The Digital Landscape of the Video Games Market in 2024

The video games industry has been predominantly digital for some time. When considering all aspects, including downloads, microtransactions, and subscriptions across various platforms, the physical games market constitutes a minor fraction of the overall business. However, physical sales remain a crucial distribution channel for new video game releases. In 2023, 72.4 million video games were sold through physical retailers in Europe, with 42% of new game sales occurring in physical stores. But what about 2024? Although the data from GSD is comprehensive, covering physical retail sales across major European countries and digital sales from major publishers, it has limitations, such as excluding smaller nations like Greece and not tracking self-published titles or Nintendo's first-party games. For the first 40 weeks of 2024, there has been a notable shift towards digital sales for new games, with 75% of sales occurring digitally, representing a 12% increase from the previous year. This shift is largely driven by increased digitization on PlayStation and Xbox. On PlayStation, physical sales of new games have dropped to under a third of the market, while on Xbox, only 19% of new game sales were physical. In contrast, the Nintendo Switch remains a predominantly physical platform, especially for third-party games. The shift towards digital can be attributed to the release schedule, with games like multiplayer shooters selling mostly digitally, while titles like Astro Bot are sold primarily through physical retailers. The release slate in 2023, including games like Hogwarts Legacy and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, was more conducive to physical sales. In conclusion, the decision to opt for a physical release depends on the game, platform, audience, and territory. With 32 million physical games sold across Europe in the first nine months of the year, the physical games market remains a viable opportunity for game developers and publishers.