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Take-Two CEO: Physical games won't disappear, but will become niche like vinyl records

Source: IT之家 Published: Business & Funding 中文 CEO
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Take-Two CEO 施特劳斯 · 泽尔尼克 (Strauss Zelnick) recently said physical games will not disappear entirely but may gradually become a smaller niche market like vinyl records in the music industry. He said digital distribution has accounted for the vast majority of the game market for years and that his prediction from more than a decade ago that digital would exceed 90% of the game business has been borne out; physical games will persist long-term but remain very limited. Take-Two's latest quarterly results showed digital distribution contributed about 98% of net bookings, while physical retail and other channels contributed about 2%, and Sony has announced that from January 2028 all new PlayStation games will stop producing physical discs and be offered digitally.

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Take-Two CEO: Physical Games Won't Disappear, but Will Become as Niche as Vinyl Records in the Future

IT之家, November 14: Take-Two CEO 施特劳斯 · 泽尔尼克 (Strauss Zelnick) recently said that physical games will not completely disappear, but in the future may gradually become a smaller niche market like vinyl records in the music industry.

泽尔尼克 said in an interview with The Game Business that the trend of digital distribution accounting for the vast majority of the game market has continued for many years. He said that more than 10 years ago he predicted that digital distribution would account for more than 90% of the game business; although not every prediction was accurate, this judgment has been validated.

Speaking of physical games, 泽尔尼克 believes that the physical games business will still exist for a long time, but its scale will be very limited. He compared it to vinyl records, which still exist in the music industry, and believes that physical games will retain some audience but will no longer be the market mainstream.

According to Take-Two's fiscal 2027 second-quarter financial report announced on November 9, digital distribution has already accounted for the vast majority of the company's business.

The financial report shows that in the three months ended September 30, 2026, the company's Net Bookings were $1.6013 billion (IT之家 note: approx. RMB 10.705 billion at current exchange rates), of which digital distribution contributed $1.5629 billion (approx. RMB 10.448 billion), accounting for about 98%; physical retail and other channels contributed $38.4 million (approx. RMB 257 million), accounting for about 2%. By comparison, in the same period of the previous fiscal year, physical retail and other channels contributed 5%.

泽尔尼克 also previously talked about physical games on the August earnings call. He said that for major games, discs no longer make much sense for consumers because most games still require online registration or verification. If players are already connected to the internet, downloading the game directly is often more convenient. However, he also emphasized at the time that Take-Two will not completely abandon physical versions and will still release physical games from time to time in the future.

Sony has also announced a similar digital transformation plan. According to a PlayStation official announcement, starting in January 2028, all new PlayStation games will stop producing physical discs and will instead be provided as digital versions through the PlayStation Store and retail channels. This adjustment will not affect physical disc games that have already been released or are released before January 2028.

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