Nielsen: 66% of console gamers prefer physical over digital, PC only 29%
- Thread starter MauroNL
- Start date
But but but someone told me physical games were going to dissappear and that next gen is all streaming goodness with 5G and no input lag. :(
The hell?
30% for PC?
Where do you even go to buy a physical box for PC games?
I don't even remember seeing a PC game aisle at BB/WM/Target/ect.
30% for PC?
Where do you even go to buy a physical box for PC games?
I don't even remember seeing a PC game aisle at BB/WM/Target/ect.
The PC market is like 95% digital, so I guess maybe what you can take away here is that preferences don't really matter.
Digital is more expensive and isn't true ownership. I'm not surprised that consumers would act in their own best intetests.
If you read the article you will know this % does not represent actual sales. For example, on PC the percentage for physical games sales is around 92%. What this report shows is the preference for the people that took the poll. Actual/global sales numbers reflect something much different.
They forgot there's at least 2 more traditional generations and 15 years to go before that idea can even be close to possible.
I see that some are confused on this part. These numbers are only talking about the preference for the people that took the poll. Actual sales percentages show a different story. Like you say, its been a long time since PC digital game sales are well above 90%.
It surprises me that there is even physical sales on pc, I thought you once mentioned they dont sell physical games on pc anymore.
All the analysis are done based on a selected public, no analysis ever polls every posible being on the planet lol. The article also says that those who prefer physical end up spending more money monthly on games, which makes sense since console games sell so much more than their pc counterparts (and consoles is where most of physical-buying games are).
Anyways if anyone thinks physical will "dissappear" they are out of their minds. Digital might grow, but if physical movies and music ds havent "dissappeared" (which are so much more convenient to replace than a game, since they arent interactive for the most part and are so much more less digital space also compared to a game which are as big as 100GBs. The most a uhd movie can get is 50GB I guess). Also good luck with all digital future with net neutrality gone now.
Totally. I lost my entire SNES - Wii collection (and Sony/Xbox original stuff) in a fire a long while back and that was the final straw for me. Years and years of collecting gone in the blink of the moment. After recovering from the disappointment I made it a point to buy digitally when available. I respect people's right to do what they want but Digital seems like a waste of plastic and there are recovery options when you lose a physical game unexpectantly.
Wow that's a lot higher than I thought it would be for PC. For console that's about what I expected, I will always buy my games physically on console.
Again, if you disagree that the percentage for PC games sales is not 90%, please go ahead and share the proof of that. The report is talking about preference, not actual sales %, if you disagree with this also let me know. What does count as a global poll are actual sales numbers and they show that digital is growing around 5% yearly.
I didnt disagree with that, I could care less what the sales % are on PC (I just menitoned you once said no one buys pc physical and that pc didnt even use the disc drive anymore) and 10% sounds like a hell of a lot more than "no one".
Also the market that moves the most hardware/software sales is consoles, and there the physical/ratio is around 70/30. And digital might grow 5% as you said, but that wont be forever, there is definitely a ceiling for that grow, it will surely start to decrease once it goes around 50%, and lets say taht the most digital can grow (as shown by pc) is 90% so even on that extreme situation, there will still be 10% physical wich doesnt sound like any "disappearing" to me, as far as dissappearing goes it must be 0% on my book and that will never happen due to all the reasons I have told you before.
So as of 2018, physical v digital on consoles = 70/30. Tag me when it reaches 0/100 nostradamus.
OK, so you do agree that the report is talking about preference and not sales? The report shows that 30% of the people that took the poll prefer physical on PC, when we all know that digital sales for PC are above 90%. So how are you not understanding that the report is talking about preference of the group that took the poll and not actual sales numbers? Explain that to me please. ;)
Last edited:
Nah there are way more benefits than that. Namely I don't have to have a fucking shit ton of space taken up by stupid plastic cases and discs. I have 200+ games for my PS4 most of those are retail. All of them are digital. If I had to take up space for all that I would go crazy.
I don't ever have to worry about losing my games either. Physical discs can break or get lost. With digital its just always there.
