Death Stranding 2: On the Beach has seen its physical launch sales in the UK drop by 66% compared to the original game’s debut. That sounds like a huge hit, right? However, the story behind these numbers is a bit more complicated, particularly given the shift in the gaming market over the past five years.
Back in 2024, boxed game sales accounted for just 4% of all video game spending in the UK. That’s wild, if you think about it; physical copies are becoming harder to find in stores, unless you’re hunting online. So yeah, the drop isn’t just about the game itself; it’s also about how people buy games nowadays.
Interestingly, Death Stranding 2’s physical sales were also 33% lower than last year’s Astro Bot, which was considered a “physical heavy” release. That means Astro Bot had a powerful physical presence, so comparing the two isn’t exactly apples to apples.
Another factor to consider: the Deluxe Edition of Death Stranding 2, which included early access, was only available digitally. That likely drew some potential physical buyers to the digital side, which isn’t surprising given current trends.
Death Stranding 2 was No.1 in the UK physical charts last week. Its launch sales were -66% lower than Death Stranding 1… but different eras. It's a far more digital market today. It's 33% lower than Astro Bot's launch, but that was also a physical heavy release, too.
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) June 29, 2025
Checking out the PS Store UK charts, Kojima Productions’ latest is sitting just behind EA Sports FC 25 in best-seller rankings. However, Sony doesn’t share much information, such as concurrent player counts, so we don’t have the full picture yet.
So, are physical sales the whole story here? Probably not. We’ll have to wait for the digital sales data before drawing any significant conclusions. However, it’s clear that the market is quite different from when the first Death Stranding was launched.
