Physical Game Sales 'Collapsed' In The UK Last Year, Says New Report

There's really only a select few that care about physical media nowadays be it games,dvds whatever it's becoming obsolete now maybe next gen both Xbox and playstation won't bother with a disc drive or could just make it an optional extra I personally haven't bought a physical game in years!

Adorably all digital is nearly here 😎😍

I still like to collect physical discs, went into Game over Christmas and it was shocked how little Xbox games they actually stocked compared to PlayStation and the Switch. It's clear which consoles are more popular.

99% of the games that I buy are digital. The other 1% are Collector's Editions that I rarely open. Indeed, if I buy a Collector's Edition and decide not to open it, but do actually want to play the game, then I often double dip and buy it digitally too. The most recent example of this is where I bought the Collector's Edition of Indian Jones And The Great Circle, which cost me £189.99, and remains unopened. Due to the initial cost, I won't open it, and will likely play it on Game Pass instead (which at least avoids the necessity of actually buying it again).

I have been buying my games digitally since the start of the Xbox One era, and as I buy a lot of games, I have now amassed over 1600 digital games in the past 11 years...

This is why Xbox only sporadically puts out physical games and why companies like Limited Run games a) exist in the first place, and b) rarely, if ever, put out Xbox versions of games. The market just isn't there like it used to be. The vocal minority will die on the hill that physical games still matter, but they don't. The market has largely accepted the digital-only dystopia that that aforementioned vocal minority likes to bemoan.

New law; You can only buy tea if you show proof of purchase for a physical disc/cartridge. Problem solved.

I seriously doubt the sale of physical games is going to improve any time soon because only Switch games can actually be played from the cartridge. Both Xbox and Playstation games are just installation disc which allows you to install it to your hard drive and allow you to play the game that is installed on your hard drive.

Discs vanishing from PC is why I moved to console.

The vanishing from console is one of the reasons I went back to PC games.

With PC I'm not committing to a walled garden with subscription fees. I don't have to beg to do things with my games like install mods, use different cotbeollwrs, or even VR.

Consoles have essentially outlived their usefulness aside from Nintendo. Since they actually keep things on their platform.

@InterceptorAlpha with pc gaming you can play illegal games and piracy. no doubt many pc gamers do pirate games..

As more and more handhelds (be it Playstation or Xbox) come out, the thing that won’t be compatible with them is your physical collection.

So whilst Xbox is by far the worst for physical; I do think they are preparing people to have a digital library ready for the handheld(s) when it hits.

That said I enjoy physical media too.

@johnedwin1969 Funnily enough you can do that on consoles too. Pretty much every console ever.

I fail to see the relevance of the minority of people on all platforms, to this conversation, though.

@somnambulance not just switch

MS didn’t release a big game until the end of the year. No big AAA Sony game either.

PS5 Pro doesn't have a disc model. Since then, I expected the next Xbox and PS consoles to not have one either, a USB peripheral at best. Since last generation, consoles don't even run games from the disc, so it could even be a phone app to scan the disc code. Yes, you can't install the game like that, but when was the last time a disc didn't need to download an update?

Someone said a few days ago that he will keep his Series X because of that. I agree, but mostly because of BDs, DVDs and CDs. I also will keep my New 3DS and Wii U forever because of their backwards compatibility and libraries. I don't even take the 3DS out because of this.

I'm not surprised as there's so little advantage to physical games any more. Buying and selling second hand is all there is left.

Besides the odd second hand bargain I don't buy physical games any more as they're just shelf stuffers.

You don't have the game on the disc as all games have updates, and many some sort of online authentication requirement; you're more likely to physically lose or break a game disc than lose access to a digital store,; and you don't get access to features like Play Anywhere, Cloud streaming, etc.

The physical game ship has sailed because the product has been getting worse, and the alternative has been getting better.

The day physical goes away is the day I stop buying new games. Yes they appear to be glorified installation discs but when done they can be sold and are often cheaper to buy. I got Street Fighter 6 on day 1 for £37. Digital would have been way higher.