You seem to be holding on to that PC raft not to drown yourself in all the facts I have stated. Keep holding on to it. As I said, I could care less about PC ratio, tag me when Physical dissappears and digital distribution is 100%, since you predicted that (you also predicted VR was going to be "essential" in this generation of games and that the console that didnt have VR would be lost and we all know how that went). If the 5% yearly grow is steady as you might seem to imply it is, and the actual ratio for physical/digital is 70/30, then it will only take around 14 years for digital to reach 100% (in your mind). Tag me on 2,032 I will be waiting (might also be enjoying my recently purchased physical FFVII Remake copy ;) ).
OK, so you will not answer the question about the report? Is that it? Do you understand or not that the report is talking about preference and not real sales numbers? Its not a difficult question to answer dude.
I was shocked to see that. Outside of like 6 games on the shelf at Target, where the hell are people buying physical PC games nowadays?
Ok lets make a deal, I will answer all your inquerys when digital reaches 100% ok? as you predicted that shall be no longer than 14 years ;).
I GUESS THAT MEANS "NO, I WONT ANSWER THE QUESTION" :D On regards to your perception about digital vs physical, I think you should update your sources. Unless the data below are lies.....You tell me.
-"Digital sales have been on an upward trend this generation as consumers find value in digital purchases such as subscription services, digital games and add on content. PlayStation Plus as a value added service has grown from a few million members before the launch of PlayStation 4 to over 31.5 million paying members as of December 31st 2017. This means that approximately 43% of PlayStation 4's sold have a PS Plus account tied to it. PS Plus has been a huge revenue driver for Sony this gen."
However, it's not just PS Plus that has caused the increase in network sales. THERE ARE OVER 70 MILLION ACTIVE PSN USERS THAT ARE SPENDING ON FULL GAME DOWNLOADS AND GOING DIGITAL THIS GENERATION. Some games such as Destiny 2 are seeing over 50% of their sales from digital stores and many are willing to spend on higher priced digital editions that come with a season pass or additional bonuses. Constant sales are driving digital downloads too. IN FACT, SONY RECENTLY NOTED THAT THE PLAYSTATION STORE IS THE LARGEST DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL FOR PS4 GAMES, BIGGER THAN ANY OTHER DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL."
https://www.resetera.com/threads/gr...this-generation-an-8-4-billion-segment.20670/
-"Very significant advance for digital transformation (nine-month period)Sharp 75.0% rise in Digital revenue to €670.3 million (representing 56.3% of total sales compared with 47.2% one year earlier)"
https://www.dualshockers.com/ps4-ubisoft-sales-switch-xbox-one/
-"I think over the long-term, it will be 100 per cent [digital]," he said, as reported by Games Industry. "I just can't predict whether that's five years, 10 years, or 20 years. It's probably less than 20 and maybe more than five, but I think it ultimately gets there. That's the zeitgeist. Things are moving in that direction."
https://www.mcvuk.com/business/take-two-predicts-a-complete-shift-to-digital-in-around-10-years
-"3rd Party Digital Sales on Nintendo Switch Exceed Physical Sales for the First Time in United States"
https://www.dualshockers.com/3rd-pa...ceed-physical-goods-first-time-united-states/
-"Digital sales now represent 74% of the US game market"
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...ow-represent-74-percent-of-the-us-game-market
Last edited:
And not just that, most PC games you find on the shelf these days only include a single installation DVD that contains the installer and the engine files while 80% of the data is then downloaded off the internet. In other words, it's a digital copy in a box. It doesn't even have manuals anymore. With that in mind, it's no surprise lots of people prefer digital. It's practically the same thing.
It's even worse. That's based off 2016. Statista released 2017's numbers
It's also in line with the forecast from a while back saying that it would be 93% by 2021.
People don't like change and will hold on to the very end even when you put the truth in front of their face.
I game on PC and console, and I find I still buy physical on console because you can get good deals on games, whereas digital you don't until Sony or MS decides to have a sale.
