Resident Evil Requiem Sales Were Up to 55% Physical in Some Markets
You might have noticed it. Since Sony announced the end of physical games, and after all the criticism that followed, more and more information has appeared supporting that decision.
From major executives to analysts and companies, many have come forward to support Sony’s decision. Coincidence? It seems a little strange, especially since some of their reasons are questionable.
Nobody is saying that Capcom is lying when it says that 90% of its sales are digital. However, one of its latest hits, Resident Evil Requiem, shows that there is still strong demand for physical games.
Resident Evil Requiem Disc Sales Show Gamers Still Want Physical Games
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Christopher Dring from The Game Business shared sales data for Resident Evil Requiem, revealing that 22% of copies sold in the United States were physical.
Digital games seem to be more popular in North America, as the numbers are very different in other parts of the world. In the United Kingdom, 40% of Resident Evil Requiem sales were physical, while in Australia, that number reached 43%.
In Japan, players are still holding on to games on disc, as shown by the 51% of copies sold physically. But France takes first place, where 55% of Requiem copies sold were physical editions.
It is also worth noting that physical copies of the game sold out almost immediately. This was not just because there were few copies available, but also because demand was very high. With Resident Evil Requiem selling more than 8 million copies, a careful estimate based on sales in each market puts physical sales at around 3 million copies.
As Dring points out, even if physical copies made up just 10% of game sales, they would still be worth billions of dollars. Sony and those supporting its decision seem willing to give up that money because they believe digital sales will make up for it.
Resident Evil Requiem may not represent the sales of every game, but it does show two important things. First, the “digital dominance” many talk about may not be as strong as it seems. Second, physical game sales can be very different from one country to another, something Sony seems to be ignoring.
In related news, game publishers could save up to $16 per copy by ending physical game distribution and moving sales toward digital licenses.
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