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Rumour Limited Run CEO claims to hear rumblings Wal-Mart will stop selling Xbox physical games in 2024

S

Semi Lazy Gamer

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On the heels of The Digital Bits talking about Best Buy discontinuing physical media (not gaming) in 2024, Limited Run Hames CEO Josh Fairhurst claims Wal-Mart will be the first to start moving away from selling games, specifically Xbox.

 
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I planned on going all digital next generation. However, I didn’t expect physical games to start getting phased out of brick and mortar stores for another like five years or more. Woof.
 
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In most big box stores I go to these days, it feels like the Xbox section shares real estate with PC accesories, while PlayStation and Nintendo get full sections to themselves (Nintendo usually with some overflow).
 
This slope is getting ever so slippery...

Xbox wants this anyway with Gamepass as their main push so of the three console makers they will absolutely be the first to go full digital.
 
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i'd imagine this is less an issue of "Xbox is phasing out physical games entirely" and more "Walmart doesn't want to give retail space to the games because most of Microsoft's revenue comes from Game Pass".
they can still get money from selling the consoles/digital subscription cards without it.

there was a whole issue a few years ago about how Microsoft had an extremely high minimum print rate for physical games, which is notably why LRG avoided doing releases on Xbox. this wasn't fixed until 2022.


there is of course the whole issue about the leaked plans to release a digital Xbox Series X, but i suspect it's meant to be a budget option that'll eventually supercede the Series S.
the original document had a date of May 2, 2022. a month prior to when Limited Run Games revealed plans to release Xbox games. it wouldn't really make sense to give them the go-ahead knowing that the eventual next-gen system (and likely a "pro" Series model, as i doubt they're going to let Sony solely have that market this gen) is digital only.
 
odd that they are doing this the same year a new system is coming out (No it won't be all digital, at most it will be an option)
 
If you saw the previous leaks Xbox sx revision is planned as digital only so honestly makes sense and I doubt it bodes that much for other companies
 
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9-Volt said:
I don't understand why home consoles moving faster to a digital only future rather than Switch. Games keep getting bigger but the storages do not (and they don't get cheaper). Plus discs game hold much bigger stuff compared to Switch game cards and they are cheaper to produce. I really don't want keep deleting my games just to try out new ones...
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Don't most discs just install the data to your SSD anyways? They are just glorified DRM at this point.
 
9-Volt said:
I don't understand why home consoles moving faster to a digital only future rather than Switch. Games keep getting bigger but the storages do not (and they don't get cheaper). Plus discs game hold much bigger stuff compared to Switch game cards and they are cheaper to produce. I really don't want keep deleting my games just to try out new ones...
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I'm going to theorize that Microsoft isn't making much money off of physical game sales.
 
9-Volt said:
I don't understand why home consoles moving faster to a digital only future rather than Switch. Games keep getting bigger but the storages do not (and they don't get cheaper). Plus discs game hold much bigger stuff compared to Switch game cards and they are cheaper to produce. I really don't want keep deleting my games just to try out new ones...
Click to expand...

They are just more open and aggressive with their greed and want more money per purchase.
 
9-Volt said:
I don't understand why home consoles moving faster to a digital only future rather than Switch. Games keep getting bigger but the storages do not (and they don't get cheaper). Plus discs game hold much bigger stuff compared to Switch game cards and they are cheaper to produce. I really don't want keep deleting my games just to try out new ones...
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I don't remember where I read this, or if it's even still true, but apparently there's only one BluRay manufacturer left in all of North America, so this (and Best Buy) might be them moving away from something that has so little supply at the moment.
 
ngpdrew said:
Don't most discs just install the data to your SSD anyways? They are just glorified DRM at this point.
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Some games do some don't. And yes, ones that do is just publishers cheaping out for no reason. High capacity triple layer blu-rays are not that expensive.
Hailinel said:
I'm going to theorize that Microsoft isn't making much money off of physical game sales.
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If they're making more money on digital games, especially first party ones, that'd be surprising. Their games are the biggest ones, they'd occupy huge part of Series S's very limited 512 gb drive.

Of course, most people opt out for Game Pass way to play their games. And it's the reason why MS is increasing the memory of the Series S in its newer model. Still 1 tb is not enough...
 
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EvilChameleon said:
I don't remember where I read this, or if it's even still true, but apparently there's only one BluRay manufacturer left in all of North America, so this (and Best Buy) might be them moving away from something that has so little supply at the moment.
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That would make sense, though. But what doesn't make sense is blu ray dying faster than SSD and SD technology getting bigger and cheaper...
 
ngpdrew said:
Don't most discs just install the data to your SSD anyways? They are just glorified DRM at this point.
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They're not DRM. You can play games perfectly without need of verification or online connection.
 
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Raccoon said:
imo physical gamed died when day one patches became commonplace

the exceptions, however, are glorious

last I checked kirby and the forgotten land was still on 1.0.0
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It's not as grim as people think. There are quite a lot of games that don't have serious issues, never got updates, or got prints with updates included.
In fact, I sold some games of mine to get fresh prints with the latest versions (like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey).

