Sales for physical video game releases have been declining for over a decade now due to the rise in digital game sales, and with the revelation that GTA 6 will arrive as a code in a box in November for the few players who still head to brick-and-mortar retail stores to buy their games, physical sales are poised to decline even further. But for the first time since 2009, physical game spending has actually seen a year-on-year increase between 2025 and 2026 in the US. The reason? Nintendo Switch 2.
That comes from Mat Piscatella, senior director and video game industry analyst at Circana. In a post on his personal Bluesky account, Piscatella shared a graph that showed how physical video game spending in the US has declined from May 2007 to May 2026.
The decline is clear, but right at the very end of the graph, the bars for 2025 and 2026 look identical, so close that one might actually be higher than the other. Piscatella confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz that the numbers for 2026 are, in fact, better than they were for 2025.
"This is the Switch 2 bump," Piscatella said. "Physical software sales on Nintendo platforms are up around 26% compared to a year ago, but still down from the year ending May 2024 period." Physical game spending was up by 3% overall across console platforms, representing a rise to $1.6 billion.
Does this mean that physical sales are going to start turning around? Definitely not. You don't need to be an analyst of Piscatella's stature to figure that one out. "All other ecosystems are continuing to drop by double-digit percentages," he added. "Very likely to be a temporary blip."
"At some point, this will all bottom out - perhaps we're getting there now - until the console manufacturers decide to no longer produce units with physical drives."
We're already in the phase of physical games being more of a novelty, something a collector buys for the same reasons you buy a vinyl record or a movie on a 4K disc. You're probably listening to that album you bought on vinyl or watching that movie on disc after having already streamed it on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, etc.
You bought that physical version because you wanted it to be part of your personal collection, but you're not buying all your music on vinyl or all of your films as 4K Blu-rays. That's already the case with physical video games, the key difference being that players who buy physical discs often get the worst possible version of physical media, where the disc amounts to nothing more than a DRM check used to download the actual game. At least if you collect vinyl, you don't need to hook your record player up to the Wi-Fi before you start listening.
With PlayStation already making its consoles with detachable disc drives and the biggest game in the video game industry's history cutting a physical disc from its initial retail launch, the days of physical games are definitely numbered. Once we can no longer get consoles with the option to have a disc drive, they'll be dead in the water.
It's incredibly likely they continue in the realm of vinyl and 4K Blu-rays, though. Undoubtedly, someone will find a way to make a disc drive that's compatible with PS6 and Project Helix if the next generation is the first to drop consoles with disc drives. But they won't be widespread, and they'll probably cost a not-insignificant amount more than buying the game digitally.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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