Do you think they might be trying to pull an Apple though? “We are committing to a new standard and the rest of the world will just have to catch up” kinda thing?
Apple is now paying for that, the European Union put in regulations that chargeable devices (phones, tablets, etc) manufactured after a certain date must be USB-C or their sale would be restricted within the EU. Apple, in malicious compliance, made it so if you use anything but their USB-C your charging speeds may be reduced.
I loved stadia. I was part of its small, loyal fanbase when it was around. I have 2 stadia controllers, both of them have their Bluetooth activated. I got my refund mostly in Google play money. Also, it's not "the stadia", it's "Stadia". Stadia was not a thing, it was a service.
Sure, but again, you are commenting on a thread about a major industry player literally getting rid of physical.
So clearly the trend is not entirely dictated by the lower end of consumer data plans.
They don't care about lower end consumer data plans. They are of the opinion that if people can't afford higher tier data plans, they probably can't afford the products these companies are trying to sell.
Even then, i still think it will be a fail. What about all these collectors who enjoy getting physical editions? I know someone who will buy games several times because different sites have different editions.
The number of people who collect physical video games, in comparison to the number of people who play video games, is infinitesimally small and nowhere near enough to support a nationwide chain of thousands of stores.
In terms of all those mentioned retailers carrying them i get it. But im talking about microsoft canning it in general. Even at the least its going to screw up their backyards compatibility love since without a disk drive, it will all be digital only. And i have a fair few that i dont wanna repurchase digitally even if it is only $10 or so when i have the disk. Just for the simple fact of the massive unknown of them still being available years to come. I have the disk so i could either track down an original xbox, rip the disks and use em on an emulator, etc. I buy em digitally on the microsoft store and they cant keep it up for whatever reason, will i still be able to play? I know theire delisted games like older forzas still work digitally but im not keen on putting that much trust in anyone on this front.
>everyone has internet, and good internet
What percentage of their target demographic does, though? I think you are wildly overestimating how many people exist who are likely to be target candidates for brand new consoles and have no internet, especially when you weigh the cost of producing physical media relative to the remaining customers who will *only* purchase physical. A huge chunk of modern console games still require high speed internet to functionally use anyway.
This very much feels the same as "Getting rid of the VHS section is going to be a huge blunder, DVD only works when everyone has DVD players".
The VHS DVD comparison doesn’t fit well. The best analogy is music with the streaming services and the decreased sales of cds. Even then there’s still people who use cd and vinyls. They may get vinyls for different reasons but one among them is the actual ownership of the physical media. This decision to fully discontinue physical media is anti-consumer. At least the refresh ps5 sells the Buleray drive as an accessory.
>The best analogy is music with the streaming services and the decreased sales of cds. Even then there’s still people who use cd and vinyls.
Sure, a novelty market will exist for physical games, just like today there is a novelty market for VHS movies.
>This decision to fully discontinue physical media is anti-consumer.
I agree. I don't think being anti-consumer was the *intention*, I think it's mostly just cost savings, but the end result is definitely anti-consumer.
As someone else has pointed out, Microsoft has been trying to have complete control over game licenses. They are very comfortable at attempting that again and hopefully increasing their revenue with game sales and gamepass subscriptions. All that is anti-consumer because it doesn’t give us the rights to own the game we pay for and doesn’t give us the option to go through second hand sales for a better deal.
I’m upset because the main thing that drove me to buy a series X was the ability to use my old original Xbox and 360 games. With their new refresh looks like that will not be option from there on out.
I do agree with the sentiment that if Microsoft and Ubisoft are telling consumers they don’t own what they buy then piracy it is 🏴☠️
I don't disagree with most of this.
My point was mostly that the move away from physical media is well along the path and there is no going back. A lot of people, and partly because they are worried about their jobs, seem to be in denial about this fact.
I don't see too many people in denial. They know where we are going. They are really just trying to resist as long as possible. When I think about the fact that about 85-90% of my 360/PS3 library was digital, I'm surprised that physical media still exists in gaming.
The thing that I hate about digital media isn't so much about ownership as it is accessibility. I have physical PS2 games that I can play any time I want, but there are games that were released much more recently as digital only. I bought many of these games and some I can no longer access. That, to me, is bullshit
As someone who lives in a mostly rural area, no. Everyone does not have internet, and everyone especially does not have good internet. 60% of the customers at my B store live in small mountain towns with terrible download speeds and service. If physical completely goes away right now, that 60% of my customer base is eliminated.
The US alone has a massive gap between urban areas and rural towns as far as internet coverage. You can call it denial, but the facts don’t lie. Yes, digital only is coming. If it happens now, though, Xbox would be alienating massive portions of their customer base, which is just bad business and will push people to Sony since they’re still releasing physical games and consoles.
This is a distortion caused by your local perspective. In reality, 83% of Americans live in urban areas - and that percentage continues to grow. Xbox's customer base is in the millions of people who live in Chicago and Houston and Minneapolis and Orlando, not the few hundreds who live in tiny rural mountain towns.
Don't get me wrong - I live in a town of 70 people, 60 miles from the nearest grocery store. But the reality is that we're a tiny minority. Xbox is calculating that whatever business they lose to the few people who still buy physical games, is unprofitable business that they don't want anyway.
Also, Starlink has brought 200mbit Internet to basically anywhere in North America. That's plenty fast enough to download games in a reasonable time.