I am primarily a pc player and obviously go almost entirely digital there. I do love physical for my consoles though, especially for the switch but I make exceptions with some games. Like going digital for Mario Kart and Smash is a better choice than physical imo.
But you can't buy games on SSDs. You have to download them. With my internet connection it takes 30 hours to download a 50 GB game. And if my HDD is fulll I need to delete games and re-download them again a couple of months later when I want to play them. So buying a game on disc is more convenient for me.
All my PS1 games still work. Durability is not really an issue for people who treat their discs normally. And since you have to install all games there is no difference in loading times regardless if you bought the game at Amazon or at the PlayStation Store.
Anyone else here work in the investment and trading world looking at this and wonder how people can't see the writing on the wall?
People are taking these useless numbers and holding them up as some sort of victory signal. Usually I see this sort of thing when you got people shilling for some sort of product to profit on the back end. But I don't really see the point in this statistic unless they are trying to take advantage of that report that was released today about GameStop becoming private.
I don't know.
People are taking these useless numbers and holding them up as some sort of victory signal. Usually I see this sort of thing when you got people shilling for some sort of product to profit on the back end. But I don't really see the point in this statistic unless they are trying to take advantage of that report that was released today about GameStop becoming private.
I don't know.
Last edited:
I feel the same way, but with the exception of Nintendo first party games. They retain their value so well that they're almost an investment.
Very true. I also occasionally buy a physical collectors edition when the extras are cool/interesting. In September when cloud saves launch (which admittedly took them way to fucking long) my anxiety about possibly losing or breaking my Switch will be gone.
Edit: beyond the money hit obviously
I would buy physical PC if more games even had that option.
I am a sucker for physical, PC or console.
I am a sucker for physical, PC or console.
This is all a bunch of BS. 29% of PC players? New games aren't even on PC physicially anymore. And because that is obviously a bunch of crap, im willing to bet the console one is too. You polled the wrong people...
If you shorted GameStop over the last 4 years, particularly if you paired it with a hedge long position in a publisher like EA, ATVI, or Take Two, you've made an enormous amount of money. Meanwhile people on forums like this continue to shout "muh discs" and "muh bandwidth caps".
Fortnite, probably the biggest game in the world right now, has no physical component and never will. The transition to digital has been happening and will continue to happen.
The day i pay the same price or more for something digital over physical, something that can be taken way from me in the future, something that cant be sold, traded or borrowed it, its the day i lost my mind.
No themes, outfits or extra missions for pre order will convince me otherwise.
No themes, outfits or extra missions for pre order will convince me otherwise.
I mean, physical even on consoles isn't worth much any more. You get an incomplete data collection on Bluray and have to download the rest for pretty much every single game.
You get updates and patches in gigabytes dimensions, even with your physical edition, so I prefer to go digital right from the start.
The last 3DS games I bought were mostly physical, because they tend to be rare and you get the complete package on your cartridge, no updates whatsoever.
You get updates and patches in gigabytes dimensions, even with your physical edition, so I prefer to go digital right from the start.
The last 3DS games I bought were mostly physical, because they tend to be rare and you get the complete package on your cartridge, no updates whatsoever.
The 30% is probably entirely WoW fans buying collector's editions.
Since nowadays all PC games needs to be activated and binded to an account (Steam, Blizzard, whatever) "physical copies" are just a code on a box, to be used once and discarded.
The only reason modern PC gamers buy physical is because sometimes is cheaper than outright digital. Nier Automata was 5 quid cheaper buying physical on Amazon than buying from Steam, even thought the result was the same.
The only reason modern PC gamers buy physical is because sometimes is cheaper than outright digital. Nier Automata was 5 quid cheaper buying physical on Amazon than buying from Steam, even thought the result was the same.
Yeah i used to... and i wish i had the option today.
I buy games at release after reviews and first impressions most of the time (no preorder, hence no preload), and i have a bad internet connection... 40GB games take a day or more to download.
If i could just bring a bluray-sized box from the shop on my way home from work and play directly without having to download anything, i would... believe me.