People like to touch their games, get physical with them.

A freshly released report from the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) reveals that despite the hyped and inevitable rise of digital distribution channels, 80 to 90% of video games are still sold on physical media.

According to the report, overall prerecorded video content sales (which includes DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and digital delivery) grew 2.8% to 3.5 billion in 2009.

It also reveals that DVD and Blu-Ray disc sales totaled $17.9 billion in 2009, nine times the revenue generated by digital distribution, and 80 to 90% of paid video game software acquisitions were on physical media.

Even though digital delivery channels (such as electronic sell-through) and rental are experiencing tremendous growth, the report underlines that the proclaimed "disc is dead" motto is all but an exaggeration, at least for now.

Source: The D2 Report: Discs & Digital - The Business of Home Entertainment Retailing, issued by EMA.
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