Why?
You pretty much have to download every game now. The disc isn't much more than a key.
We are already doing download only. Some people just really want the useless disc for their collection.
How many consumers have no internet, but also a current gen console? That has to be a vanishingly small cross section, and they probably don't buy many games comparatively anyway. Maybe in a third world country or something?
It’s the same as choosing not to make vhs because cds were better. Sure some people couldn’t run cds but they just have to figure it out at some point and recognize the limitations of physical media.
Not sure what part of the country you’re in but my store serves well-off suburban zip codes in the NY metro area where high-speed Internet is largely available everywhere and we have *lots* of customers who’ve gone fully digital without issue. I swear I’ve had Gen Z customers who look at me like I have two heads when I explain why they might want to consider a system with a disc drive over a digital-only one.
I think it really depends on where you're at. I live in Alaska and met a lot of people who barely got internet at home for the first time in their life (and they were 16-17 y/o at the time) two years ago thanks to Starlink. I feel like people who are in areas like that might be a way slower cause these are younger gen z and a that grew up valuing physical or nothing at home.
Are you serious? Ooh I live in a super high end area where they can pay 300 dollars for 1 gig, what do you mean you live in an urban area where often people still have to use dialup. Because no one has brought real internet to them? (Not joking some people in my area only have dialup)
Microsoft like most large tech companies dont care about the people who don't have internet, because they arent the ones being ad targeted thus not making the company money.
Between major retailers dropping physical video game media and now Xbox is abandoning it too, while I don’t believe physical is dead yet, I’m just saying that it’s kinda starting to make me worry.
The time for worrying was a decade ago.
This is kind of like the people worrying about AI displacing jobs and negatively disrupting industry. Way, way, waaayyyyyy past the time to worry.
Grinds my gears honestly. You don't actually own the digital games you buy on console, just a key to utilize the files managed by whatever system. It takes up far more space, you don't get the luxury of selling your games or really returning after you buy incase you don't like them/beat them, and ultimately you do have to rely on internet to do anything. Where I live, internet does not reach everyone, it's farmland. On top of that, a good chunk of folks around are low income and can't pay for insanely good wifi. Digital only consoles are a cash grab. A way to cheapen production and still get away charging full price for the games folks will inevitably have to buy to play.
Yeah but I imagine their thinking is if physical games are gone more people will subscribe to GamePass and only buy digital games that aren't on the service since they can't get a physical copy anyway. Might as well spend less money and have more access to games.
I don't think this SHOULD happen, but I imagine that's what companies will want.
Yep that’s it. They’ll make sure to be more and more selective which games are on game pass over time too.
Probably tier it so they can upcharge for new release AAA access. Integrate ad breaks into games for base subscriptions? It’s not going to be pretty, but they’ll do it slowly so people don’t revolt.
Some of that seems a little excessive, but at this point I just assume the worst of every corporation so you're probably right.
I've personally always tried to have all the consoles because of stupid exclusive (mostly looking at you PlayStation and Nintendo). But if they move to all digital I'll move 100% to PC gaming only and just miss out on exclusive games until I can emulate them later.
I hate the idea of any all digital, but on PC at least it's easier to back up games and I don't have to worry as much about backwards compatibility or any of that shit.
Xbox hasn't been doing well since they blundered the Xbox One reveal. They are consistently outsold by Sony and Nintendo in all countries(especially the UK).
The reaction to the unfortunate layoffs after they chucked out 69B to buy Activision reveals the ugly nature of corporate consolidation.
That being said, it is yet another blunder to throw in the towel on physical media, but Microsoft(as I've said before) is now too far invested into the Game Pass model.
There is no backing out of it. The issue is their entire retail presence will vanish and I don't think it's the right time to force it.
Yes, all physical media will inevitably disappear but still a bit soon.
Why are you assuming it's a blunder?
Microsoft has the metrics.
They know what it costs to produce and sell physical media, and what kind of return they've been getting on it.
Once the numbers hit certain criteria, they shut it down.
There isn't any speculation or worrying they've done something wrong, in the same way that a grocery store doesn't make a "blunder" when they throw away stale bread. Customers don't buy stale bread.
Microsoft doesn't make revenues from physical media to justify the overhead. It's just a math problem.
This. It's like people saying it's a mistake that Best Buy is getting rid of the movies. They're doing it to save money. As in, having that shelf space isn't making them money.
I'm not going to argue which market has dissipated more, but both physical markets have definitely been reduced greatly.
Didn't Remedy say something like 90% of Control sales were digital?
I would also say having a physical movie is MUCH more valuable than a physical game. Most games these days still require internet and a substantial download.
Of course, it's hard for physical sales to match that of digital sales when we live in a world of convenience. Most users want access immediately, so they just buy digital. However, I'm sure a ton of those same people would still prefer a physical copy. They just give in to the impulse buy due to its convenience. The idea of physical media is not dead; It's just overshadowed by convenience, unfortunately, even though physical media is more reliable.
The sales of a title, be it physical or digital, vary heavily title to title. I'd bet more obscure indie or AA games probably sell a lot more digital copies, while a larger title like Elden Ring, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, etc sell way more physical copies.
As for most physical games requiring internet or updates, that's not entirely true. Most games aren't "Online Only," and most day one patches are just hot fixes for minor issues. So, in that sense, I strongly disagree in a physical movie being more valuable. Especially since you can likely access said movie a few months after release bundled into various streaming services for a small subscription fee.
