Nearly 80% of All PS5, PS4 Games Are Bought Digitally

[seether]

Physical enthusiasts should probably look away now because Sony has revealed 79 per cent of all PS5, PS4 games sold during its latest fiscal quarter were for the digital version. This represents a dramatic increase for the start of fiscal year 2022; a 13 per cent boost over fiscal year 2021 to be exact, when two-thirds of games were purchased digitally.

In Q1 of fiscal year 2021, digital purchases stood at 71 per cent. The two following quarters saw the percentage drop to 62 per cent, and then it returned to 71 per cent for Q4. The beginning of fiscal year 2022 sees the statistic at its highest ever of 79 per cent. Interestingly, the amount of monthly active users on PSN dropped by four million across the latest quarter, suggesting there are fewer people using the service but more of that user base are taking the digital route.

It's bad news for PS5, PS4 gamers who prefer to buy games physically as the industry and market shift further into the digital realm. Sony offers a PS5 system without a disc drive, but will that become the default option once it is ready to move onto the next generation? Come back in six or seven years and we should have an answer.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2022/07/nearly-80percent-of-all-ps5-ps4-games-are-bought-digitally

[dhaabi]

I wouldn't be surprised if these totals also included monthly rewards being redeemed by PlayStation Plus subscribers. If that's the case, then the ratio is heavily skewed.

[seether]

I wouldn't be surprised if these totals also included monthly rewards being redeemed by PlayStation Plus subscribers. If that's the case, then the ratio is heavily skewed.

That was my first reaction. But then I also thought I also wouldn't be surprised if 80% of games were actually bought digitally now either.

[Cartagia]

It also doesn't help that a large portion of the consoles are locked in to digital only, and with the supply chain issues there are almost certainly people out there who are digital only but do not want to be.

[emporerdragon]

I wonder if they're accounting for games that are just not available physically, as there's tons of smaller, indie titles on the systems that will never get a physical release.

In any case, I do find that the vast majority of my purchases for the current console generation has been digital, as now with a solid infrastructure in place, it's just easier and more convenient to have digital. Hell, there've been a few titles I bought digitally that I already owned physically as then I could swap games without walking across the room to do so.

[tripredacus]

I wonder if they're accounting for games that are just not available physically, as there's tons of smaller, indie titles on the systems that will never get a physical release.

Corporate accounting is creative but not being in that particular industry to know exactly how products are distributed I can't give any good alegories about it. In any case, this isn't anything new. That site decided to write a news story about it, that Q1 2022 had more digital than physical sales, but this information comes from a recent earnings announcement. And as you can see from digging down through the sources you come the source: https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/IR/library/presen/er/pdf/22q1_supplement.pdf

I would forgive anyone who doesn't know how to read this type of thing, but knowing how corporations twist numbers, you cannot infer that they are specifically meaning something that isn't specifically stated. Page 9 it shows the earnings per type and here is shows in Q1 22 that they earned 101B¥ from digital and 16B¥ from physical. But looking back on the chart shows that they earned more from digital over physical in all of 2021... so this isn't even news.

Reading the notes shows that their physical sales prices only includes first party and the digital includes first and third since they control the store. And from here we can now start to see how they twist the numbers around. It does not say "In Q1 of fiscal year 2021, digital purchases stood at 71 per cent" as OP has put. The source documentation only says this number is relating to download ratio and not purchases. Nothing regarding that ratio can be used to determine what the actual physical vs digital sales numbers are, to even prove that digital outweights physical. The reasons being:
- Physical unit totals are not mentioned, only revenue
- Renevue on physical only includes first party
- the digital ratio value includes software pre-installed on the consoles, which includes all consoles that were purchased by the channel and will also include consoles that are in transit, sitting in a warehouse or otherwise not sold to customers yet. This also will include those "physical" games that download their software from PSN.

That situation regarding them counting the stuff pre-installed to consoles is something that can push their numbers up to their investors. They are going to count those in these numbers because they have sold the consoles into the channel, that product has been invoiced. Their listings for physical games will work the same way, those will be product sold to channel, not to customers.

