Things change. It’s something we all must struggle against or embrace, but ultimately accept one way or another. The world, as a whole, is seeing a massive degree of change, and how we consume our entertainment is no different. In 2019, we’ve seen a huge spike in digital sales, and Europe especially has seen a huge shift.
We reported on how different the digital and physical sales charts looked in the UK, and it seems that’s being replicated to some degree all through Europe. As GamesIndustry reports, it’s almost startling to see how much the shift has been in just a year’s time. In fact, digital sales are on the verge of outright overtaking physical sales entirely. That’s already happened in the Nordics, where 66% of sales for AAA titles are now digital. You can check out the chart breakdown below.
Digital has risen pretty quickly over the last few years in all forms of entertainment. While physical will doubtfully vanish anytime soon, it’s not hard to see a future where digital is the more preferred method for most casual consumers.
Q1 2019:
| Country | Overall Q1 Sales | Digital Q1 Sales | Physical Q1 Sales | Digitsation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benelux | 412,825 | 178,785 | 234,040 | 43% |
| France | 851,234 | 401,013 | 450,221 | 47% |
| GSA* | 1,355,423 | 673,357 | 682,066 | 50% |
| Iberia | 634,006 | 219,747 | 414,259 | 35% |
| Italy | 494,339 | 163,954 | 330,385 | 33% |
| Nordics | 372,701 | 247,363 | 125,338 | 66% |
| UK and Ireland | 1,360,942 | 761,333 | 599,609 | 56% |
Q1 2018:
| Country | Overall Q1 Sales | Digital Q1 Sales | Physical Q1 Sales | Digitsation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benelux | 473,285 | 156,889 | 316.396 | 33% |
| France | 1,392,256 | 433,216 | 959,040 | 31% |
| GSA* | 1,754,677 | 711,481 | 1,043,196 | 41% |
| Iberia | 775,450 | 204,307 | 571,143 | 26% |
| Italy | 622,060 | 156,275 | 465,785 | 25% |
| Nordics | 469,733 | 250,836 | 218.897 | 53% |
*GSA – Germany, Switzerland, Austria.