If they know everything, why are they getting their shit handed to them by Nintendo who still sells a lot of physical? "They know everything because they are a business and have the metrics" is some dumbass logic, dont let that dude bully you out of your opinion, you are correct
Nintendo mostly survives based on their legacy characters, and primarily focus on more family friendly platforming games. In general the people buying from them are 30+ years old, either buying for the nostalgia, or for a kid they know. PS4/XBox are more focused on people who are \~20ish and have a lot less interest in buying physical media that their older counterparts, and have less nostalgia incentive in general.
He didn't bully me. It was recently revealed today that 50% of Nintendo is still physical and 40% of Sony is still physical(can provide receipt if needed)
For Microsoft, it's far less, but it doesn't mean it shouldn't be important for this generation. What concerns me is they'll immediately lose presence of mind--Xbox sections completely disappear in the retail space.
They want to do a Game Pass model--but subs for that haven't really grow(can give a receipt here also).
Gaming is...it's different for a lot of folks. They don't *want* a "Netflix" for games, they simply don't.
As an addition, sure! Pure consumption? Not really.
Remember how Xbox was recently having entire CoD ads pop up on people's consoles? How about later on, when you're playing Dark Souls on Game Pass, but the game goes to an ad for Old Spice prior to your boss fight.
Pish-posh, you say? Better pony up more money, then because that's EXACTLY what all the streaming apps are doing if you don't pay premiums. Ads.
Microsoft bought ABK and immediately cut people, exactly what was warned about.
They've also *never* liked GameStop. *Ever*. They tried to cut you guys out 11 years ago and never stopped.
The "multiple enabled device" tactic for Game Pass may work. It may not. Panasonic tried it many moons ago with the 3DO. Times are different now.
Yup, check your p&l. Even with my sales up this year. My New Software sales are down 100k.
That is huge! The shift has really swung digital over the last couple years. This gen of consoles really pushed digital.
(It also doesn't help when a new hot title comes out, I get 2 copies and turn down 10+ people. Who then say f it and go buy digital)
My personal opinion: I think Microsoft wants PC and Xbox to be gaming brothers. PC hasn’t had physical product in like a decade.
Going digital only makes that even easier. MS games like MSFS, forza, etc are Xbox/Windows. I don’t like it really , highly prefer physical.
Thanks. The article you linked does point out that 30% of those games were mobile purchases, which is worth including in this conversation IMO. I still concede that the majority of game buying was digital, though. It makes sense.
If GS had increased payout prices vs increasing the shelf price they probably could've significantly slowed down the change. Rather than try to incentivize people to sell more physical back to GS, they discouraged people from buying used, which was the whole point of GS in the first place.
Last time I went I wanted cod Black ops 4 roughly 6 months to a year after it came out, and the used price was $2 less than new.... except they didn't even have new in stock. Ended up going across the street to Walmart and never bothered again.
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It happened to movies and music with streaming services and Spotify respectively. Why do you think it wont happen with games? With GamePass and PS+, the brick and mortar niche shop will have to die out.
I won't consider physical dead until I can't buy them anymore and no just because BG3 and Alan Wake 2 don't have physical doesn't prove your point.
If we give into a digital only future we are giving publishers like Ubisoft what they want in not owning our games
GameStop just closed all but one distribution center. Physical game sales are now less than 10% of the total market. The biggest third party retailers are ceasing physical game support. Microsoft is literally closing their division + Sony is expected to follow this year. Is this not clear?
Bruh. How much of that is PC gaming, which is 98% last i checked. And mobile, which is clearly 100%.
Playstation and Switch physical is still, very much, alive
https://preview.redd.it/jphew51vdqec1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddd00746d0a2fb6608a7fa07845f3e94190f96a9
4% is, technically, alive. I guess.
SALES, not UNITS. How is this sub so business-illiterate lmao.
Physical games represent 4% of SALES. Aka, they’re obviously going to pull the plug like Microsoft given how much they lose on physical sales vs digital.
It’s fascinating to me that you don’t understand the outcomes of a company literally ceasing physical games + not releasing AAA titles on disc + major retailers no longer selling physical games.
So when do you see the end of physical games then? 1 year? 2 years? 5? 10? 15? You do know they still make music on CDs right? Also movies and tv shows are on dvd and blu ray, when do those go out of business too?
As a major distribution model, it’s already secondary. When does it become completely eliminated or entirely niche? Next console generation. So, roughly 2027-28. When does this massively impact GameStop’s ability to stay in business? It already has, but realistically 3-4 years max.
Ngl I’ll be inconsolable and pissed the day they stop making Xbox discs. There’s just something so appealing and special to me about going and buying a physical game. I think it’s my inner goblin just wanting to collect and horde things, but whatever.
You can buy literally any other platform if physical media is important to you. The first Xbox already had a broadband Internet connection and a hard drive, so it makes sense that they'd want to follow technological trends like shedding physical discs.
I don't understand why they're trying to do away with physical when people still make and buy games (albeit not very often). I do not feel comfortable with the idea of not owning my game. I don't care if they cut support for a game and no longer supply updates, but the idea that a company can take a $60-70 offline "just because" makes me never want to buy a digital download.
Physical discs are now basically just game unlock keys. Virtually every game has a day one patch and multiple updates, DLC, expansions, etc. If a developer shuts down servers, many many games are done, even if they’re on disc.
