Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 took a whopping $1.2 billion in gross revenue, and according to Rhys Elliot of Alinea Analytics, 35% of that was earned from physical sales of the superhero title.
To put that further into context, the analyst firm revealed that Ghost of Yotei generated $400 billion (37.6% of which was disc sales), while Astro Bot saw 46.8% of its $275 million gross revenue from physical sales. Finally, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach pulled in $129 gross revenue, with physical sales account for 41.8% of that figure. It’s worth pointing out that the figures are based on revenue generated and not units sold, and represented “prestige single-player” titles that typically see its audience buying physical products.
“Physical revenue is huge in the prestige single-player games Sony is getting more cautious about,” commented Elliot, adding “a disc dollar is worth less to Sony than a digital one, as there’s the retailer cut, manufacturing and distribution.” He added, , “the disc decision was largely about margins, control, and killing the secondhand market.”
Last month it was reported that sales of Marvel’s Spider-Man benefitted from a huge sales spike thanks to the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Elliot noted at the time that the game had sold an estimated 316,000 since the release of the Tom Holland-starring superhero film in July, generating about $11 million in revenue across PS5 and PC.
Sony announced back in early July that it was planning to cease production of PlayStation game discs in January 2028, although existing titles and those due out before that date can still be printed for physical distribution. The decision has been met with widespread backlash online, and Sony Japan recently revealed plans to implement a new customer harassment policy in wake of the criticism.
[Source – Alinea Analytics via GamesRadar]