Capcom shrugs off PlayStation’s all-digital future, suggests shrinking physical market will not have a “significant impact” on its operations
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Capcom has said it does not expect a "significant impact" on its operations from the shrinking physical games market, as Sony prepares to phase out disc-based PlayStation hardware by 2028. The reassurance came in the Q&A section of Capcom's latest quarterly earnings report, in response to an investor question about the medium- to long-term effects of declining physical sales, and marks Capcom as the latest publisher to weigh in on Sony's contentious all-digital push following similar comments from Sega.
The confidence stems largely from Capcom's sales mix: roughly 90% of its unit sales are already digital, meaning any further decline in physical retail would have limited effect on its bottom line. The publisher is also riding high commercially, with Resident Evil Requiem passing 8 million units sold and new IP Pragmata surpassing 2.5 million, while Onimusha: Way of the Sword remains on track for a now-earlier 2026 release, which Capcom attributed to development progress and market conditions.
- Capcom says physical market decline won't significantly hurt its business
- About 90% of Capcom's unit sales are already digital
- Resident Evil Requiem hits 8m sales, Pragmata passes 2.5m
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Sony has announced plans to move PlayStation consoles away from physical discs by 2028, focusing instead on digital downloads. This has raised concerns for game publishers who still rely on selling physical copies of games, since a shrinking disc market could affect their revenue if customers cannot easily buy games in shops or resell used discs.
Capcom, the Japanese publisher behind franchises such as Resident Evil and Onimusha, has responded to investor questions about this shift by saying it does not expect the change to seriously affect its business. This is largely because the vast majority of its game sales already happen digitally rather than through physical discs, meaning it is less exposed than some rivals to a decline in physical retail.
Capcom is one of several major publishers, alongside companies like Sega, being asked to explain how they will adapt to Sony's changing approach to hardware and game distribution. The issue matters to the wider games industry because it touches on how consumers buy and own games, the future of second-hand game sales, and how much control publishers and platform owners have over pricing and access as the market moves further towards digital-only formats.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Advocates of the industry's digital shift argue that Capcom's confidence is simply a rational response to where consumers already are: with roughly nine in ten of its sales already digital, publishers gain efficiency, lower distribution and manufacturing costs, and closer control over pricing, patches and anti-piracy measures. They see all-digital platforms as reducing waste from unsold discs, offering instant access and regional flexibility, and freeing development budgets to be reinvested in games rather than physical logistics, which ultimately benefits both publishers' margins and players' convenience.
The case against
Critics of the all-digital trajectory argue that phasing out physical media strips consumers of genuine ownership, since digital licences can be revoked, delisted or rendered unplayable if servers or storefronts eventually shut down, undermining game preservation and collector culture. They value the resale, lending, price-competition and offline-access benefits that discs provide, and worry that publishers cheerfully accepting this shift, as Capcom has, signals an industry drifting further from consumer interests towards models that prioritise recurring revenue and platform control over long-term access to purchased media.
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