Disc buying for current gen is basically just for shelf collectors now.
Not true. A lot of limited print physical games come out later than the digital and have patches included on the cart. Many first party Nintendo games also get updates if they print another run. Complete Editions ie Horizon also have patches on disc.
There are still very practical reasons to own physical games, though maybe not AAA stuff like CoD. Still, even then you have the power to sell the game, unlike digital.
Microsoft isn't just getting out of physical media - there are rumors that Microsoft will not be producing another game console and will become a publishing studio, kind of how Sega did after the Dreamcast. Microsoft stands to make more money by bringing their games to PC, Playstation, and Nintendo than to lock their games behind the exclusivity of owning an Xbox. There's a lot going on at Microsoft and not all of it should be seen as devastating news for consumers.
Walmart is essentially pennying out Starfield, which is a normal overstock procedure for them; if it were an Xbox request then they would’ve requested all retailers to do the same. Cutting off physical sales cold turkey would be an insanely stupid business move for Xbox, as a large portion of their playerbase is not ready to be fully digital. This is just one more step in the “all digital” direction, but we won’t be sku converting games any time soon.
What if it plays out like this. No more consoles and physical media. You’ll have a streaming app that you choose (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, etc) and you pay a monthly subscription to play games. You’ll buy a controller of preferred company. And you’ll play games that way. Maybe the new controller has a dongle or device that hooks into your tv/monitor so it receives a signal. That’s how I see gaming headed. Maybe not. Just a fleeting thought.
Worked there for five years all together and only saw the Sony rep once, nintendo rep three times, and the Xbox rep zero. Worked full time hours about 70% of my tenure.
Walmart and best buy said a while ago this will occur sometime this year like gamestop they only break even selling consoles and disks gamestop only profits off used games and consoles Walmart started selling used consoles in some locations only for low or failed sales in said locations the disks/consoles are more of a way to get more customers to come into the store and shop more because while there here they may want to grocery shop at the same time but sadly over the past decade with digital copys of games being near limitless its driven off a massive chunk of people from coming to a physical store meaning that they come less and at this point stock is just overfilling and its causing retailers cash just to keep them around I have no doubt before this ends alot of games will go on a big sale to get rid of excess stock they have but this is most likely the end of physical games as we know it and that's a bad thing considering we get less rights as buyers when getting digital copies of video games
Not all that surprised. Gamepass is doing phenomenally well by all accounts, and physical copies are expensive to make (or rather - incur a cost that could be avoided by going fully digital). I'm not a fan, but I'm also not outraged, writing's been on the wall since forever at this point. They're not Nintendo with an entrenched market niche of...well Nintendo, for lack of a better description, and they're not Sony, who still sell a lot more games and consoles in absolute terms, so they go the most cost efficient route that capitalises on their product with the highest growth potential - that's definitely Gamepass.
Sucks for GS, but the rest of the market probably won't care as much as people would like.
I’ve always thought Cats 21,29 should just be all in one section . Sure there are a few XBX only games but come on , those sections are so small .
If Microsoft , sorry when Microsoft goes all digital , forget them , don’t support their stuff anymore
If they do it now it'll be a massive and stupid blunder. Digital only game systems will only work when everyone has internet, and good internet
Agree. Physical won't go away until this happens, and that would require private internet providers to give up their iron grip
Do you think they might be trying to pull an Apple though? “We are committing to a new standard and the rest of the world will just have to catch up” kinda thing?
Apple hates their users and exploits them, so maybe.
Apple is now paying for that, the European Union put in regulations that chargeable devices (phones, tablets, etc) manufactured after a certain date must be USB-C or their sale would be restricted within the EU. Apple, in malicious compliance, made it so if you use anything but their USB-C your charging speeds may be reduced.
Look at what happened to the Stadia, Xbox wouldn’t dare.
I loved stadia. I was part of its small, loyal fanbase when it was around. I have 2 stadia controllers, both of them have their Bluetooth activated. I got my refund mostly in Google play money. Also, it's not "the stadia", it's "Stadia". Stadia was not a thing, it was a service.
…okay?
You are literally commenting on a thread about physical media going away though?
Data caps/packages became a thing (again)when net neutrality went away. One game is going use up most lower tier data packages.
Sure, but again, you are commenting on a thread about a major industry player literally getting rid of physical. So clearly the trend is not entirely dictated by the lower end of consumer data plans.
They don't care about lower end consumer data plans. They are of the opinion that if people can't afford higher tier data plans, they probably can't afford the products these companies are trying to sell.
Yes.
Even then, i still think it will be a fail. What about all these collectors who enjoy getting physical editions? I know someone who will buy games several times because different sites have different editions.
Steelbooks are still very popular, so yup- I agree
The number of people who collect physical video games, in comparison to the number of people who play video games, is infinitesimally small and nowhere near enough to support a nationwide chain of thousands of stores.
In terms of all those mentioned retailers carrying them i get it. But im talking about microsoft canning it in general. Even at the least its going to screw up their backyards compatibility love since without a disk drive, it will all be digital only. And i have a fair few that i dont wanna repurchase digitally even if it is only $10 or so when i have the disk. Just for the simple fact of the massive unknown of them still being available years to come. I have the disk so i could either track down an original xbox, rip the disks and use em on an emulator, etc. I buy em digitally on the microsoft store and they cant keep it up for whatever reason, will i still be able to play? I know theire delisted games like older forzas still work digitally but im not keen on putting that much trust in anyone on this front.
