this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2025
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[–] Agent_Karyo@piefed.world 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Worth pointing out that Circana does not fully track Steam (only some, albeit large publishers). They don't track GOG or Epic at all (they are of course a lot smaller than Steam).

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Why would any of that affect physical software? Does steam and gog sell cartridges or discs that I'm unaware of?

[–] Agent_Karyo@piefed.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I got confused by the following:

While Circana reports that content spending was up 1% year-over-year to $4.8 billion, that's with subscription spending rising 16% and 2% growth in mobile.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's just saying overall revenue is up, but that includes digital sales like subscriptions and mobile storefront sales.

While physical sales are down, the digital sales make up for the loss to the point of actually being a 1% gain.

[–] Agent_Karyo@piefed.world 2 points 23 hours ago

If it refers to the total games software market (digital sales, physical sales, micro-transactions, subscriptions and mobile), then I think I my point stands.

I wasn't sure if "content spending" excludes say micro-transactions for software that is not available physically.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I mean Valve sells the Steam Deck(s)?

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The steamdeck is physical software? I thought it was hardware with digital software.

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 2 points 1 day ago

Read it again:

Physical software and hardware sales

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 0 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

I say this as someone who loves their Steam Deck... Steam Deck sales are insignificant compared to consoles.

6 million in 3 years:

https://birchtree.me/blog/steam-deck-sales-numbers-are-in-and-theyre-not-as-spectacular-as-id-hope-but-i-do-still-have-hope/

The Switch 2 has sold over 10 million, June to September. 3 months. There has been another 3 months since then.

https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/nintendo-switch-2-sales-10-million-1236569355/

[–] Ulrich@feddit.org 2 points 21 hours ago

No one said it was significant.

[–] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Of course, there's a significant difference between the two, as a Switch 2 is the only way to play Switch 2 games, while you can play Steam games on a multitude of devices, including other portable ones.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

And more significantly, the Switch 2 is for kids. There's no sizable youth market for the Steam Deck.

But out of all the handheld PCs, the Steam Deck is #1, so that should give you some idea about the sales on the others. 😉

https://www.theverge.com/pc-gaming/618709/steam-deck-3-year-anniversary-handheld-gaming-shipments-idc

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

This is about physical sales, not digital.