PS5 physical game stats reveal low sales as gamers continue crusade against Sony

As PlayStation fans continue to boycott Sony products in the wake of its discontinuation of physical media, statistics reveal low sales for boxed copies of games for the year so far.

Following Sony’s announcement that physical discs for new games on PlayStation would be discontinued in January 2028, fans have begun a mass exodus of the platform in favour of PC.

Under the comments sections of many posts and videos published on PlayStation’s social media, fans are calling for Sony to reverse its decision, though it seems like it may be a futile effort when you look at the statistics.

According to Circana’s Mat Piscatella, only two PlayStation games sold more than 10,000 physical copies in the United States during the week ending July 11, 2026.

Meanwhile, looking at the year-to-date numbers, only seven games have sold more than 100,000 physical units, with a majority of the sales occurring digitally. As Piscatella explains, these numbers come from “Total PlayStation. All games, all pubs, all PS platforms.”

Piscatella adds, “Commenting is cool, use your voice and all that. But commenting is cheap, idk.”

2 PlayStation video games sold more than 10k physical units in the US during week ending July 11, 2026. 7 have sold more than 100k physical units year-to-date. Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service

[image or embed]

— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) 20 July 2026 at 18:37

Estimations by Alinea Analytics suggest that these seven games include EA Sports FC 26, Resident Evil Requiem, 007 First Light, and Crimson Desert, though exact details have not been revealed.

Read More: Nine of the most exciting PS5 games to be released in August 2026

Physical media sales are tiny compared to digital

While 100,000 physical units shifted isn’t an insignificant number, it’s a small drop in the ocean compared to the millions of digital sales which occur on the platform.

One of the biggest limitations of these statistics is that they only include data for the United States, so other countries aren’t considered in these numbers.

It’s entirely possible that physical media is more popular in countries with less robust internet speeds, as slow download times may push more people to buy games that have a disc copy to install.

In the United Kingdom, physical game sales are also on the decline. As Christopher Dring of The Game Business posted earlier today, “1,000 sales would have got you No.9 in the UK physical charts last week.”

1,000 sales would have got you No.9 in the UK physical charts last week.

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) July 21, 2026

Altogether, while many gamers aren’t happy with Sony’s decision to discontinue physical media for its PlayStation games, the numbers do show that physical media has become a lot more niche than what it used to be.

With an all-digital future on PlayStation consoles, Sony and third-party publishers will be able to set the price of their games without players being able to buy them at a cheaper price through resold copies or game sharing.

In the meantime, PlayStation games will continue to be sold with a physical disc version for the next year and a half, as the cutoff date has been announced to be January 2028.

That means games like Marvel’s Wolverine, Control Resonant, and The Blood of Dawnwalker will all have physical releases featuring a disc in the box. Some games, like Grand Theft Auto VI however, will forgo a disc copy in favour of a code in the box.