Bodily gross sales of video video games in 2023 exceeded expectations

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A brand new chart shared with knowledge from the GSD and GfK has excellent news for retailers: Regardless of what it appears like, shoppers nonetheless buy many bodily video games. The bulk are digital purchases, however breaking down the numbers of the highest 20 sellers of final yr reveals some encouraging data.

EA Sports activities FC 24, 2023’s prime vendor, had a digital/bodily break up of 67%/33%, whereas Hogwarts Legacy, the second best-seller, had a break up of 56%/44%. Sure, bodily gross sales won’t ever be what they have been two generations in the past, however in an online-focused world, having practically half of all gross sales for a title be bodily remains to be a actuality.

Name of Responsibility: Fashionable Warfare 3, with a 69%/31% break up, was extra online-focused, whereas Grand Theft Auto 5, which has spanned a number of console generations, had a extra extreme break up of 71%/29%. Essentially the most bodily pleasant launch of the yr within the prime 5 was Sony’s Spider-Man 2, with 46%/54%.

Go decrease on the listing, and one other Sony title beats Spider-Man 2, God of Warfare: Ragnarök. The PlayStation unique offered 24% of its copies in 2023 digitally, with a formidable 76% bodily. The one recreation with a greater break up is Microsoft’s Minecraft, at 20%/80%, however that comes with a caveat.

Nintendo doesn’t share digital knowledge, so the gross sales data for Minecraft, a serious vendor on the Nintendo Change, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Tremendous Mario Surprise, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are incomplete.

Taking Nintendo’s titles out of the image nonetheless leaves a formidable 38% of the highest 20 sellers of 2023 have been offered bodily. As corporations dispose of bodily media, the demand nonetheless stays sturdy.

That is nice information going into 2024, as shoppers are beginning to push again towards the digital future and embracing bodily copies. As corporations dispose of bodily media, the demand solely grows stronger.