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GameIndustry: 2022 was the first year in a decade where boxed games year-on-year performance was better than digital

Self_Destructive

Self_Destructive

Member
That's an extremely misleading title..

Anyway, we were in a pandemic. People were naturally buying more digital during that time because they weren't able to go out and purchase retail games. Makes sense that relative to the year before it, people started going out again and buying more retail games.
 
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A

a multicultural team of v

Member
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TGO

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Self_Destructive said:
That's an extremely misleading title..

Anyway, we were in a pandemic. People were naturally buying more digital during that time because they weren't able to go out and purchase retail games. Makes sense that relative to the year before it, people started going out again and buying more retail games.
Click to expand...
What year is this?
Online Sales of Physical media has dominated physical purchases in the industry since the 2000's
The pandemic did boost Digital sales there is no doubt about that, I ain't disputing what you're saying.
But that's because people was stuck at home and bored and bought digitally anyway or was impatient, not because they couldn't click order on a website and a brick and mortar store was the only way to purchase physical media.

On a side note, physical media is on the rise.
Even the PS5 Disc version is favoured over digital.
Maybe people are becoming wary of Digital...
 
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Topher

Topher

Gold Member
Self_Destructive said:
That's an extremely misleading title..

Anyway, we were in a pandemic. People were naturally buying more digital during that time because they weren't able to go out and purchase retail games. Makes sense that relative to the year before it, people started going out again and buying more retail games.
Click to expand...

How is the title misleading? It is exactly what is stated in the article:

"Digital console spending dropped by almost 5% and actually showed a slightly steeper decline that boxed games, which dipped by 4.3%. This makes 2022 the only year in the past ten where the performance of retail games has been better in terms of year-on-year comparisons than download, which may suggest the decline of boxed sales is levelling off."

Saying there are reasons for that doesn't make it misleading.
 
mckmas8808

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Self_Destructive said:
That's an extremely misleading title..

Anyway, we were in a pandemic. People were naturally buying more digital during that time because they weren't able to go out and purchase retail games. Makes sense that relative to the year before it, people started going out again and buying more retail games.
Click to expand...

How is it misleading?
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs

TheThreadsThatBindUs

Member
Self_Destructive said:
That's an extremely misleading title..

Anyway, we were in a pandemic. People were naturally buying more digital during that time because they weren't able to go out and purchase retail games. Makes sense that relative to the year before it, people started going out again and buying more retail games.
Click to expand...

"First time in a decade"... it's comparing against more than just the COVID years. It's comparing against at least 6-7 years pre-COVID.
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs

TheThreadsThatBindUs

Member
aclar00 said:
I still buy boxed...it has its downside, which are mainly:

1) Storage space
2) Disk swapping
3) Lack of store promotions/upgrades

But, the positives outweigh the negatives:

1) Often cheaper
2) No server/licensing dependence
3) Play/install without internet
4) Disk lifespan
5) Resell Value
Click to expand...

Oh, you sweet summer child!
 
Bond007

Bond007

Member
aclar00 said:
I still buy boxed...it has its downside, which are mainly:

1) Storage space
2) Disk swapping
3) Lack of store promotions/upgrades

But, the positives outweigh the negatives:

1) Often cheaper
2) No server/licensing dependence
3) Play/install without internet
4) Disk lifespan
5) Resell Value
Click to expand...
EXACTLY!! and in my case I also have two boys that each have PS5's. We pass along the disc- no different than how others "borrow" games. I will never go digital for as long as i can help it.
The pro's of digital aren't worth it to me.
 
Self_Destructive

Self_Destructive

Member
Topher said:
How is the title misleading? It is exactly what is stated in the article:

"Digital console spending dropped by almost 5% and actually showed a slightly steeper decline that boxed games, which dipped by 4.3%. This makes 2022 the only year in the past ten where the performance of retail games has been better in terms of year-on-year comparisons than download, which may suggest the decline of boxed sales is levelling off."

Saying there are reasons for that doesn't make it misleading.
Click to expand...

mckmas8808 said:
How is it misleading?
Click to expand...

Digital console: £1.98 billion (down 4.7%)
Digital PC: £660 million (up 2.2%)

Boxed games (PC & Console): £489 million (down 4.3%)

Do I have to say more? Console and PC digital were separated... and then compared to combined boxed games....
 
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Topher

Topher

Gold Member
Self_Destructive said:
Digital console: £1.98 billion (down 4.7%)
Digital PC: £660 million (up 2.2%)

Boxed games (PC & Console): £489 million (down 4.3%)

Do I have to say more? Console and PC digital were separated... and then compared to combined boxed games....
Click to expand...

Because they didn’t specifically say console?
 
