Destiny 2 sales - a sign that console gamers are buying games more digitally?

Caught this bit on a weekly podcast I watch. He basically said that Destiny 2 sales are down at retail compared to the first game. By contrast, it was reported that digital sales on PS4 broke records on the PlayStation Store. He also added a bit of anecdotal insight to this, saying he called local gaming retailers like Best Buy and GameStop asking if they were doing a midnight launch, and nobody he called was doing one, which he says they only do if certain games garner a certain number of pre-orders. It's going to be very interesting to see what Activision-Blizzards quarterly report has to say about the game's sales and how it did digitally versus physical retail copies.

It's not a totally new revelation that digital sales are becoming increasingly more popular on consoles, I just figured it was coming as a rather slow transition, but this could potentially be milestone news, and it really begs to question the future of physical gaming retail and how they'll adapt to this trend going forward.

Then again, Destiny isn't like any other game out there, maybe it's online nature and future DLC makes it less desirable to own a physical copy of, so maybe while there hasn't been a huge shift lately toward digital, maybe for this game at least people were more inclined to get it digitally.

I also wonder if maybe the hype level played a role in digital sales. I'm not sure about how PlayStation Store works on this, but on the XB1 where I buy most my games digitally, they usually become available at 9pm for me since I live on the US west coast and the XB1 digital store begins selling most games at midnight eastern time. So for me at least, I can see how getting it digitally a good bit earlier is more desirable than waiting for a midnight launch, going home, installing it, waiting for updates (I mean, people will just have to wait for the next day to play with friends by then anyways). Also, digital pre-orders allow people to pre-install which means the second the time restrictions are lifted then users are ready to play. I mention this since, given the hype, I can imagine many people out there might have opted digitally for this particular game, but might not signal a shift in preference to digital overall.

Well, Destiny is an "Online only" game so having it physically would be kinda pointless.

But yeah, people are embracing digital. I still dont care. I'll keep buying games physically whenever I can. Whenever I cant, I'll probably just leave gaming altogether (or, at the very least, console gaming). The only reason why I keep supporting consoles is because of the more prevalent physical media. whenever thats gone, I see no reason why I must keep supporting them. They're just wannabe PCs nowadays anyway

I'm a convert.

I really don't care what medium the game is on, I buy whichever is cheapest/more convenient. Gotta be installed on the console anyway...

I strictly buy games digitally for the convenience. The last game I bought a physical copy was The Division.

Yeah digital sales in general continue to climb and for an online only game like Destiny digital sales will be larger more so. Personally I still very much prefer to get my games on a physical format and even purchased Destiny 2 on a physical disc. Perhaps a day will come where games are only sold digitally but I really hope not, hell I still buy movies, music, and books in physical form. However if that day ever comes it'll sadden me but I'll still continue being a gamer.

My copy is on disc.

Considering movies are still sold in physical format (while streaming exists), I can't see gaming making a full transition anytime soon. The biggest issue with the digital platform is that it allows publishers/developers to push out unfinished games and patch it within launch week. Can't even imagine how unplayable some games would be for those buying a day one physical copy with no internet at home.

not surprising, digital sales have been growing

Is it a sign? Maybe. But at this point I do tend to buy games that I plan to keep digitally. For instance I got Overwatch on the Xbox one digitally. I forget to get tekken 7 digitally.

If it wasnt for amazon prime i would have been digital only too but bruh amazon prime! 20% off all games especially in Canada is amazing

Hate to deliver bad news, but it has been decreased to 10% in Canada. Noticed it recently when I was looking to buy the new Mario for October.

EDIT: Not sure if its permanent/an error, but its been like that for a little bit now.

I just checked and you're right, had no idea they made this change and after checking reddit seems like it was done just recently, good thing i pre-orered a bunch of games far in advance with the 20% but this is stupid, even after the exchange rate is getting better games still cost $79.99

I've gone through so many console disk drive failures that digital seems the wiser choice. The rest is just convience.

Its convenience. Not having to switch discs or carts all the time is really nice, especially when taking a system with you on the go. With Xbone/PS4 having to install all disc games anyway it made me feel that sticking to physical was kind of pointless.

That's what happened with my OG PS3 that could play PS2 discs. The disc drive died. The console itself still worked though.

Console is always late to the party :p PC gamers gone digital... more than ten years ago. Console gaming is copying PC features, yet console fanboys keep saying "PC gaming is dying" for years.

Haha.

Hmm interesting development. And unexpected. Did they have a price reduction for digital pre-orders? You can usually buy games cheaper physically for consoles, especially at launch.

hate to break it to you, consoles could download games over 10 years ago too

All Digital on my Xbox One here since 2014. So convenient. The only downside is the sales for digital games don't really come for a couple to several months down the line where as a physical copy could be on sale at a brick and mortar on release.

I was waiting to know sales report for destiny 2. low numbers would be nice news for a mediocre game.

That or people really just have lost interest in the Destiny franchise and thank god if that is the case. Destiny is definitely no Halo in terms of quality.

I love the fact that i can share my digitial Xbox one games with my kids, even on other consoles. I also like the fact that we can play against each other (using the same game on different consoles) with only one copy of the game. You can't do that with physical media

If it is a game I want day 1, I save 20% with Amazon Prime. If I can wait, I buy games digitally when I see them at a price point I can live with. I can definitely see digital becoming the norm throughout this gen. Personally my digital games outnumber my physical games at least 10-1.

A reason for this is probably because it was 20% off and you could share it with a friend.