In brief: Most people are aware of how much physical video game sales have been declining over the last few years, but the scale and speed of their fall is quite eye-opening. Since 2021, US spending on this product category has halved. And if you compare 2024 to the 2008 peak, the amount of money being spent is down a massive 85%. The new data comes from market research giant Circana and was posted on X by Mat Piscatella. The graph shows US consumer spending on physical video games hit a high point back in 2008 when it reached just under $12 billion. There has been a constant trend downwards since then, reaching its lowest recorded point of under $2 billion in 2024.The rate of decline in US physical video game software spending accelerated in 2024. Spending on physical video game software in the US has been cut in more than half since 2021 and is now more than 85% below its 2008 peak. We'll see if Switch 2 can help slow/reverse this trend in 2025.[image or embed] Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 24 January 2025 at 19:24It's worth noting that the decline in spending between 2023 and 2024 is quite significant, but this is partly due to Nintendo Switch releases being quite light last year. The Switch is responsible for a large portion of today's physical game sales.There is some good news for the overall games market. Total game spending, which covers physical and digital sales, hardware, and accessories, was just under $60 billion in 2024. That's significantly higher than in 2019 (~$44 billion) and better than 2022....and here's total US video game market spending from 2019-2024 including hardware, accessories and all content. Source: Circana Games Market Dynamics.[image or embed] Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 24 January 2025 at 23:01Physical game sales have been clinging on to life for years now. The PC left them behind a long time ago, and in 2022, it was estimated that around 72% of console game sales globally were digital downloads. The changing landscape has impacted brick-and-mortar stores such as GameStop, which has been cutting jobs and closing locations. The situation is even worse in the UK, where one-time retail giant GAME struggles to stay afloat. // Related StoriesOne just has to look at consoles to see where the industry is heading. There is a digital-only version of the PS5 and the Xbox Series S has no disc drive, nor does the new PS5 Pro, requiring users to purchase one separately if they want to use physical media.However, physical games and the industry as a whole will receive a boost this year from two massive launches: the Nintendo Switch 2, which supports both physical and digital games, and GTA VI, which is expected to have a physical version likely the last GTA to do so.Masthead: Dan Keck