Only One In Four PS5 Owners In The US Have The Digital-Only Console

PlayStation Pushing For All-Digital Future Even Though Only 27 Percent Of PS5 Users Own Its Digital Edition Pexels Published Jul 24, 2026, 4:07 AM EDT Josh Coulson is an editor at TheGamer covering breaking news on everything from colorful platformers to the latest Lego sets. Primarily a news writer since 2018, Josh has covered just about every major game from the past decade. Now an editor, their focus has shifted to being the leading affiliate expert at the site, building relationships between TheGamer and global brands including Mattel, Funko, and The Pokemon Company. Sign in to your TheGamer account Despite vociferous and seemingly unending backlash following PlayStation’s decision to stop putting games on discs from 2028, no u-turn has been announced. Perhaps somewhat surprising considering how many PS5 owners paid extra to make sure their console includes a disc drive. The defense for PlayStation’s want for an all-digital gaming future is that the vast majority of video games sold on its platform are digital copies, not physical ones. That much is true. However, another telling stat highlights that even though PS5 owners choose to buy digital, they still want a way to play physical games. Most PS5 Owners Paid More So Their Console Came With A Disc Drive PlayStation That is reflected in just how many of them have opted for the more expensive disc-drive version of the PS5 over the cheaper digital-only edition. According to Circana’s Mat Piscatella, only 27 percent of PS5s sold in the US since the console launched in 2020 have been the digital-only, meaning almost three-quarters of PS5 owners want the option to play physical games. More than half of Xbox Series consoles sold have been digital-only, likely due to the popularity of the Series S. The price of each PS5 alone makes this a telling stat. If PS5 owners really didn’t care about physical media, then they’d choose the digital edition of the console every time. Not just because they don’t need a disc drive, but because it’s the cheaper option. If you don’t plan to use the console to play physical games, why pay extra for one that has that capability? Even Some Who Went Digital Bought Disc Drives Later Not mentioned by Piscatella, but this stat is worth pairing up with how popular PlayStation's detachable disc drive has been. The accessory was incredibly hard to come by a couple of years ago. Since it sold so well, it means technically even more than 73 percent of PS5 owners have a console with a disc drive, as a significant chunk of that one in four who bought a digital-only console also bought the disc drive separately. The digital-only share of total PS5s sold has been slowly creeping up. In October 2024, only 18 percent of PS5s were the digital edition. There are a few reasons why that share has continued to shift in digital-only’s favor. PlayStation’s price hikes, for starters. Sure, people were willing to pay the extra for the disc drive edition at launch, but now all PS5s are more expensive; those who waited, hoping the console might get cheaper, have likely opted to simply buy the cheapest PS5 they can get their hands on. PlayStation’s announcement that there won’t be disc versions of its games starting in 2028 will have almost certainly pushed that percentage in digital’s direction, too. The disc drive PS5 still outnumbers its digital equivalent three-to-one, though. That’s a stat that PlayStation should worry about if it plans on not giving its player base a disc drive option when it launches the PS6. It might not change its mind about physical releases, but there will still be a want for people to play the physical PS5 and PS4 games they already own. Brand Sony Original Release Date November 12, 2020 Original MSRP (USD) $499, €499, £449, ¥49,980 (Base) // $399, €399, £359, ¥39,980 (Digital), Operating System Orbis OS Processor Custom 8-core AMD Zen 2 Resolution 720p - 8K