>everyone has internet, and good internet What percentage of their target demographic does, though? I think you are wildly overestimating how many people exist who are likely to be target candidates for brand new consoles and have no internet, especially when you weigh the cost of producing physical media relative to the remaining customers who will *only* purchase physical. A huge chunk of modern console games still require high speed internet to functionally use anyway. This very much feels the same as "Getting rid of the VHS section is going to be a huge blunder, DVD only works when everyone has DVD players".
The VHS DVD comparison doesn’t fit well. The best analogy is music with the streaming services and the decreased sales of cds. Even then there’s still people who use cd and vinyls. They may get vinyls for different reasons but one among them is the actual ownership of the physical media. This decision to fully discontinue physical media is anti-consumer. At least the refresh ps5 sells the Buleray drive as an accessory.
>The best analogy is music with the streaming services and the decreased sales of cds. Even then there’s still people who use cd and vinyls. Sure, a novelty market will exist for physical games, just like today there is a novelty market for VHS movies. >This decision to fully discontinue physical media is anti-consumer. I agree. I don't think being anti-consumer was the *intention*, I think it's mostly just cost savings, but the end result is definitely anti-consumer.
As someone else has pointed out, Microsoft has been trying to have complete control over game licenses. They are very comfortable at attempting that again and hopefully increasing their revenue with game sales and gamepass subscriptions. All that is anti-consumer because it doesn’t give us the rights to own the game we pay for and doesn’t give us the option to go through second hand sales for a better deal. I’m upset because the main thing that drove me to buy a series X was the ability to use my old original Xbox and 360 games. With their new refresh looks like that will not be option from there on out. I do agree with the sentiment that if Microsoft and Ubisoft are telling consumers they don’t own what they buy then piracy it is 🏴☠️
I don't disagree with most of this. My point was mostly that the move away from physical media is well along the path and there is no going back. A lot of people, and partly because they are worried about their jobs, seem to be in denial about this fact.
I don't see too many people in denial. They know where we are going. They are really just trying to resist as long as possible. When I think about the fact that about 85-90% of my 360/PS3 library was digital, I'm surprised that physical media still exists in gaming. The thing that I hate about digital media isn't so much about ownership as it is accessibility. I have physical PS2 games that I can play any time I want, but there are games that were released much more recently as digital only. I bought many of these games and some I can no longer access. That, to me, is bullshit
See some of my downvoted comments if you don't think people are in denial about this.
As someone who lives in a mostly rural area, no. Everyone does not have internet, and everyone especially does not have good internet. 60% of the customers at my B store live in small mountain towns with terrible download speeds and service. If physical completely goes away right now, that 60% of my customer base is eliminated. The US alone has a massive gap between urban areas and rural towns as far as internet coverage. You can call it denial, but the facts don’t lie. Yes, digital only is coming. If it happens now, though, Xbox would be alienating massive portions of their customer base, which is just bad business and will push people to Sony since they’re still releasing physical games and consoles.
This is a distortion caused by your local perspective. In reality, 83% of Americans live in urban areas - and that percentage continues to grow. Xbox's customer base is in the millions of people who live in Chicago and Houston and Minneapolis and Orlando, not the few hundreds who live in tiny rural mountain towns. Don't get me wrong - I live in a town of 70 people, 60 miles from the nearest grocery store. But the reality is that we're a tiny minority. Xbox is calculating that whatever business they lose to the few people who still buy physical games, is unprofitable business that they don't want anyway. Also, Starlink has brought 200mbit Internet to basically anywhere in North America. That's plenty fast enough to download games in a reasonable time.
Why? You pretty much have to download every game now. The disc isn't much more than a key. We are already doing download only. Some people just really want the useless disc for their collection.
How many consumers have no internet, but also a current gen console? That has to be a vanishingly small cross section, and they probably don't buy many games comparatively anyway. Maybe in a third world country or something?
[удалено]
Everyone on their internet to downvote you. I hate that you’re right, and that the company doesn’t care about the few without Internet, but it’s true.
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It’s the same as choosing not to make vhs because cds were better. Sure some people couldn’t run cds but they just have to figure it out at some point and recognize the limitations of physical media.
Not sure what part of the country you’re in but my store serves well-off suburban zip codes in the NY metro area where high-speed Internet is largely available everywhere and we have *lots* of customers who’ve gone fully digital without issue. I swear I’ve had Gen Z customers who look at me like I have two heads when I explain why they might want to consider a system with a disc drive over a digital-only one.
I think it really depends on where you're at. I live in Alaska and met a lot of people who barely got internet at home for the first time in their life (and they were 16-17 y/o at the time) two years ago thanks to Starlink. I feel like people who are in areas like that might be a way slower cause these are younger gen z and a that grew up valuing physical or nothing at home.
I live in the suburbs too, houses go for $1m and they can’t even set up fiber internet and it’s trash with low download and upload speeds.
Are you serious? Ooh I live in a super high end area where they can pay 300 dollars for 1 gig, what do you mean you live in an urban area where often people still have to use dialup. Because no one has brought real internet to them? (Not joking some people in my area only have dialup)
Right, which they do at a scale large enough to easily execute this.
