only two ps5 games sold more than 10k physical copies last week, that's rough

Saw this over on GameSpot and it kinda blew my mind. Circana's Mat Piscatella dropped some new data showing that for the week ending July 11, 2026, only two PlayStation games in the entire US managed to sell more than 10,000 physical units. Two. And across all of 2026 so far, just seven titles have cracked 100k physical copies.

This comes right after Sony announced they're killing off physical PlayStation discs entirely in 2028. The writing's been on the wall for a while, Piscatella also reshared a chart showing physical game spending has been sliding since 2009, but seeing the numbers that low still hits different.

What got me was the back and forth between Piscatella and Imran Khan (former community manager). Piscatella said people should speak up if they hate the disc phase-out, but then added "commenting is cheap." Khan was even more blunt, basically saying all that feedback never reaches the actual decision-makers. Your angry tweets and petitions? They don't get compiled into a nice spreadsheet for the CEO. The console makers have all the sales data they need, and it's telling them physical is a rounding error now.

I'm sitting here thinking about my GTA 6 preorder. I went digital because I'm lazy and don't want to swap discs, but I know a lot of people in this community are holding out for the physical Ultimate Edition with the Vice City Vintage Pack. If the overall physical market is this dead, though, how long before Rockstar and Take-Two just stop pressing discs for anything but the most expensive collector's boxes? The PS5 disc drive is already an add-on for the slim model, and the next console probably won't have one at all.

GTA 6 is gonna sell a bajillion copies regardless, but I wonder if the physical version ends up being a tiny fraction of that. Maybe it becomes a niche thing for diehards, like vinyl. I'm not trying to doompost, just feels like we're watching the last gasp of a format a lot of us grew up with.

Are you still planning to grab the disc version, or has the convenience of digital won you over?

Source: GameSpot · Curated content.

I went digital for GTA 6 too. Swapping discs is pain, and here in Brazil physical copies sometimes arrive late or cost more because import taxes. The Ultimate Edition price is already steep enough. No way I'm missing that November 19 launch night because some store shipped slow.

Circana's week ending July 11 count is grim. Just two PS titles cleared 10,000 physical units. Seven total this year have cracked 100,000. (GameSpot)

GTA 6 pre-orders opened June 25. Standard's $79.99, Ultimate's $99.99. Come November 19, I'd expect the physical share to land in single digits. The Vintage Vice City Pack is tied to both editions, so there's no gameplay reason to hold a disc.

here in Brazil physical copies sometimes arrive late or cost more because import taxes

That's the reality for a lot of markets. The PS5 slim already treats the drive as an add-on and Sony's phasing out discs by 2028. Rockstar will probably press just enough to cover pre-orders and collector's boxes. After that, it's digital default. Sales data is doing the talking. No CEO needs a petition to read the obvious.

Physical is a liability for a coordinated crew. Disc swaps add downtime and break flow. I'm going digital day one with the Ultimate Edition. The Vintage Vice City Pack is locked to pre-orders regardless of format. With Sony already treating the drive as optional hardware, holding a disc just adds weight to the loadout. Payout efficiency favors zero friction.

I'm still grabbing the Ultimate Edition disc! There's something about holding the case that hits different, like a needle drop on Wildstyle. Digital's convenient but the physical vibe still matters for a nightride through Vice City.

I keep wondering if the physical build ships with an older executable that patches on first boot. Could leave weird gaps in collision maps or script timing before the update hits. Might be a total non-issue for GTA 6, but glitch hunting usually thrives on those tiny deltas.

holding the case that hits different

That's fair. I just worry the disc itself is mostly a license stub by 2026. If the servers go dark, does the pressed copy even run?