Gross sales of boxed video video games in USA slumped to their lowest level in over 25 years in 2024, in response to knowledge launched by market analysis organisation Circana.
In keeping with the information, income generated by bodily software program has greater than halved since 2021, and is a whopping 85% under its peak in 2008.
It’s clearly no secret that shopper habits have step by step been transitioning in direction of digital releases. That’s because of numerous elements: worth, comfort, availability, and – maybe most prominently – the pandemic.
However this startling knowledge underlines precisely why Sony launched the PS5 Professional with no disc drive included. In keeping with analyst Mat Piscatella, 49% of all PS5 {hardware} offered within the US final yr didn’t embrace a disc drive.
None of this implies bodily video games are going away, in fact. Sony nonetheless produces boxed copies of all of its main titles, and there are markets the place bodily stays a robust possibility for shoppers.
