles from Sony and Microsoft will inevitably prioritise digital even further.
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