Roughly 35% of Marvel’s Wolverine launch sales worldwide were boxed disc copies, according to Ampere Analysis and GSD estimates reported by The Game Business. In Europe, that figure climbed to 51%, meaning physical copies marginally outsold digital for a major Sony first-party exclusive during its September launch period.
Sony has announced that physical disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will end starting January 2028. These Wolverine numbers do not suggest that decision is reversing. The disc-buying customer base is larger than a clean global shift-to-digital story allows, and its behavior varies sharply by region.
The Numbers Behind the Split
Ampere Analysis estimates place Wolverine’s September sales at approximately 2.16 million copies across physical and digital formats, making it the second-best-selling PS5 title that month behind EA Sports FC 27.
These figures are Ampere Analysis and GSD estimates, not official Sony sales disclosures. Digital purchases accounted for a global majority of reported Wolverine sales. That context matters before drawing broad conclusions.
The regional picture is striking. More than two-thirds of French sales were physical copies, while roughly two-thirds of UK sales were digital. Same game, same month, opposite purchasing patterns depending on which side of the Channel you were shopping.
Wolverine was not an isolated result. The Blood of Dawnwalker generated approximately 36% of sales through boxed copies, and Silent Hill Townfall reached roughly 45% physical sales, according to estimates from The Game Business. Physical demand is not a Wolverine quirk.
Collectors Are Not Moving at the Industry’s Pace
NYU business professor and gaming analyst Joost van Dreunen argues that consumer attachment to physical ownership is running well ahead of the industry’s timeline.
Van Dreunen put it plainly: “People have a need to collect.” He also noted, in paraphrased remarks, that the industry may be ready to leave discs behind, but consumers are not transitioning at the same speed.
That gap is exactly what these numbers illustrate. For a segment of buyers, a disc on a shelf represents ownership that does not depend on a storefront staying online. A cancelled subscription or a corporate restructuring cannot erase it.
What Sony’s 2028 Deadline Actually Means
Sony has announced its direction, and Wolverine’s physical sales performance is unlikely to shift the company’s timeline.
Physical disc production ends for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles starting January 2028. Digital purchases represent the global majority of reported Wolverine sales, and the structural economics of manufacturing, logistics, and retail all reinforce Sony’s trajectory.
These numbers do suggest that ending disc production could leave a commercially meaningful audience without the format they actively chose. Whether that demand quietly dissolves after 2028 or becomes a visible gap in the market is the question these estimates raise without fully answering.