So what is the actual news that is being reported here? That in Q1 22 Sony had more revenue on digital than physical? Ok but that isn't anything new. When was the first quarter where that happened?

[wowgek7]

whats the point in getting physical ps4 and 5 games anyway now?

they require so many patches and updates  the discs are practicly useless asside from being nice to look at.  its sad but thats the current state of things people wont see what an all digital future means till its too late

[telekill]

Goes well with the WEF motto...

"You'll own nothing and you'll be happy."

I'd rather own my stuff including my home.

[Cartagia]

whats the point in getting physical ps4 and 5 games anyway now?

Ownership.

[telly]

whats the point in getting physical ps4 and 5 games anyway now?

they require so many patches and updates  the discs are practicly useless asside from being nice to look at.  its sad but thats the current state of things people wont see what an all digital future means till its too late

I'd rather have a game that has issues than no game at all, personally.

I'm also hopeful that at some point any game patches will be available to download to a hacked machine over the internet rather through PSN when the servers are all eventually shut down.

[wowgek7]

whats the point in getting physical ps4 and 5 games anyway now?

they require so many patches and updates  the discs are practicly useless asside from being nice to look at.  its sad but thats the current state of things people wont see what an all digital future means till its too late

I'd rather have a game that has issues than no game at all, personally.

I get that but I hope you get my point as well  because the other side of this is that they dont care if they bring out a broken product anymore because they cna patch it so it will sadly only get worse

I'm also hopeful that at some point any game patches will be available to download to a hacked machine over the internet rather through PSN when the servers are all eventually shut down.

aint gonna happen  because that is called piracy and they wont ever allow that they rather bring the game out again so you ened to rebuy it

[seether]

whats the point in getting physical ps4 and 5 games anyway now?

they require so many patches and updates  the discs are practicly useless asside from being nice to look at.  its sad but thats the current state of things people wont see what an all digital future means till its too late

Resale value.

Offline play years later (potentially).

Collecting on a shelf.

Human interaction with a store clerk.

Sharing/trading with a friend.

Etc.

[wowgek7]

whats the point in getting physical ps4 and 5 games anyway now?

they require so many patches and updates  the discs are practicly useless asside from being nice to look at.  its sad but thats the current state of things people wont see what an all digital future means till its too late

Resale value.
wont be much resale value if people dont relay want it. people want it because they can go back in time in a sense to play what they enjoyed  thats not whats on the physical game anymore though so its mostly an memento. I honetly think ps4 and 5 games wont be relay collectible in the future  you can already notice it now  on flea markets Ialready find x-box one and ps4 games for 1 buck sometimes. I am not talking about sports games either and the resel value just isnt there  at all.

Offline play years later (potentially).
already explaiend due to how mny patches they require in this day and age you get an bugged mess for the most part.

Collecting on a shelf.
true

Human interaction with a store clerk.
you cna get that collecting everything

Sharing/trading with a friend.
for a broken product that at best is just a shade of what you remember?

Etc.

realy I am all for physical its the reason I have zero interest in ps4 5 or any newer device  ps3 is already too digital for me in a way  but as far as I am willing to go.

you cna see I have an huge collection im all for physical  for dozens of reasons but with ps4 5 etc I just dont realy see it anymore

[jipsy]

It's been coming for a while, especially with the introduction of download-free game streaming. We can still keep collecting physical games and hope that they keep releasing them.

[Warmsignal]

Well, it's still hard as piss to get the console, especially the blu-ray one, so what do they expect?

When the big publishers start opting out of physical, that's when I stop buying them, at least on a console. I'll then transition purely to Steam for new game purchases. The compromise of a console is the physical games. I'm not gonna have a gimped piece of hardware AND download games. It's either a decent rig, or psychical hard copy games. Right now I'm still on board to compromise for the collection's sake. Without that, a PlayStation or Xbox console loses any appeal.