UK Gamers Choose Physical: Astro Bot Hits 55% Boxed Sales
- Sagar Mankar
- 11 hours ago
- 2 min read
UK sales of the popular PlayStation 5 game Astro Bot were 55% physical purchases after its September 2024 launch, with European physical sales reaching nearly 60%. This highlights how boxed games remain vital for certain titles even as digital downloads grow in popularity.
According to The Game Business report, physical game sales in the UK have declined across all platforms. PlayStation 5 saw 800k fewer boxed game purchases year-on-year in 2024, while Xbox physical sales dropped by 300k during the same period. The Nintendo Switch experienced the largest decline with 1.8 million fewer physical games sold, though it remains the most successful platform for boxed sales.
Despite these declining numbers, physical purchases still account for approximately 80% of new Nintendo Switch game sales in Europe. This demonstrates that while digital sales are increasing, certain platforms and game types continue to rely heavily on boxed purchases.
The report explains that different game genres have vastly different digital-to-physical ratios. Online action shooters tend to perform exceptionally well through digital stores, with titles like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 seeing over 80% of UK sales coming via digital platforms. Sony's Helldivers 2 was even more pronounced with over 90% digital sales.
In contrast, single-player narrative adventures and family-friendly titles maintain stronger physical sales. Hogwarts Legacy had 45% physical sales in the UK, while Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was actually purchased more often in physical format (54%) than digital, though this figure includes console bundles.
EA Sports FC 25 was 62% digital in Europe, compared to 55% for the previous year's edition - the largest year-over-year shift observed. Other annual sports titles show more modest increases in digital share.
Nintendo's decision to make digital versions of its Switch 2 games less expensive than physical copies may be partly aimed at accelerating digital adoption on its next platform, though manufacturing costs for cartridges likely play a significant role as well.
The physical market remains crucial for hundreds of millions of game sales annually and serves as an important discovery channel for consumers. As The Game Business concludes, "The video game industry is not yet ready to say goodbye to the box," despite the challenging headlines surrounding traditional game retail.