Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst Mat Piscatella has revealed the number of physical games sold in the US have plummeted.
Physical game sales have dropped by more than half since 2001 and are now over 85 percent lower than the peak in 2008.
“The rate of decline in US physical video game software spending accelerated in 2024,” said Piscatella.
“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.”
The overall video game market in the US has remained relatively stable since 2020 with a peak of $60.4 billion in 2021 and a low of $56.6 billion in 2022.
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.
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) January 24, 2025 at 2:24 PM
…and here’s total US video game market spending from 2019-2024 including hardware, accessories and all content. Source: Circana Games Market Dynamics.
— Mat Piscatella (@matpiscatella.bsky.social) January 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
Full Article – https://www.vgchartz.com/article/463791/us-physical-game-sales-has-been-cut-in-half-since-2021/
