Sony's Disc Decision Looks Shaky as Wolverine Sales Hit 35% Physical

Did you hear that Sony is still planning to stop making physical discs for PlayStation in January 2028? Yeah, that's happening. But here's the thing: new sales data suggests that might be a really bad move. According to Ampere Analysis, Marvel's Wolverine sold 2.16 million copies in September, and a whopping 35% of those were physical. That's a lot of boxed copies for a game in a market that's supposedly going all-digital.

And Wolverine isn't alone. Onimusha: Way of the Sword and The Blood of Dawnwalker both had around 30% and 36% physical sales, respectively, for the same month. Silent Hill: Townfall did even better, with 45% of its PS5 sales coming from physical copies. These are big numbers, especially when you consider that all these games are also available digitally. Clearly, people still want discs.

Why? Analyst Joost van Druenen from NYU has a simple answer: "People have a need to collect. That's where physical sales are still incredibly relevant for the consumer market." He also told The Game Business that the industry is ready to move on, but maybe not as fast as Sony thinks. "This is increasingly a big part of it," he said.

Some might argue that players are buying more discs to protest Sony's decision, but I doubt that would push sales to a third of copies across multiple big releases. To me, this shows the physical market is healthier than you might think. It's definitely got more life in it than the 82% digital figure Sony likes to throw around. These are all games that could be bought digitally, yet many of you chose to buy them on disc.

And that's despite Wolverine getting middling reviews. Lots of us have been disappointed by Sony's pivot away from discs, and we clearly drive more sales than the company might believe. Physical forever, right?

So, what do you think? Will you be picking up physical copies while you still can? Let us know in the comments.