Destruction allstars physical copy3/26/2023 ![]() Last year, physical game sales in Q4 2019 accounted for 57% of sold units and 60% of sales value. The holiday quarter of Q4 is even more productive for physical games. A lot of downloaded games are back-catalogue titles, and when it comes to looking at data for new games, especially for the first two weeks of sales, the story changes - physical game sales accounted for 41% of sold units and 41% of sales value. Sam NajiĪll of this looks ominous for physical games, but this is not the complete picture. Across the first three quarters of this year, physical game sales only accounted for 25% of sold units and 32% of sales value (among the 18 major publishers who share digital data with ISFE). GSD data for the UK shows a similar trend. This only helped to consolidate PlayStation's revenue from digital sources - including downloaded software, add-ons, and networking services - which reached 77% of all global game revenue. According to Sony, only 41% of Sony's PlayStation games in the second quarter were sold in the physical format, down from 55% in the same quarter in 2019. The second quarter of 2020 is instructive of how the shift from physical to digital games globally coincided with the high street shutting down due to government rules to manage the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In sum, those who prefer physical games may feel increasingly squeezed by both digital and streaming gamers. However, this will change in time as faster speeds neutralize download frustrations. According to Limelight Networks, a content delivery network service, 87% of gamers globally find the process of downloading video games frustrating, with download times being the top bugbear. Research firm Omdia has predicted cloud gaming revenues are poised to rise by 188% to $4 billion in 2021, before reaching $12 billion by 2025.įaster internet speeds are another benefit. With Stadia and Luna, Google and Amazon have both jumped on to the streaming bandwagon. In the last several years subscription has taken off with services like Xbox Game Pass, which has a membership heading towards the 20 million mark, if it hasn't already passed that threshold. Then there is subscriptions and streaming. With the growing popularity of digital games, DLC and microtransactions, it feels as if the physical video game does not quite belong in this new world If this is a secular trend it is hardly surprising when Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, concluded that the PlayStation 5 digital version will help accelerate digital-only games to account for 80% share of global game sales, compared to just 20% for physical games in 2025. ![]() Data from GSD reveals some ominous signs: FIFA 21 launched in early October in the UK, and by the end of its first week 69% of the games were downloaded when measured by sales value. With the growing popularity of digital games, DLC and microtransactions, it feels as if the physical video game does not quite belong in this new digital world. ![]() What happened to the all-digital future we keep on reading about? This essay will explore why, in the video game industry, consumer behaviour has clouded the direction of choice. According to ISFE's retail tracking Games Sales Data (GSD), over 75% of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S combined sales were for the disc-based console. With that in mind, you would think the obvious choice is opt for the cheaper console - after all, why spend more money unnecessarily? That message has not filtered through to most UK gamers, who tended to buy the more expensive disc-based console. Did you get a physical game in a box for Christmas? Or better still, a new console? When it came to the new consoles you had two choices with either system: do you opt for the cheaper disc-less version, or the more expensive one that comes with an optical drive?įor years we have heard that the future is an all-digital world where physical media is dying.
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