FIFA 19 was the UK’s best-selling title
According to figures released by the number-crunchers at The Entertainment Retail Association, 80% of all U.K. software-related sales were made digitally. This includes games, DLC and other paid items such as FIFA FUT packs and GTA Online Shark Cards.
Cash registers rang to the amount of £3.86 billion over the course of 2018, with statistics showing that £3.09 billion came in digital sales with only £770 million of that grand total being physical game sales. This was repeatedly demonstrated throughout the year with major franchises seeing huge physical sales drops in their most-recent sequels.
In some situations, physical sales still packed a punch. This is this case in regards to Electronic Arts FIFA 19, which was the highest selling game in the UK, sold around 2.5 million copies, with 75% of those sales being physical. Some it seems, for a few brands, there’s still a reason for their publishers to keep pressing those discs.
As for other games, it seems that the push toward digital releases continues to grow stronger with each year, and given the money that would be saved by not having to mass manufacturer physical copies, as well as the eradication of the pre-owned market, it would seem likely that major publishers would be very happy for this trend to continue in 2019 and beyond.
UK video game sales now 80% digital [Eurogamer]