I do like downloading games on sale, eg loads of lego titles in summer but physical must continue.

@Fiendish-Beaver I have done similar to you with Console and more with PC games as the years have gone by. However, how many of your 1600 Xbox games do you think you will still be able to play in another 11 years time? Sony and Microsoft are a lot quicker to terminate games due to licencing. I am sad about the killing off of physical. "You will own nothing and be happy" as they said all those years ago

you know the sad thing is, some of these complainers don’t do what they preach.

@JMX I’m getting tired of that phrase

In eleven years time I will be 72, @JMX! So it's a question of whether it will be the games or myself that expire first... 🤣

I wouldn’t even know where to go to buy a new physical game now and I live in Leeds which isn’t exactly short of shops. In fact, the last boxed game I bought was Sea of Thieves in 2018.

Well I buy mostly physical, and when it comes to walking into a shop and buying physical it's becoming problematic.
Game are more or less finished now.
CEX is only good for your used copies, with new releases used at crazy prices. Plus they don't get tracked. i suppose because that copy has been sold at new retail in the beginning.

So people do buy physical , just not new.
I went into Smyths toys and there selection is so so. but prices vary . some good deals at times and others at Full RRP.

I have this past year bought more physical games than in past years within a 3 month period.
but i use online sellers like The Game Collection and Bazaar Bazaar for imports . I even purchased a few limited run games. but i guess they don't count as their imports to.

I don't think physical is dead. its slower and many people import to find the right deals.

But then years ago game shops where everywhere . the likes of Game and Electronics boutique with their 2nd hand buy backs and return polices at the time drove out all the small independent shops. In London there's none left.

So yeah the big boys ruined the independents and once done they drove up there prices , changed their polices , and everyone hates them now.

Plus this year has been a funny year with new releases. , no big hitters till end of the year , as someone here else mentioned.

As far as physical declining , yes it has , modern gamers don't have that attachment to physical from a collectors point .

Will I buy into next gen if there's no Physical , basically NO .
I still buy DVD, Bluray, CD, and the resurgence of Vinyl is exciting .
Happy New Year all. and let the games flow.

@Fiendish-Beaver Ha! very funny and sad at the same time.... I will be 65. Hopefully we will both be perky and still playing games. Oh and happy that we are a couple of old blokes that are still gaming now!

Unfortunate but I don't even buy 'new' Xbox games because not only are they mostly Series X focused which makes sense of course, but none of the games interest me on there.

I questioned Syberia 1 (I haven't played enough of 3 physical on my Xbox One anyway so not much point) but I mean I can get that anywhere anyways.

Forza Motorsport 8 would have been my Series X physical purchase but it's too expensive and I don't like the way the game is. That and even if I have Game pass as of people I live with, I barely have a need for the services.

Everything is either cheap physical or on the service the games I want aren't there anyway. Or physical I don't have to keep sub paying (even if I'm not paying for it anyway but others that use it do get the worth of it).

Otherwise I only own Xbox One/Series smart delivery games on disk that's it. Very few too, like 4-5 or something. but even Xbox One versions most are old games not new because the new games don't appeal.

Only Switch/PS4 did and I don't remember a single new PS4 game I bought in 2024 they were all pre-owned, otherwise the rest was PS2/Wii/PS3/360/PSP/DS games and the 20+ I beat that year, but I can the 2024 Switch games I had interest in 1st/3rd parties for sure which was a fair amount.

So if the games were more appealing I'd contribute but as they are, I'm not missing out on anything really.

If WRC 23 (if cheap and enough research if I actually want it for it's features) or Ride 5 (isn't as hard as 4 was to play but I doubt it as MotoGP games I assume still are hard these days then the 360 era ones I have no problems playing at all so it's the modern game design entries) sure, otherwise most other third party games for other genres were PS5 anyway and even then most there don't appeal either.

But no 1st party have interested me and that's not because they went to other platforms, I still didn't care for them. Or waiting for them like South of Midnight or so even then I could pass on.