Here's a community-created list of game card revisions:

docs.google.com

Nintendo Switch Cartridge Revisions

1st Party Nintendo Game Name,Revision #,Version on Cart,Download Available?,Download Size,Regions,Front Cart Code ,Additional Comments 1-2-Switch,001,1.1.0,No,N/A,EUR,LA-H-AACCA-EUR,Complete on cart 1-2-Switch,001,1.1.0,No,N/A,USA,LA-H-AACCA-USA,Complete on cart Advance Wars 1+2: Reboot Camp,00...
docs.google.com docs.google.com
 
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Raccoon said:
imo physical gamed died when day one patches became commonplace

the exceptions, however, are glorious

last I checked kirby and the forgotten land was still on 1.0.0
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Yeah, I usually buy Nintendo physical when I can because usually, even if there is a patch, they are playable straight off the cartridge. But I just don’t see a point with the other consoles when it’s basically just an installation program for the game’s download. I went mostly digital last gen on my Xbox and I imagine when I get around to getting a current gen system, I’ll probably go full digital.
 
I don’t shop at Walmart, but that stinks! Wild to hear it’s just one of the big three too though I guess it being the one pushing digital the hardest and being in third place at the moment makes sense if you were to cut one. Obviously Xbox will be fine as they just did a major M&A, but I feel like disappearing from a major retailer is really not going to help them in the short term.
 
I will never go all digital. F that. Plus I don't have a internet connection anyways so I'm sol in a scenario like that.

That said I don't play Xbox games so so long as they still have switch games I'm fine.
 
Nintendo are probably not going to go all digital any time soon as they have a closer relationship with retailers and sell more merch and physical stuff alongside their games, but i'd say the writing is on the wall for PS and Xbox
 
9-Volt said:
I don't understand why home consoles moving faster to a digital only future rather than Switch. Games keep getting bigger but the storages do not (and they don't get cheaper). Plus discs game hold much bigger stuff compared to Switch game cards and they are cheaper to produce. I really don't want keep deleting my games just to try out new ones...
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The Switch is the only console that can still play games off of a physical medium. It's decidedly second class on the other systems.

That said, I suspect this affecting Xbox specifically probably has to do with the platform's lower market share combined with fairly anti-retail practices.
 
9-Volt said:
I don't understand why home consoles moving faster to a digital only future rather than Switch. Games keep getting bigger but the storages do not (and they don't get cheaper). Plus discs game hold much bigger stuff compared to Switch game cards and they are cheaper to produce. I really don't want keep deleting my games just to try out new ones...
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because disc game are useless nowadays as it will installed to the console storage anyway. Except Switch
 
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aus89 said:
Nintendo are probably not going to go all digital any time soon as they have a closer relationship with retailers and sell more merch and physical stuff alongside their games, but i'd say the writing is on the wall for PS and Xbox
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The family audience is related to that too- Switch games as gifts etc.
 
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9-Volt said:
That would make sense, though. But what doesn't make sense is blu ray dying faster than SSD and SD technology getting bigger and cheaper...
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SD technology getting larger is in a bit of a difficult place; the demand basically isn't there. The only use case for such large SD cards now is video camera recording and the switch, and there's no feasible way the largest SD cards could ever hit the limits for video recording, leaving the only demand essentially being the small number of switch users who aren't satisfied with terabyte SD cards, which surely is only a handful of people, and isn't exactly a future proofed market since the as manufacturers have no idea if or when Nintendo might drop the format for some kind of ssd.
 
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I went digital only with 3DS, it was fine. I decided to go physical only with Switch and now I have over 200 physical games and I hate it. Too much space taken up and it activated a collectors mentality in me where I had to scoop up any "deal" I saw. I will be going digital only for Switch 2.
 
Scrawnton said:
I went digital only with 3DS, it was fine. I decided to go physical only with Switch and now I have over 200 physical games and I hate it. Too much space taken up and it activated a collectors mentality in me where I had to scoop up any "deal" I saw. I will be going digital only for Switch 2.
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star-wars-traitor.gif
 
9-Volt said:
I don't understand why home consoles moving faster to a digital only future rather than Switch. Games keep getting bigger but the storages do not (and they don't get cheaper). Plus discs game hold much bigger stuff compared to Switch game cards and they are cheaper to produce. I really don't want keep deleting my games just to try out new ones...
Click to expand...
I mean with the storage you get on PS5/XBox, you can usually have like 8-10 games installed at a time. I don’t know many people who play that many games at once anyways. And if you need to expand the storage, there are always options for that as well.
 
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I mean, I get it. Xbox is the least popular console and Microsoft has gone all in on digital. The most popular version of the console is digital and the marketing strategy is based on Gamepass, a digital only service. There's just no incentive to keep the games on the shelves.
 
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Why stock games for a platform where people don't pay for games but pay for subscriptions only?
 
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Xbox going all digital is to further incentivize their gamers to invest in GamePass

Meanwhile, wonder if this means more Sony and Nintendo retail space
 
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This sounds more like Xbox Series being a failed console due to the lack of compelling games than anything about retailers phasing out physical media. Expect them to stop selling Xbox hardware too. The Best Buy article was specifically about movies, not video games.

Switch and PlayStation move boxed software and don’t take up much floor space. I’d be surprised if they dump it.
 
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9-Volt said:
I don't understand why home consoles moving faster to a digital only future rather than Switch. Games keep getting bigger but the storages do not (and they don't get cheaper). Plus discs game hold much bigger stuff compared to Switch game cards and they are cheaper to produce. I really don't want keep deleting my games just to try out new ones...
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Because to buy more digital storage, it's like $20-$50 to get storage for a bunch of new games

For more physical storage..... it's a new mortgage
 
I dont shop at Wal-Mart so I don't know their exact situation on stocking games, but if it's anything like other stores I go to I can absolutely believe physical Xbox games are on the way out at retail. The stock being held for those games is pathetic now and most Xbox space is just dedicated to hardware, accessories (especially headphones), and digital points cards.
 
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