Square Enix and CAPCOM’s latest financial results make the direction of the games market hard to ignore: digital sales are not merely strong anymore, they are dominant. Of the 26.8 million games Square Enix sold last year, 21.7 million were digital, representing an 81.3% share, while CAPCOM reported that digital sales now make up 93% of its total. Physical collectors remain vocal, but the numbers from major publishers show that the market has already moved elsewhere.
A few years after digital storefronts such as the PlayStation Store and the Nintendo eShop became established, it still seemed unlikely that digital releases would truly replace boxed games. Many players wanted to buy their favourite titles physically, put them on a shelf, collect them, resell them, or lend them. That era, however, is visibly shrinking, and the latest figures from Square Enix and CAPCOM leave little room for pretending otherwise.
The publisher of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series reported in its latest FY26/3 financial results that it sold 26.8 million games last year. Of that total, 21.7 million were digital units, while 4.98 million were physical. That means digital accounted for 81.3% of Square Enix’s total game sales. At that point, digital is no longer a secondary channel. It is the main market.
CAPCOM reported a similar direction in its own financial materials. The company, which also indicated in the same report that Dragon’s Dogma 2 will not be the final entry in the series, said its digital sales rose to 93% of total sales. That figure was 90% last year, meaning the physical share has continued to shrink. In CAPCOM’s case, boxed games are now almost the exception rather than the default way to buy.
Console Makers Already Moved In This Direction
This trend did not appear from nowhere. The PlayStation 5 Digital Edition, the PlayStation 5 Pro, and the Xbox Series S all launched without disc drives, and Microsoft later released an all-digital Xbox Series X model as well. Those systems made the hardware direction clear: platform holders believe that most players now prefer the convenience of digital purchases, even when that means giving up some ownership, collecting, resale, and lending options.
Committed physical collectors still argue their case loudly, but the sales split no longer favours them. Nintendo and its audience remain somewhat different, with physical releases still carrying more weight there, and publishers such as CD Projekt Red still trying to offer proper retail editions instead of Game Key Card-style solutions. Even so, that now looks more like an exception than the industry’s main direction.
With Square Enix at 81.3% digital and CAPCOM at 93%, it is difficult to imagine the next console generation ignoring this reality. There is still no official answer on whether PlayStation 6 will launch with a disc drive, but cost pressure and the dominance of digital sales both strengthen the case for disc-less hardware. Meanwhile, rumors around Xbox Project Helix suggest it may also avoid a disc drive, possibly with a disc-to-digital program that would still let players use physical games in some form.
Physical games have not disappeared, and they can still matter for collectors, preservation, and consumer ownership. The numbers from major publishers, however, show that the mass market has already made its choice. Most players buy games digitally, console manufacturers are increasingly comfortable designing disc-less hardware, and publishers are following the money. Boxed games did not die overnight, but based on Square Enix and CAPCOM’s figures, they are no longer setting the pace.
Source: Wccftech
