Physical video game retailers don't seem to be selling as well as digital games anymore. It's unknown if this is intentional on the part of the consumer, or just enticing deals on services such as PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, or Steam. Many older gamers still prefer a physical game, but when an online service offers up to 50 percent off the retail price, it can be hard to stick with your preference.
Say you find a game like "Assassin's Creed Syndicate" for only $30 on PlayStation Plus, and GameStop is still selling it at the original $60 price point.
Is it worth the extra $30 to you just to own the disc? According to sales records, most people will willingly say goodbye to the disc in favor of a download possibly taking half of their day.
This will kill your bandwidth if your preferred gaming system doesn't prioritize other things like Netflix or YouTube, and all too often you could get caught up in the DLC "trap." This happens when the producers package the DLC in such a way that you think your game isn't complete without it. 90 percent of the time, the DLC isn't worth it, but you might not realize it until you start playing and realize you just paid two dollars for an outfit which literally changes nothing about how the game plays. Unless you just want that outfit that badly to show off to your friends, you might regret it later.
Video game sales have actually gone up steadily since 2011
2010 was a bit of a stale time in video gaming, with very little happening. "Assassin's Creed" saw its debut, as did "BioShock," but neither really took off as expected. The former didn't really rise in popularity until it had a sequel, and the latter was a bit of a slow burn, being marketed as kind of a "Silent Hill under water."
According to the Entertainment Software Association, purchases went from $17.5 billion in 2011 to $30.4 billion by the end of 2016.
This was also the same time digital sales and DLC started going mainstream, and might be the result of "impulse purchasing," or grabbing expensive pre-orders just to get some extra toys or memorabilia with the game.
Digital sales didn't immediately overcome
It wasn't until 2013, around the time the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launched, that digital sales began outpacing physical copies.
Microsoft and Sony started pushing their "next-gen" titles with ads basically placed in your face as soon as your friends began playing the related games.
It had become socially acceptable to start playing the same games as all of your online friends, and digital sales took over. You no longer had to drive to the store and wait in line (or make your parents do it for you). All you had to do was buy it like you would on Amazon and wait for the download to finish installing and updating.
As the console wars look to heat up again when the Xbox Scorpio arrives this Fall, we could see another surge in digital sales. After all, gamers might feel the need to put their money (or their parents' money) where their mouth is and prove they're better than their friends.