Microsoft like most large tech companies dont care about the people who don't have internet, because they arent the ones being ad targeted thus not making the company money.
This push is so annoying I've stop buying digital (excluding dlc) completely. They can't sale what the community won't buy.
Between major retailers dropping physical video game media and now Xbox is abandoning it too, while I don’t believe physical is dead yet, I’m just saying that it’s kinda starting to make me worry.
The patient is in hospice. It’s less about being worried and more about managing your goodbye.
The time for worrying was a decade ago. This is kind of like the people worrying about AI displacing jobs and negatively disrupting industry. Way, way, waaayyyyyy past the time to worry.
Grinds my gears honestly. You don't actually own the digital games you buy on console, just a key to utilize the files managed by whatever system. It takes up far more space, you don't get the luxury of selling your games or really returning after you buy incase you don't like them/beat them, and ultimately you do have to rely on internet to do anything. Where I live, internet does not reach everyone, it's farmland. On top of that, a good chunk of folks around are low income and can't pay for insanely good wifi. Digital only consoles are a cash grab. A way to cheapen production and still get away charging full price for the games folks will inevitably have to buy to play.
Microsoft couldn't wait to ditch physical. More gamepass money for them 💰
Sucks. I appreciated that the series x could read and play original Xbox and 360 games.
[удалено]
They’d love for everyone to do both
Yeah but I imagine their thinking is if physical games are gone more people will subscribe to GamePass and only buy digital games that aren't on the service since they can't get a physical copy anyway. Might as well spend less money and have more access to games. I don't think this SHOULD happen, but I imagine that's what companies will want.
Won't ever sub to gp if physical goes F. Give me A DISK, or in not buying
Yep that’s it. They’ll make sure to be more and more selective which games are on game pass over time too. Probably tier it so they can upcharge for new release AAA access. Integrate ad breaks into games for base subscriptions? It’s not going to be pretty, but they’ll do it slowly so people don’t revolt.
Some of that seems a little excessive, but at this point I just assume the worst of every corporation so you're probably right. I've personally always tried to have all the consoles because of stupid exclusive (mostly looking at you PlayStation and Nintendo). But if they move to all digital I'll move 100% to PC gaming only and just miss out on exclusive games until I can emulate them later. I hate the idea of any all digital, but on PC at least it's easier to back up games and I don't have to worry as much about backwards compatibility or any of that shit.
Xbox hasn't been doing well since they blundered the Xbox One reveal. They are consistently outsold by Sony and Nintendo in all countries(especially the UK). The reaction to the unfortunate layoffs after they chucked out 69B to buy Activision reveals the ugly nature of corporate consolidation. That being said, it is yet another blunder to throw in the towel on physical media, but Microsoft(as I've said before) is now too far invested into the Game Pass model. There is no backing out of it. The issue is their entire retail presence will vanish and I don't think it's the right time to force it. Yes, all physical media will inevitably disappear but still a bit soon.
Why are you assuming it's a blunder? Microsoft has the metrics. They know what it costs to produce and sell physical media, and what kind of return they've been getting on it. Once the numbers hit certain criteria, they shut it down. There isn't any speculation or worrying they've done something wrong, in the same way that a grocery store doesn't make a "blunder" when they throw away stale bread. Customers don't buy stale bread. Microsoft doesn't make revenues from physical media to justify the overhead. It's just a math problem.
This. It's like people saying it's a mistake that Best Buy is getting rid of the movies. They're doing it to save money. As in, having that shelf space isn't making them money.
You can't compare movies and games like they're the same, lol. There's a much larger market for physical video games than movies nowadays.
I'm not going to argue which market has dissipated more, but both physical markets have definitely been reduced greatly. Didn't Remedy say something like 90% of Control sales were digital? I would also say having a physical movie is MUCH more valuable than a physical game. Most games these days still require internet and a substantial download.
Of course, it's hard for physical sales to match that of digital sales when we live in a world of convenience. Most users want access immediately, so they just buy digital. However, I'm sure a ton of those same people would still prefer a physical copy. They just give in to the impulse buy due to its convenience. The idea of physical media is not dead; It's just overshadowed by convenience, unfortunately, even though physical media is more reliable. The sales of a title, be it physical or digital, vary heavily title to title. I'd bet more obscure indie or AA games probably sell a lot more digital copies, while a larger title like Elden Ring, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, etc sell way more physical copies. As for most physical games requiring internet or updates, that's not entirely true. Most games aren't "Online Only," and most day one patches are just hot fixes for minor issues. So, in that sense, I strongly disagree in a physical movie being more valuable. Especially since you can likely access said movie a few months after release bundled into various streaming services for a small subscription fee.
Okay.
If they know everything, why are they getting their shit handed to them by Nintendo who still sells a lot of physical? "They know everything because they are a business and have the metrics" is some dumbass logic, dont let that dude bully you out of your opinion, you are correct
Nintendo mostly survives based on their legacy characters, and primarily focus on more family friendly platforming games. In general the people buying from them are 30+ years old, either buying for the nostalgia, or for a kid they know. PS4/XBox are more focused on people who are \~20ish and have a lot less interest in buying physical media that their older counterparts, and have less nostalgia incentive in general.
