Rumour: European retailers shifting away from stocking physical Xbox games

Video Games Chronicle wrote:Several European retailers are reportedly no longer stocking physical Xbox games.

That’s according to GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring, who said on the Games Industry Microcast that he’d heard that sales of physical games for the console are so low that retailers have decided to stop stocking the products.

“I got told by a major publisher just before Christmas, that across Europe, several retailers have started not listing Xbox anymore,” said Dring.

“So they’ve just started not stocking Xbox games anymore, Xbox is such a digital console, the physical performance of games is really low, and ultimately when you’re selling a console that most people are just downloading games for, it doesn’t really benefit the retailer very much.

Source: Video Games Chronicle

It does perhaps feel like Xbox is going all-in on digital now, with Xbox physical titles often not selling in the quantities seen on PlayStation and Nintendo formats. I've no doubt that Sony and Nintendo will follow suit in time but it could make for an interesting difference for the platforms in the meantime.

During the PS4 era I was mainly a digital purchaser, but on PS5 I'm around 60% physical.

Note This thread is not a dig at Xbox. I'm sure that Game Pass is raking in the money for Microsoft and, of course, the Xbox division recently reported hugely increased income following the purchase of Activision Blizzard.

You can expect those same retailers to push Sony and Nintendo hardware, because selling Xboxes gets them no further custom.

jawa i been thinking going all-in on digital on switch 2 when it comes and i do like physical games but there is eshop sales that cheap.

and did buy some switch games on sale.

Fisher wrote:jawa i been thinking going all-in on digital on switch 2 when it comes and i do like physical games but there is eshop sales that cheap.

and did buy some switch games on sale.

Well, yes, it's good that we have the option at present on whether to buy a disc/cart or a download, Fisher. Hopefully Switch 2 will still allow this choice :-).

Bluesky

Kind of crazy to think about. Makes sense with digital increasingly gaining a foothold over physical, and with XSX hardware sales lagging way behind playstation like in the previous gen, but still.

Yeah, whilst downloading will increasingly become standard for consoles, I will miss the pricing competitiveness by retailers on physical products. I'd probably buy fewer games.

This would also line up with the rumours MS have got rid of teams who dealt with physics releases. Also, the leaked XsX refresh looked to be an all digital model.

It probably won’t be too long until Xbox is just a platform, with a console that is purely seen as a Gamepass box.

I guess that shows that the Series S is the one that is selling the most units of the two. Certainly judging by how many are for sale locally on Marketplace, I’m surprised they’re not winning the console race(my favourite listings are the ones that say swap for PS5, yeah alright mate, I’ll swap this £500 console for your £200 console).

jawa_ wrote:
Video Games Chronicle wrote:Several European retailers are reportedly no longer stocking physical Xbox games.

That’s according to GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring, who said on the Games Industry Microcast that he’d heard that sales of physical games for the console are so low that retailers have decided to stop stocking the products.

“I got told by a major publisher just before Christmas, that across Europe, several retailers have started not listing Xbox anymore,” said Dring.

“So they’ve just started not stocking Xbox games anymore, Xbox is such a digital console, the physical performance of games is really low, and ultimately when you’re selling a console that most people are just downloading games for, it doesn’t really benefit the retailer very much.
Source: Video Games Chronicle

It does perhaps feel like Xbox is going all-in on digital now, with Xbox physical titles often not selling in the quantities seen on PlayStation and Nintendo formats. I've no doubt that Sony and Nintendo will follow suit in time but it could make for an interesting difference for the platforms in the meantime.

During the PS4 era I was mainly a digital purchaser, but on PS5 I'm around 60% physical.

Note This thread is not a dig at Xbox. I'm sure that Game Pass is raking in the money for Microsoft and, of course, the Xbox division recently reported hugely increased income following the purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Can confirm

Rumour: European retailers shifting away from stocking physical Xbox games

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