[RUMOR] Walmart to start removing physical Xbox games from store. Starting with Starfield (marking down to 3 cents potentially)

[Gizmo_Duck]

Xbox physical sales in the US are less than 10%, its no wonder why they are phasing out physical retail



I still think going all digital for your gaming console is going to have serious repercussions

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

Xbox physical sales in the US are less than 10%, its no wonder why they are phasing out physical retail



I still think going all digital for your gaming console is going to have serious repercussions

That number shouldn't be shocking.
MS has been clear the play is Gamepass.
They aren't interested in anyone driving to a store to buy a game...and consumers...have very little interest in doing so as well.
Far as Walmart, in my entire lifetime I've probably purchased 2 or 3 games max from there.
Most have been from Gamestop and Bestbuy.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

That number shouldn't be shocking.
MS has been clear the play is Gamepass.
They aren't interested in anyone driving to a store to buy a game...and consumers...have very little interest in doing so as well.
Far as Walmart, in my entire lifetime I've probably purchased 2 or 3 games max from there.
Most have been from Gamestop and Bestbuy.

They conditioned their audience to not buy games, period. It’s just the most obvious when you see how badly it affected their retail sales.

Pretty soon all you’re gonna see are a few series x/s’s with some green cards next to them in a corner somewhere.

 

[Kamikaze Revy]

They conditioned their audience to not buy games, period. It’s just the most obvious when you see how badly it affected their retail sales.

Pretty soon all you’re gonna see are a few series x/s’s with some green cards next to them in a corner somewhere.

There's a lot of nuance to where the market is going because consumer behavior is still strong in a few different directions.
The ultimate deciding factor when it comes to streaming vs digital vs physical will be in how much consumers decide they care about "owning" something.
I think we see clearly in the audio world that the majority of consumers don't seem to care about ownership, or at least they care significantly more about instant access. You could make the same argument to an extend about video content. Video games to me is still a bit of an outlier because of the file sizes. The high quality instant experience is still currently only available via downloading the full content. Games care about 4k 60. We aren't seeing a mass exodus of gamers playing on streaming 720 or 1080 with input lag. In an ideal world where data was able to be sent at a rate that would allow 4k 60 gaming with no input lag, the important of "ownership" would be completely obliterated.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

There's a lot of nuance to where the market is going because consumer behavior is still strong in a few different directions.
The ultimate deciding factor when it comes to streaming vs digital vs physical will be in how much consumers decide they care about "owning" something.
I think we see clearly in the audio world that the majority of consumers don't seem to care about ownership, or at least they care significantly more about instant access. You could make the same argument to an extend about video content. Video games to me is still a bit of an outlier because of the file sizes. The high quality instant experience is still currently only available via downloading the full content. Games care about 4k 60. We aren't seeing a mass exodus of gamers playing on streaming 720 or 1080 with input lag. In an ideal world where data was able to be sent at a rate that would allow 4k 60 gaming with no input lag, the important of "ownership" would be completely obliterated.

Yeah, the gaming enthusiast market is still inherently tied to higher quality audio and visual experiences. Also, like you said the reason it’s easier for microsoft to drop physical is because they don’t really cater to markets outside of the US and UK. They had a sizable central and South American market but it seems like they gave up on them this generation.

Sony and Nintendo are trying to reach south asian, Central European, Japan/Korea, etc. markets. They can’t really afford to give up physical anytime soon as much as they probably want to for better margins.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

When given the choice between physical and digital consumers have overwhelming chosen digital.

This is another case of you weirdos stumbling over yourselves to condemn microsoft for something, then when Sony announces the PS6 won’t have a disc drive yall gone pretend it’s all good

 

[kdslittlebro]

It's bullshyt they're destroying product.

No worse than restaurants throwing shyt out that could go to the less fortunate

 

[Family Lives Matter]

Still wouldn't spend my money on them

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

This is another case of you weirdos stumbling over yourselves to condemn microsoft for something

 

[MeachTheMonster]

You have less choice now that they are taking away physical copies, this is how it starts

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

I didn’t bring up choice to begin with

Fact is, you can’t talk about wanting more choice while shrugging your shoulders at them taking away more choices

 

[MeachTheMonster]

I didn’t bring up choice to begin with

Fact is, you can’t talk about wanting more choice while shrugging your shoulders at them taking away more choices

The choice has been made.

Told yall years ago physical was dead.

Y’all now acting surprised and bothered by reality

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

The choice has been made.

Told yall years ago physical was dead.

Y’all now acting surprised and bothered by reality

*dead for xbox

Its still the majority of sales for playstation and nintendo

From the Insomniac leak, overall global digital ratio for Playstation Studios was 38% from 2020-2022. That includes PSN only and Steam releases

 

[Space Cowboy]

I'm buying a PS5 now.

 

[winb83]

Xbox physical sales in the US are less than 10%, its no wonder why they are phasing out physical retail



I still think going all digital for your gaming console is going to have serious repercussions

I’m pretty sure the overwhelming majority of Xbox gamers are Game Pass subs and a good portion of them don’t have physical disc drives on their consoles with the Series S. It’s not going to impact them too much. They’ve conditioned their customers to be digital.