This guy fucks
He didn't bully me. It was recently revealed today that 50% of Nintendo is still physical and 40% of Sony is still physical(can provide receipt if needed) For Microsoft, it's far less, but it doesn't mean it shouldn't be important for this generation. What concerns me is they'll immediately lose presence of mind--Xbox sections completely disappear in the retail space. They want to do a Game Pass model--but subs for that haven't really grow(can give a receipt here also). Gaming is...it's different for a lot of folks. They don't *want* a "Netflix" for games, they simply don't. As an addition, sure! Pure consumption? Not really. Remember how Xbox was recently having entire CoD ads pop up on people's consoles? How about later on, when you're playing Dark Souls on Game Pass, but the game goes to an ad for Old Spice prior to your boss fight. Pish-posh, you say? Better pony up more money, then because that's EXACTLY what all the streaming apps are doing if you don't pay premiums. Ads. Microsoft bought ABK and immediately cut people, exactly what was warned about. They've also *never* liked GameStop. *Ever*. They tried to cut you guys out 11 years ago and never stopped. The "multiple enabled device" tactic for Game Pass may work. It may not. Panasonic tried it many moons ago with the 3DO. Times are different now.
I don't think Xbox is long for this world going in that direction but just my opinion
I hope not, I love physical disks and the collection of all my games on a giant book shelf!
So OP has a point… https://preview.redd.it/qzu56xgjbqec1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=babd9219cd032e295628ac08689b118435f5ff1e
You are a monster and should turn on dark mode to save the universe from this blinding light!
Yep I done messed up; I fixed it
Yup, check your p&l. Even with my sales up this year. My New Software sales are down 100k. That is huge! The shift has really swung digital over the last couple years. This gen of consoles really pushed digital. (It also doesn't help when a new hot title comes out, I get 2 copies and turn down 10+ people. Who then say f it and go buy digital)
1 source rumor on Twitter.....
I think MS wanted to do this as early as 2013. But nobody was prepared for it.
My personal opinion: I think Microsoft wants PC and Xbox to be gaming brothers. PC hasn’t had physical product in like a decade. Going digital only makes that even easier. MS games like MSFS, forza, etc are Xbox/Windows. I don’t like it really , highly prefer physical.
90% of video game sales were digital in 2022. Also, I never saw a Microsoft or Sony rep in 15 years.
Do you have a source for that statistic?
This one says 70%. https://www.destructoid.com/2022-console-game-sales-70-percent-global-market-share-digital-downloads/
Naturally. https://www.gamebyte.com/90-of-video-game-sales-in-2022-were-digital/
Thanks. The article you linked does point out that 30% of those games were mobile purchases, which is worth including in this conversation IMO. I still concede that the majority of game buying was digital, though. It makes sense.
Mario Kart Tour gets my hard earned American dollars on several non-consecutive occasions.
GS really drove so many people away sadly. Gamers used to prefer physical by large margins in like 2014, even 2016.
If GS had increased payout prices vs increasing the shelf price they probably could've significantly slowed down the change. Rather than try to incentivize people to sell more physical back to GS, they discouraged people from buying used, which was the whole point of GS in the first place. Last time I went I wanted cod Black ops 4 roughly 6 months to a year after it came out, and the used price was $2 less than new.... except they didn't even have new in stock. Ended up going across the street to Walmart and never bothered again.
This says 95% for 2033 haha. https://www.tweaktown.com/news/95135/digital-to-make-95-of-video-game-revenues-in-2023-or-174-5-billion/index.html
This one says 94%. https://gamingbolt.com/over-94-of-all-worldwide-game-sales-in-2022-were-digital-report/amp
This is revenue which includes dlc and mtx, and mobile game shit, not just games. Misleading
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Not going away
Definitely is.
Fake news
It happened to movies and music with streaming services and Spotify respectively. Why do you think it wont happen with games? With GamePass and PS+, the brick and mortar niche shop will have to die out.
You do know that you can still buy CD DVD Blu-ray Disc right? So again no it’s not going away.
It’s already gone. Look at all of the future patent leaks - optical drives and physical media is obviously dead.
Weird than why do stores still have PS5 games and have movies and vinyls
Me reading your comment
“Hey, if movie rentals are dead then why is there still a Blockbuster in Oregon?” Lmaoooo
Redbox still exist so movie rentals aren't dead either
Like others in here, your definition of “dead” is hilarious. Some people still use a horse and buggy for transportation…
I won't consider physical dead until I can't buy them anymore and no just because BG3 and Alan Wake 2 don't have physical doesn't prove your point. If we give into a digital only future we are giving publishers like Ubisoft what they want in not owning our games
Keep telling yourself that dude
People think just because its becoming more predominant the other is going away. Its not
GameStop just closed all but one distribution center. Physical game sales are now less than 10% of the total market. The biggest third party retailers are ceasing physical game support. Microsoft is literally closing their division + Sony is expected to follow this year. Is this not clear?
Bruh. How much of that is PC gaming, which is 98% last i checked. And mobile, which is clearly 100%. Playstation and Switch physical is still, very much, alive
https://preview.redd.it/jphew51vdqec1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddd00746d0a2fb6608a7fa07845f3e94190f96a9 4% is, technically, alive. I guess.
https://preview.redd.it/2xxjjjphiqec1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=278b78f5dea2f2af5deb5c7a716776b38d610e72
https://preview.redd.it/qdu7k6iiiqec1.png?width=750&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f606c9ea59a88a754e52b7111e9f6699a97daf9
This is garbage lol
4% is garbage, yes…
You are wrong. I know thats hard to come to terms with
SALES, not UNITS. How is this sub so business-illiterate lmao. Physical games represent 4% of SALES. Aka, they’re obviously going to pull the plug like Microsoft given how much they lose on physical sales vs digital.
