Despite 90% of its sales now digital, Capcom claims it won’t stop producing physical games

Capcom has claimed that it has no plans to cease producing physical games.

During the Q&A summary of its 45th ordinary general shareholder meeting, Capcom was asked about its outlook on the production of physical games, especially as the company sees a larger portion of sales being directed toward digital titles.

“Given that a significant number of end users demand physical games, we do not expect to eliminate physical products,” it said.

While Capcom releases all of its major titles as both physical and digital releases, the company has released some smaller titles as digital only. This month, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess was released as a digital-only title, for example.

During the 2023 financial year, Capcom announced that 90.1% of its sales were for digital titles, which it forecasts will reach over 93% during the current financial year.

While some larger titles in recent years have been released as digital-only at launch, such as Alan Wake 2, physical versions of the games often follow later. Remedy and Epic Games partnered with Limited Run to release a deluxe physical edition of the game, alongside a collector’s edition, for example.

Digital sales make up the majority of sales in the video game space, with the percentage of players opting for digital titles only increasing each year.

In the UK last year, physical software sales continued to drop – with a decline of 5% year-on-year – while digital console game sales, digital PC game sales, and mobile game sales all saw increases.

In the UK last year, digital console game sales rose 5.6% to £2.48 billion, digital PC games were up 4.5% to £684 million, and mobile game sales increased by 4.5% to £1.52 billion.