According to retail data, 35% of Marvel’s Wolverine sales were physical discs. This comes from Ampere Analysis (via The Game Business), which tracks sales data across major markets globally.
The data suggests Wolverine shifted 2.16 million units in September (it went on sale September 15), and a significant portion of those sales were on-disc. In Europe, 51% of Wolverine sales came from the boxed version. Zooming in, more than two thirds were physical sales in France, but two thirds were digital in the UK.
The data comes in the wake of Sony’s controversial announcement that it will phase out physical disc production for PlayStation by 2028, which sparked an online backlash and calls for a U-turn from some organizations who campaign for physical media.
“If platform owners are deciding to eliminate physical media and older digital storefronts, then we’d also like to see trade groups like the Entertainment Software Association offer meaningful solutions for archives and museums to legally preserve digital-only content and make it accessible for research,” the Video Game History Foundation has said.
Earlier this month, former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden questioned Sony’s decision to kill discs, saying: “I do think, particularly in the gaming realm, maybe 80% of the people download and 20% don’t, whatever that breakdown might be, but that’s a super important 20%. I mean, that is largely the most faithful of the faithful, that is, many times, the people who buy two copies of every game, one never gets out of the shrink wrap, and you play the other one.”
However, there is no indication that Sony will change its mind on this. In July, Sony acknowledged “strong views” from the video game community on the issue, but insisted it wouldn’t budge. Elsewhere, the biggest game of the year has no physical version. There are no plans at all for a disc version of GTA 6, and even the special edition contains a code in an otherwise empty box.
Insomniac’s brutal superhero game was the second best-seller on PS5 last month, beaten only by EA Sports FC 27. EA’s soccer game sold close to 5 million copies on PS5 and 1.65 million on Xbox, reflecting the difference in install base between the two consoles.
How to Fish and Wardogs both outperformed Wolverine when factoring in PC as a platform. Wardogs closed in on 3 million sales, carried by strong word of mouth and viral social media clips of its combat sandbox. Only EA Sports FC 27 on PS5 outsold the Bulkhead and Team 17 shooter in September.
Many other titles were off to a much slower start in September. Ampere’s data shows 305,000 sales on PS5 for Control: Resonant and 291,000 for Silent Hill: Townfall. The Blood of Dawnwalker, the debut RPG from a team of former The Witcher developers at Rebel Wolves, fared much better, boasting 1.8 million sales across all platforms.
Kirk McKeand is a Contributor on IGN News. Find him on Twitter @MckKirk
