Physical video games have been a staple in the industry for years. However, things are changing. In 2023, many of us started to realize that the format of enjoying our favorite music albums on CDs and movies on DVDs eventually came to an end, whether we liked it or not. Major stores like Best Buy (which has now started closing many of its stores around the country). Many of us knew that this era would certainly bring our front door bell, informing us that.

Nostalgia For Physical Games

For those who grew up playing video games, remember when we would finally save up the money to buy the games we wanted? Or even as kids, when our parents would take us to the game stores to purchase us games for gifts, just because, or even as a congratulations for getting good grades in school. To experience the era of being able to hold the game case in our hand, read the back to get a glimpse of what its about, what to expect, how many players could play at the same time, and more was sublime.

As video games progress after new generations of consoles have been released over the last decade, so has the means of buying and using physical copies of the games. The sales of digital games in 2024 reign supreme over physical game copies. Many of us are used to going into a store and purchasing a video game in its box, wrapped in thin plastic. This has been an amazing era to experience firsthand.

Current State of Physical Games

Right now, physical video games are still selling, just at a lower rate than digital games.  In 2023, only 10.5% of video game sales were physical copies. The hypothetical thought of physical video games is that at some point soon (maybe 5-7 years, and that’s being gracious), the production of video games will follow the fate of music CDs and movie DVDs.

Big stores will stop selling them, and eventually, PlayStation, Microsoft, and Nintendo will pull the plug on their physical game production. As many things are going on in the world that are unfortunate overall, it will trickle down to how we enjoy and purchase video games (possibly drastically or not at all). Now, digital games are becoming the new normal. What does this mean for the state of physical games being in production?

What are your thoughts about physical game copies? Do you prefer being able to finally get your hand on the new release or a game you have had in your backlog for ages? The era that included so much excitement and happiness over the years will come to an end; it’s just a matter of when it finally rings our front door like a door-to-door salesman. Or we start getting notifications on our phones from gamers, gaming sites, etc.,