Australia is defying gaming's digital-only future

Despite a global push for download-only gaming, the latest data confirms we're a holdout country for physical copies.

Not quite discless yet. Source: DALL-E

Australia has always been quick to adopt technology trends. Nine out of ten of us own a smartphone and unlike many other developed economies the vast majority of payments in this country are made digitally. We're even debating whether cash has a future here.

Yet, there's one category where we're content to lag slightly behind: the digital-only purchase of games.

While headline figures show that spending on video games in Australia is growing (up 5% on 2022), a deeper dive into 2023 Australian Consumer Sales Data reveals more nuanced insights.

The latest data confirms we're bucking the global trend regarding digital-only game purchases. While over half of Australians are happy to purchase games digitally, we're still below the latest global benchmark of 70% digital purchases for new releases. Moreover, digital sales in Australia are fluctuating rather than growing, despite the introduction of discless gaming consoles in 2020.