MiguelItUp

MiguelItUp

Member
I'll never understand the battle of physical vs digital, there's no reason they both shouldn't coexist IMO. People have their preferences, but we've had enough data show us that majority of the time they're both doing pretty well.
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs

TheThreadsThatBindUs

Member
Tiago Rodrigues said:
99% of PS5 and Switch games still have the game inside the physical media. They don't simply work as a key to install the games online.
Click to expand...

That's still not 100%, plus you're not considering Xbox and PC.

And I wouldn't even count the Switch because the internal drive is so small, buying physical media is essentially mandatory.

Tiago Rodrigues said:
You can play them offline for sure. Unless it's something like GT7...but that's literally mentioned on the cover.
Click to expand...

Most of the time, being able to play a game offline has nothing to do with whether it's distributed physically or digitally and everything to do with the type of game.

The vast majority of SP digitally distributed games can be played offline too.

Also, the comment about disc lifespan is not a pro. Discs can be scratched and smudged and fail to work for those reasons. There's no possibility of physical degradation of a digital game installed on an SSD; and with no moving parts, an SSD will essentially last forever (plus you can easily transfer games to a new drive).

Topher said:
Boxed sales have not been relevant to PC for many many years, dude. There is nothing misleading about it.
Click to expand...
Depends where you live.
 
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Self_Destructive

Self_Destructive

Member
Topher said:
Boxed sales have not been relevant to PC for many many years, dude. There is nothing misleading about it.
Click to expand...
Wow, even more misleading...

What you don't seem to understand is that if you combine the digital sales... as they did the boxed sales.... then the PC digital +2.2%, offsets the console digital decline -4.7%... which would put the decline of the digital sales, as less than the boxed sales overall.

So regardless of how insignificant you think the PC portion of the combined box sales is (which you don't know).... it's still factually wrong when PROPERLY compared to combined digital sales... and absolutely misleading.
 
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Topher

Topher

Gold Member
Self_Destructive said:
Wow, even more misleading...

What you don't seem to understand is that if you combine the digital sales... as they did the boxed sales.... then the PC digital +2.2%, offsets the console digital decline -4.7%... which would put the decline of the digital sales, as less than the boxed sales overall.

So regardless of how insignificant you think the PC boxed portion (which you don't know) is.... it's still factually wrong when PROPERLY compared.
Click to expand...

In the article they explain that they are specifically talking about console boxed vs console digital. But that should be obvious for anyone who understands that PC boxed gaming is barely a thing in major markets like UK.

Put another way, even if they removed PC boxed gaming from their estimates do you really think it would falsify their statement?
 
mckmas8808

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
MiguelItUp said:
I'll never understand the battle of physical vs digital, there's no reason they both shouldn't coexist IMO. People have their preferences, but we've had enough data show us that majority of the time they're both doing pretty well.
Click to expand...

Some "new aged" people want physical media to die so bad, so things like GamePass can be more relevant. It's weird to me too.
 
Orbital2060

Orbital2060

Member
It would be nice with some actual sales numbers for titles.

If the extrapolated numbers from IBF last week are anywhere near correct, it took only 5500 units to be the second best selling title. After REMake at 40k. How many units did #10 on that top10 sell, then? <1000?
 
IntentionalPun

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
I've heard in some of Europe the price is way better for physical, and with the price increase this gen the digital prices are turning people away.

Also yeah people digging back into physical after the pandemic, I think any "new gamer" that showed up during that time was going to be digital only as people are so used to that w/ how cell phones and streaming services work. Many of those people probably just not buying many or any games now that they can go outside lol
 
TheThreadsThatBindUs

TheThreadsThatBindUs

Member
TGO said:
Shitty publisher practises is a an exception not a rule.
I know it make some digital only owners feel validated to believe that, but it's not the case.
Click to expand...

A forced online connection for SP games is also the exception for digital games. It's not a facet of digital vs physical games at all, but rather a facet of the type of games being produced.

And the comment about disc lifespan is lol, because discs scratch and scuff and stop working for that reason. An installed game on an SSD remains accessible forever, as long as it doesn't require an internet connection to play; which is true for 99% of SP digital games. MP games require an internet connection irrespective of whether they're distributed digitally or physically.

So this has largely very little to do with publisher practices.
 
L

Lex Tenebris

Neo Member
So the already dying boxed market dipped a little less than the 4 times bigger digital market, calculated in percentage from the previous year were digital sales simply were doped by forced quarantine. I bet there will be a renaissance of boxed games
 
DenchDeckard

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
Well. The majority of my games last year were deffo bought physical. I prefer it for most games that are one and done. So works for me for re sale value.
 
Pelta88

Pelta88

Member
The issue here is political and is really about the cost of living crisis here in the UK. For those that don't know, earlier this year we had trouble finding cucumbers and eggs. Inflation and other factors the average UK resident has zero control over are starting to have an impact in affluent areas here.

Gamers here have moved into reselling boxed games after purchase to fund the next purchase. The definition of first world problems.
 
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