This year's top grossing new PlayStation games (and physical splits), @alineaanalytics estimates. While they understandably don’t get a lot of coverage among core gamers (and the games press), sports games are bloody massive. They account for five of the top ten games in 2026’s new PlayStation games by revenue. For example, PlayStation’s #1 new 2026 game by revenue, FC 27, has generated $727.9M via copies sold this year, but just 8.9% of that ($64.9M) is physical. That still makes it #2 by overall physical revenues, which is more a testament to the game’s monumental sales than anything. Similarly, NBA 2K27 is #3 overall at $213.4M, but as only 4.6% of its revenue is physical ($9.9M), it’s #16 by physical revenue. Outside of the top 5: - College Football 27 is #8 by overall revenue ($131.4M), but just 4.8% of that is physical ($6.4M), making it #19 by physical revenue. - Madden 27 is #9 overall ($118.0M), but 6.9% physical ($8.2M, #24). - MLB The Show 26 is #10 overall ($100.1M), but 7.6% physical ($7.6M, #21). The reason is ‘cos most people play these games for their Ultimate Team modes (MyTeam in NBA, Diamond Dynasty in MLB). The digital deluxe versions offer head starts, perks, boosters, and players for these modes, and the publishers have gone heavier on that stuff over time, nudging more launch players towards the digital versions. The result of that slow-burn nudging is the single-digit physical splits we see for sports games at launch. PlayStation’s ripping off of the band-aid (no physical by 2028) is a far more direct push than a nudge, which is one of the reasons PlayStation got the backlash where others didn’t as much. More on the new Substack.

This year's top new PlayStation games by PHYSICAL copies sold (@alineaanalytics estimates). New 2026 sold-through physical games have made over $655M in revenue on PlayStation. That’s well below 20% of the total (of all new premium games), dragged down by digital-only releases and preorder bonuses. Catch more on the new free Substack.