We've known about the decline of physical game sales for quite some time, but according to the latest numbers from Circana's Mat Piscatella, this downward trend accelerated in 2024 (thanks, VGC ). Sharing the research firm's latest numbers on BlueSky , Piscatella stated that last year's US physical game spending was "cut in more than half since 2021", with the 2024 numbers more than 85% lower than the physical spend peak of 2008. You can see the decline in action in the following table, showing Circana's physical software spending numbers for the past 25 years: The overall downward trend makes a lot of sense.
You only need to take one look at the current industry landscape to see digital-only releases, free-to-play titles filled with microtransactions and the rise of console-specific online stores — none of which were as commonplace in 2008 as they are today. But the drop by "more than half" since the pandemic? Sheesh . Of course, this is an issue for physical sales only.
Later in the thread , Piscatella clarified that game spending as a whole continues to grow, and 2024 was the "second highest annual total ever" for the region. The Circana analyst muses whether Switch 2 will be able to "slow/reverse this trend in 2025", but we can't help but feel that it sounds like wishful thinking. Nintendo's physical sales remain pretty strong, but if 'Switch 1' couldn't stop the trend, we doubt its successor will be able to do much to move the needle.
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