G2ThaUNiT said:
You……completely missed the point lol. It had 0 to do with the percentage drop itself and everything to do with how much money is actually being spent on physical games. That’s where the ultimate truth lies. Physical games now cost upwards of $70 physically. Back in the day it was upwards of $60. For the entirety of 2025, only $1.5 billion was spent on physical games in the US. That figure is across all 3 console makers COMBINED! That’s not good regardless of how anyone tries to spin it. The $11.6 billion figure spent on physical games from 2008 is most likely a lot higher when adjusted for inflation. I get the argument of percentages being skewed, but let’s not be willfully ignorant on the actual financials. It’s the same trajectory in every major gaming market outside of Japan. Ultimately, Sony could’ve still done several different things to keep physical games going. From charging an extra $20 premium to just drastically scaling down production, but they chose to do nothing. |
Wasn't spending in 2025 down in general though?
Remember that the Switch 2 only launched halfway through the year, so not a lot of games yet to spend on and Switch 1 was on its way out. And the Xbox Series wasn't lighting up the charts either with software, so that leaves only the PS5. Whereas in 2008, you had the Wii, X360 and PS3 all tearing it up with software in addition to the DS and the PSP, all selling physical games almost entirely. So it's only natural that there would be a huge difference between those two specific years when you do also factor in that digital is much higher now on top of that.
It would be interesting to see the gradual decline of physical and rise of digital every year from 2008 to 2025 to get a better idea of how spending was distributed over the years.
