adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
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Circana / Piscatella: US Physical Software Spending Dropped Under 5% of Total Spending in 2023.
- Thread starter adamsapple
- Start date
rm082e
Member
I guess Mobile being included in that makes it hard for me to contextualize. It would be more helpful to know what the percentage of physical vs digital spending is for each of the three consoles.
The direction is still the same though: I expect Microsoft and Sony will not support any physical media next generation, only Nintendo with the Switch 2.
The direction is still the same though: I expect Microsoft and Sony will not support any physical media next generation, only Nintendo with the Switch 2.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
Why even include PC, mobile, and VR in this data? It makes no sense.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
He's including *all* video game spending so I guess it would make sense to include those too.
LordCBH
Member
Yup. It says all spending, so is it including microtransaction purchases in that as well? If so, this number is useless.
Thick Thighs Save Lives
Gold Member
Mr Moose
I can't quote your post, but this reminds me of a UK Boxed Charts discussion from a few months back when BBC reported a similar physical to digital split for the UK.
Sales-Age - UK Boxed Charts: Week 3, 2024 (Jan 14 - Jan 20)
Why did they made an exception by selling Part 2 50€ instead of 80€ like Part 1 in Europe? Isn't the first time Sony sell a new game this low in this gen? Were they afraid the game would bomb at 80€? Anyways Part 2 did chart well notably thanks to the lowered price. Coincidentally The price...
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Self_Destructive
Member
I loved physical games back in the day. If games were still made on carts, and had nice boxes with beautiful box art, manuals, maps, ect.. I'd still be championing the medium. But these days.. they're crappy flimsy plastic cases with no manuals, maps, ect (unless it's a CE) and the disc is just a piece of plastic which acts like a physical DRM to content which they could just as easily block you from accessing if they really wanted.
GigaBowser
The bear of bad news
what the crud this guy ever talking bout
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
It's always #SonyToo huh?
Sleepwalker
Member
God I fucking hate this asshat and his stupid analysis.
Includes mobile figures, VR figures and PC figures. All platforms with no physical releases.
Includes mobile figures, VR figures and PC figures. All platforms with no physical releases.
Heisenberg007
Gold Journalism
So physical has a small share among these platforms that mostly don't have the physical disc drive?
to be fair to him, he is just relaying the data.
Sleepwalker
Member
He can relay these nuts.
Punished Miku
Gold Member
You're almost there. Focus.
Mr Moose
Member
PC, mobile and all the other shit that doesn't do physical obviously skews things.
rm082e
Member
Oh, I'm not trying to "bothsides" or anything. It just seems obvious to me this is the direction they're both heading.
As the costs keep increasing, it's in their best interest to eliminate used/rentals/borrowing. Along with that, we're not going to see the cost of silicon drop at the rate it used to. Eliminating the drive and costs associated with physical media will help increase their profits. If the player base is getting more and more comfortable with it, they'll reach a point where it's just not worth continuing to cater to the shrinking pool of people who have strong feelings about physical media.
I'm guessing Microsoft is already there and the new discless Series X will be a replacement, not an option when it launches later this year. I'm assuming the PS5 Pro will support their add-on drive, but only because they want to double-dip on existing PS5 owners.
We've seen a possible prototype leak and one possibly in the wild of an all digital XSX.
The newest version of the PS5 has a disc drive. Even if the Pro won't, I'm willing to bet lots of money it will be compatible with the disc drive.
It's amazing how SonyToo keeps popping up. MS is actively moving away from physical games. Wasn't there a thread recently where Sony set up shop in some region to help with physical games?
News - Sony to start manufacturing PS5 physical games in Brazil that will be distributed nationally and exported to all LATAM countries
Machine translation via DeepL: Here at Sony Interactive Entertainment, we appreciate the support that our Brazilian community has given to the PlayStation brand and our products. We are excited to share the news that, from now on, PlayStation 5 physical disks for our exclusive and third-party...
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Woopah
Member
That's because:
1. Digital revenue includes download-only games, DLC, MTX and Battle Passes etc.
2. Sony's revenue figures include 100% of digital third party sales, but only 30% of physical third party sales.
OuterLimits
Member
Exactly. The fact physical game sales went from 10% of all video game spending to just under 5% in several years isn't a good thing since I prefer physical. Perhaps Covid in 20/21 helped speed up the transition to our mostly digital future?
It sucks that physical is becoming a bit less relevant with each passing year, but that is just reality. Perhaps this will be the one instance where Nintendo doing their own thing and releasing systems a gen or two behind their competition will be beneficial.(I hope)
LordBlodgett
Member
Throwing mobile in there is really dumb, but I do remember how big the PC section used to be at big box and gaming stores, and it is now 100% nonexistent. This is the way everything is moving, even console. Pretty hard to deny at this point.
Self_Destructive
Member
Uh, yes it does.
It's amazing to me that analysts can't post industry wide trends without people saying how stupid they are for........... including the entire industry..
Dr. Wilkinson
Member
Yes... people spend money on microtransactions, so... yes, obviously.
Topher
Gold Member
Yes, but at the same time it would be nice to see accurate data and trends for physical media for the platforms that actually offer physical media. That would be useful. This just isn't.
No, it doesn't. How in the world are you going to accurately analyze trends in physical media by including data that has nothing to do with physical media?
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LordBlodgett
Member
Oh, I absolutely agree. Throwing mobile in there, a platform which I have NEVER seen a physical game for in any store, is obviously done just to mess with the numbers. It's nonsensical because it has never, and never will exist, so why add that to your comparison?
Self_Destructive
Member
Yes... it does...
He's not "analyzing trends in physical media"... he's analyzing spending trends in the gaming industry... of which physical media is simply a part.
Comparing the same data from 2019 to now shows a decrease in physical spending.
Imagine asking someone to figure out how much of a percentage of industry wide spending is on physical media vs digital... without including the parts of the industry which are digital...
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Self_Destructive
Member
analog_future
Resident Crybaby
95% of consumers seem to be fine with it.
Topher
Gold Member
Nonsense. We don't even know how much was spent on physical media with this data. The data is so useless that physical media sales could have actually increased and still have fallen percentage wise due to an increase in spending in mobile.
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Even if it did, he's just reporting the current percent of spending done on physical content as part of the total spending done on gaming in the US last year.
I'm not getting why folks are being so harsh towards Mat here, lol.
PS. In the third tweet he says this:
Not sure but it sounds like he's specifically talking about physical only spending here, which is also declining.
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analog_future
Resident Crybaby
Because he's presenting trends that people here don't want to admit are happening.
Punished Miku
Gold Member
Deep-seated anxiety and dread about the future.
Self_Destructive
Member
Topher
Gold Member
Because he is making the percentage of physical media sales look much worse than it really is.
I'm not mad. And I didn't say anything was inaccurate. I said it was useless. And it is.
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Self_Destructive
Member
Yes you are. You're attacking Mat for posting industry trends.
He's not here to help you make yourself feel better about your gaming medium of choice...
If all other aspects of the industry grew, and physical represented an even lower percentage of overall spend... then that STILL signals that there's a decline in physical spending in the industry overall...
adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
He's making specific points about physical media spending in the second and third tweets
Overall video game spending increased 25% from 2019 to 2023.
Physical video game software spending was 37% lower from 2019 to 2023.
That's what it reads like based on what he's putting out.
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