Power laws are a thing, though.

We can say with near-certainty that most of these seven games aren't exactly setting the world on fire, and much worse still, that the games around the 25th aren't even crossing 10K, and further down they are probably getting under 1K very quickly.

The ceiling is extraordinarily low and so the bottom is very deep.

Those 10K numbers are what some games sold in one week. Not lifetime sales.

Not physical in the US this year, though, at least, which is the point here.

Oh really? 

Game 1 sells 800,000 physically lifetime on PS5 in the USA and 2 million worldwide physically. Does 10 million copies lifetime on PS5 alone. Does 20 million across all platforms. 

Game 2 does 600,000 physically on PS5 in the USA lifetime and 1.5 million worldwide physically. Does 8 million lifetime on PS5 alone. Does 16 million across all platforms. 

Game 3 does 500,000 etc.

Game 4 is 400,000

Game 5 is 300,000

Game 6 is 250,000

Game 7 is 100,000 by July 2026 but goes on to do 200,000 lifetime in the USA for physical. 

Matt P. gets his check from Sony. Takes this data and says "Only 7 games sold over 100,000 in the USA in the first half of 2026 physically".

Do you not see how the data is limited on purpose to tell a narrative? Matt P. is a cunt that used to work for WB games and Activision. He loves micro transactions, lootboxes and digital. He is a corporate suit there to manufacturer consent and AstroTurf. 

Im not sure what you mean...

Part of me wonders if Sony is intentionally scaling back physical production already to help skew physical sales numbers to help justify the bandaid pull. Market analysts like Piscatella can only get numbers provided sold by retailers. Requiem was somehow sold out of physical copies in the US, and I'm like....how???? Expedition 33, a lot more understandable how often it was sold out due to a smaller publisher not knowing what demand would be like, but Capcom??? Surely they would be aware.

Complete conspiracy theory kind of thinking on my part, but it makes you wonder, considering physical games still do sell. Especially for Sony's first-party games in particular. Could also be possible that third-party publishers just aren't ordering as many physical copies as well.

Holy goalposts, Batman. Yeah, sure, if you assume a very flat mathematical distribution, add all lifetime sales, count them worldwide, and then... see how you come across? How much profit do you think that would generate for every party involved, by the way? With retailers using up inventory space and bargain bin prices for physical games that are selling at a trickle?

Not to mention Circana's core business in gaming since they were NPD is tracking physical brick-and-mortar retail sales. They aren't trying to push any company's agenda, and if anything, it would be the other way around. Trying to do an emotionally charged attack on Matt for that is a bit silly and immature, to be honest.

That wouldn't surprise me. I don't buy physical game anymore, but I've heard it can be really hard to find physical copies of a lot of games. Physical should remain an option for those interested even if it is in more limited quantities. Sony could just sell physical games for $10 or $20 more to make up the difference. 

You can still buy music on CDs and vinyl, and movies/tv shows on blu-rays / DVDs. Even if those sales are tiny compared to what they were decades ago.

PS6/Helix should have a disc-drive add-on as an option for those that still want to use physical games. Even if it is separate device and plugs into them like the HD-DVD drive for the X360. They could even be sold at a decent profit. 

How would they get away with intentionally scaling back physical production for major publishers? Would the likes of Capcom and Activision really just accept less physical software if they believed it would sell?

I don't think it is that if we look back at the past decade of Switch third party software in Japan and how every publisher constantly under shipped and still continues to do so even in 2026, It's a fine margin of shipping just enough copies to sell through and leave enough on shelves or having to reduce to $10 because they have to many sat in warehouses.