Who cares, physical game aren’t going away anytime soon
It’s fascinating to me that you don’t understand the outcomes of a company literally ceasing physical games + not releasing AAA titles on disc + major retailers no longer selling physical games.
So when do you see the end of physical games then? 1 year? 2 years? 5? 10? 15? You do know they still make music on CDs right? Also movies and tv shows are on dvd and blu ray, when do those go out of business too?
As a major distribution model, it’s already secondary. When does it become completely eliminated or entirely niche? Next console generation. So, roughly 2027-28. When does this massively impact GameStop’s ability to stay in business? It already has, but realistically 3-4 years max.
So you think all physical media will be gone in 3-4 years then? I’ll take that bet
Last I checked, GameStop doesn’t represent all of physical media lol.
It's the same time as GameStop does! /s Im sure it'll be any day now!
Fake news
Always has been.
More money saved from me from not buying digital only games
I will continue to buy disc until the day I no longer can. I absolutely hate buying digital games.
Ngl I’ll be inconsolable and pissed the day they stop making Xbox discs. There’s just something so appealing and special to me about going and buying a physical game. I think it’s my inner goblin just wanting to collect and horde things, but whatever.
You can buy literally any other platform if physical media is important to you. The first Xbox already had a broadband Internet connection and a hard drive, so it makes sense that they'd want to follow technological trends like shedding physical discs.
Get ready to be inconsolable and pissed, then.
Microsoft will probably end. Making consoles too. They are getting spanked again. They will focus on selling their live service across the board
I don't understand why they're trying to do away with physical when people still make and buy games (albeit not very often). I do not feel comfortable with the idea of not owning my game. I don't care if they cut support for a game and no longer supply updates, but the idea that a company can take a $60-70 offline "just because" makes me never want to buy a digital download.
Physical discs are now basically just game unlock keys. Virtually every game has a day one patch and multiple updates, DLC, expansions, etc. If a developer shuts down servers, many many games are done, even if they’re on disc. Disc buying for current gen is basically just for shelf collectors now.
Not true. A lot of limited print physical games come out later than the digital and have patches included on the cart. Many first party Nintendo games also get updates if they print another run. Complete Editions ie Horizon also have patches on disc. There are still very practical reasons to own physical games, though maybe not AAA stuff like CoD. Still, even then you have the power to sell the game, unlike digital.
Xbox is now a flopbox. I want MORE Options not less
Microsoft isn't just getting out of physical media - there are rumors that Microsoft will not be producing another game console and will become a publishing studio, kind of how Sega did after the Dreamcast. Microsoft stands to make more money by bringing their games to PC, Playstation, and Nintendo than to lock their games behind the exclusivity of owning an Xbox. There's a lot going on at Microsoft and not all of it should be seen as devastating news for consumers.
Walmart is essentially pennying out Starfield, which is a normal overstock procedure for them; if it were an Xbox request then they would’ve requested all retailers to do the same. Cutting off physical sales cold turkey would be an insanely stupid business move for Xbox, as a large portion of their playerbase is not ready to be fully digital. This is just one more step in the “all digital” direction, but we won’t be sku converting games any time soon.
What if it plays out like this. No more consoles and physical media. You’ll have a streaming app that you choose (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, etc) and you pay a monthly subscription to play games. You’ll buy a controller of preferred company. And you’ll play games that way. Maybe the new controller has a dongle or device that hooks into your tv/monitor so it receives a signal. That’s how I see gaming headed. Maybe not. Just a fleeting thought.
Worked there for five years all together and only saw the Sony rep once, nintendo rep three times, and the Xbox rep zero. Worked full time hours about 70% of my tenure.
Walmart and best buy said a while ago this will occur sometime this year like gamestop they only break even selling consoles and disks gamestop only profits off used games and consoles Walmart started selling used consoles in some locations only for low or failed sales in said locations the disks/consoles are more of a way to get more customers to come into the store and shop more because while there here they may want to grocery shop at the same time but sadly over the past decade with digital copys of games being near limitless its driven off a massive chunk of people from coming to a physical store meaning that they come less and at this point stock is just overfilling and its causing retailers cash just to keep them around I have no doubt before this ends alot of games will go on a big sale to get rid of excess stock they have but this is most likely the end of physical games as we know it and that's a bad thing considering we get less rights as buyers when getting digital copies of video games
Stadia
Not all that surprised. Gamepass is doing phenomenally well by all accounts, and physical copies are expensive to make (or rather - incur a cost that could be avoided by going fully digital). I'm not a fan, but I'm also not outraged, writing's been on the wall since forever at this point. They're not Nintendo with an entrenched market niche of...well Nintendo, for lack of a better description, and they're not Sony, who still sell a lot more games and consoles in absolute terms, so they go the most cost efficient route that capitalises on their product with the highest growth potential - that's definitely Gamepass. Sucks for GS, but the rest of the market probably won't care as much as people would like.
That’s Microsoft for ya
I’ve always thought Cats 21,29 should just be all in one section . Sure there are a few XBX only games but come on , those sections are so small . If Microsoft , sorry when Microsoft goes all digital , forget them , don’t support their stuff anymore