While both digital and physical games go on sale often, you'll typically find the best discounts on physical games. Game sales were up 55% compared to April 2019, reaching a total of $662 million, according to NPD Group’s latest report, with Final Fantasy VII Remake taking the spot as April’s top-selling game. More realistic is a tandem of models for each console: one offering a purely digital experience, the other a more powerful device capable of reading physical media. Digital content won’t ever completely kill off physical media but will warp it into a niche product reserved for enthusiasts very much in the same way vinyl records are a collector’s item. Sony and Microsoft generally price digital copies higher, sometimes upwards of 10% compared to the physical versions – even on launch day titles. We don’t exactly know what they will sport under the hood, and although digital will continue to overtake physical media, it’s unlikely the next-generation will be the first to forego a disc drive entirely. Copyright ©2021 Designtechnica Corporation. PS4 was just 5 years and 7 months. Digital copies of video games are downloaded onto your video game system or associated storage device. Browse Xbox sales and specials for deals on the latest Xbox games, consoles, accessories and more to take your play to the next level. Speculation aside, the ongoing growth of digital is inevitable, and the next-generation of console signals a cataclysmic shift not just in how consumers play games but how they buy them. The best-selling platform was the Nintendo Switch, which continues to hold onto its top spot as the Sony and Microsoft’s competitors age out and prepare for the next generation to release later this year. Digital downloads on the platform accounted for 53% of full game software sales from the start of the year to June – a 10% jump on figures for the same period last year. A group of analysts believe that video game revenue will come entirely from digital sales by the year 2022. We assume the physical sales to be 60% of GameStop’s overall new video game software sales, which translates into $1.4 billion in physical sales. Email me | Bug me on Twitter. From simple one-time purchases and single player experiences to full-priced and free-to-play games, the gaming industry has been completely reshaped throughout the last decade. Only vinyl records are holding their own in … The message is clear: physical games are now a high-end, optional part of the console gaming experience. The data comes from the most recent earnings report from Sony, the Q1 FY2019 Consolidated Financial Results.This report covered the three months which ended on June 30 th, 2019.According to the data, Sony sold 42.9 million PS4 software units. Apart from Google’s Stadia, details about Microsoft and Sony’s upcoming consoles are limited to speculation and generalized comments about using custom-designed AMD Zen2 Navi APUs and boasting X-amount more graphical processing power than the current crop of consoles. Call of Duty has another game among April top sellers with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Remastered coming in as the seventh-highest title. Because Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart compete with each other, they often have sales, making physical games cheaper than the digital versions. Between retail discounts, digital sales, used game deals from my local shops, and now subs, $60 day one purchases are rare for me. Meanwhile, Animal Crossing: New Horizons had a record launch for its exclusive Switch platform and quickly outpaced its predecessors. Rumors emanating from the Microsoft camp suggest Project Scarlett already has two models dubbed Lockhart and Anaconda that fit the description. Late 2020 will see the releases of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, and both systems will support digital and disc-based games. Still, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One also did well, with sales of the three consoles increasing by more than 160% over last year. July 30, 2019 UTC: 2:45 PM. Serving as a surprise standout is Just Dance 2020, a yearly franchise that hasn’t often gained much attention since it debuted in 2009 among the advent of motion-controlled play for the Wii and later the Xbox Kinect. For example, in Australia, Sony’s latest big release, Ghost of Tsushima , costs around $71 in the PlayStation Store, but retailers are selling physical copies for as low as around $49. That means that gamers need to start working on upgrading hard drive space on their PCs and consoles because there will come a time when video games are no longer available in physical … ... NPD Group uses data from both physical sales and digital downloads of games. Physical vs Digital—Why Physical Video Games Are Better. Physical sales of CDs and vinyl took a massive hit to an already rocky foundation, down 23% for that time period. NPD’s Group’s report states hardware spending for April grew by a massive 163% compared to 2019, from $160 million to $420 million. The Xbox marketplace has crazy good deals. Physical game sales have been smaller and smaller each year, but are they still relevant? Digital Copy. If you pre-order a digital copy of a video game you will either be able to download a copy immediately (being able to play it once the game is officially released) or download the game at the moment it is officially released. And while 6% might not immediately translate to significant growth, this year’s quiet release slate, already mired by delays and disruption caused by the coronavirus, combined with Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One end of lifecycle lull makes just about any increase notable. Game sales for 2020 have already topped $2 billion — and that’s for software sales alone. In the third quarter of 2015, Electronic Arts, a massive video game publisher, made $666 million in physical sales and $480 million in digital, according to numbers provided by SuperData. The report also shows that the PlayStation 4 passed the 100-million-units-shipped milestone, seizing the coveted spot as the fastest console to do so, according to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad. For over half of the 42.9 million units sold, consumers opted to download rather than invest in digital copies. That whopping figure puts the industry sales 6% higher than this time last year. A luxury. France showed even more startling growth, with a jump from 31% digital in Q1 2018 to 47% digital in Q1 2019. Going into 2020, game streaming will undoubtedly be a topic of interest. It’s followed by the long-running favorite Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and this spring’s massive hit, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which was the top seller for March. That’s a First, Sony's Q1 financial results reveal digital sales of games surpassed those of their physical counterparts for the first time. That’s a First. I have a CD case for my physical games, but it fills up quickly, so it's much easier to travel with a hard drive. Video game sales continue to skyrocket with people all over the world staying home to follow social distancing requirements due to the coronavirus pandemic. Upgrade your lifestyleDigital Trends helps readers keep tabs on the fast-paced world of tech with all the latest news, fun product reviews, insightful editorials, and one-of-a-kind sneak peeks.Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. PS5 Digital Edition will be harder to find this holiday season than the standard PS5 with a disc drive, according to a number of sources and reports. On the PC, unless you pre-order or have to play everything at release, sales make digital much cheaper. Is digital really as dominant as people think? | Source: Shutterstock. Sales of CDs continue to slump as consumers turn towards music streaming services rather than owning physical media. But as the RIAA notes, the industry’s revenue is still 40 percent below peak levels, and physical sales and digital downloads still have farther to fall. And I'm running out of room to put physical games. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has remained among the top-selling titles since its release in October 2019 making it the best seller of 2020 so far and of the last 12 months. Here, digital game copies have the consistent advantage of being available on the web, and can offer as many sales or bundles it takes to make a buzz overnight, which just is not as simple to do with physical copies. While physical game sales are declining, PwC noted that digital will only be around a third of the console game revenues generated in 2020. Additionally, the ability to pre-download titles in the days leading up to release means players can jump into the action quicker. COVID-19: U.S. video game spending change as of April 2020, by age; COVID-19: increase in time spent playing video games worldwide as of March 2020 Become a Patron, so we can produce more of the content you enjoy! In Q1 2018 Nordics was the only market to have a higher proportion of digital sales than physical sales, at 53% digital. The two franchise top performers are joined by 2015’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III on the list of the Xbox One’s top 10 for April. | Source: Shutterstock, WTF Call of Duty? Faster than both the PS2 and Wii which were just behind. First-quarter financial results released by Sony today reveal that digital sales of … New Killstreak FORCES Gamers to Commit War Crime, Zinedine Zidane Scores FIFA 20 Ultimate Edition Cover, Hacked.com - Protection against online abuse and cybercrime. Digital vs Physical Switch games. The number of subscribers to Sony’s digital PlayStation Plus service also rose from 33.9 million in Q1 2018 to 36.2 million in the same time frame this year. Additionally, a homogenization of pricing needs to happen as well. Digital PlayStation 4 games have seen steady growth over the past few years, rising from 32% of total sales in 2017 to 37% last year. 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