Update: Best Buy has confirmed it will stop selling Blu-rays and DVDs, but it’s not ditching physical media entirely: the gigantic US retailer will continue to flog boxed video games moving forwards, and has no intention to stop just yet. This news will no doubt be welcomed by those who continue to purchase PS5 and PS4 titles at in brick-and-mortar stores, which admittedly is a dwindling number.
While industry-wide video game sales are rapidly skewing towards digital, there is still a market for physical software, and subsequently we expect the market to stick around for at least a few more years yet.
Original Article: As we’re all gradually coming to terms with, physical media is on the way out. The video games market is slowly transitioning to digital sales, and the switch has occurred even more abruptly in other industries, where most people prefer to stream movies and music these days. Best Buy, one of the United States’ largest retailers, is allegedly planning to phase out all physical media next year.
The story comes courtesy of an exclusive by The Digital Bits, which specifically references DVDs and Blu-rays, but is highly likely to include some video games, too. Fascinatingly, the site claims that the change will not only target its brick-and-mortar stores, but also its online arm, too. Apparently, Target is also scaling down its operations in this area, as well.
In associated news, Limited Run Games’ CEO Josh Fairhurst wrote on Twitter that he’s heard “rumblings” about Wal-Mart potentially dropping physical Xbox games soon. While this is unlikely to affect PlayStation, where physical media still performs adequately, it’s a stark reminder that the transition to digital is really beginning to snowball now.
[source thedigitalbits.com, via twitter.com, resetera.com]
Comments 107
It is mostly for movies though.
Anyways, I agree that it will hardly affect Nintendo and Sony, after all unlike Xbox those consoles sell outside US and physical media is still a thing for most countries.
Wonderful I'm buying air. I prefer sma physical disc or cart that my game is on . What have I spent my money on look at my shelves . Soon what have I spent my money on games great where are they , their in this console , so you don't own them? No . Oh we changed this actor/ actress, music , no can't show this game it offended some one delete 🤦 really anti consumer. Il move on to pc and keep my installer packs burned on to discs in a folder long live gog.
I will proudly print the list of my digital games and display that on my living room shelf when the all-digital time comes.
How does physical media seem to you in your country? Is this mostly just a USA thing?
In the UK it still seems pretty prevalent to me. Gaming stores online seem active and the second hand market is everywhere. CEX, ebay, Facebook, Gumtree, etc.
The only aspect I see noticeably shrinking is in-store gaming sections, but then buying in store, and not online with delivery, is shrinking generally.
@CielloArc I still buy movies on disc. Amazon and apple has deleted movies out of people's accounts.
I'd love to see Amazon's sales numbers for physical games.
I still buy physical, but I don't go to high street stores for them. Amazon is always my first stop.
If that fails I try Toymaster's online storey. They seem to have picked up where GameStop left off after they pulled out of the country.
But I never walk in to a store anymore to buy a game.
@Czar_Khastik love that 🤣👍
Just a reminder that Best Buy stopped existing in many countries years ago so ... of course digital is and will be bigger with time but it's the companies who are struggling with money the ones that are making these moves in an economy where nothing is cheap anymore after the pandemic.
It's the same in Europe with my local Best Buy equivalent we have here. Years ago, they stopped selling physical Xbox games but the PS and Nintendo selection was still pretty big. Now, they only maybe have 4 or 5 of the top sellers to choose from. Just a matter of time.
Glad I’ve got a massive physical collection. Value gonna go through the roof. Still, Sad though
Online will keep physical media alive. It's much cheaper to have a massive warehouse and picking staff, than to have a big box store
Environmentally sound, thumbs up!
@AndyKazama That's what I'm thinking too.
Do moves like this from Best Buy signal the death of physical?
Or is it more a reflection of the state of high street stores as physical purchases move to online stores like Amazon?
I think for movies and TV, streaming did take a while to catch on but I think it will probably have a moderate crash in the next few years.
For a good portion of its early life, the streaming industry offered a much easier and fully featured service for a reasonable price than both physical media and piracy.
Nowadays, there are so many streaming services, they have become so expensive, they've introduced adverts and cracked down on password sharing. I think the added difficulty of finding your shows split across different services on top of the inflated prices that many converters will probably switch back to piracy because it is easier and obviously cheaper.
I'm not sure about gaming, GPU was a really good deal if you were savvy about taking the different deals they had on offer. Now it is moderately less of a good deal and I am sure it will only get worse. I'd give it about ten to fifteen years at most before all that's on offer is a full priced service with the bare minimum of discounts and their only remaining customers will be whales and those with law-based morality and the rest of their customers will either duck out entirely, switch to piracy or dip their toes in every now and then when the companies have to put out a much better deal to boost dwindling numbers.
@Adol_Xin This discussion has already happened in the past, it's very unclear whether digital is actually more environmentally friendly. you should google the CO2 cost of transmitting data online. When we made estimates a few years back it was down to the number of hours played per game, to figure out which format is better for environment. Digital was more or less equivalent to physical, and streaming was the most terrible in terms of environment. Again google and you'll find more ^_^
My limit for buying digital is around £15, £20 at a push.
No way in hell I'm spending £50+ on a digital game with a no refund policy, you'll end up buying some games you don't like and are stuck with them, money down the drain.
I love my games on physical and been collecting since the PSP days, but with the arrival of the PS4, it became pointless to collect for Sony/Microsoft machines, discs contains incomplete games, that always need patches (And significant ones, except rare exceptions like Persona) theres not even manuals, really the digital future is now.
Retailers better not start bitching they arent receiving digital codes to sell once it all digital. At that point cut them off from the revenue all together
Best Buy is the store i use for my TV’s and other appliances. Every time i go into one which is around one or twice a month. The gaming disk section got smaller and smaller. I;ve been saying on here that i thought it was a matter of a year or two before we saw major retailers cutting physical way back. Sad to see it go for those that like it. I have been 100% digital for over 10 years now cause thats what works for me. But for folks that like or even need physical this kind of stinks. I always wanted to see both options. But i seen the writing on the wall within my own stores happening.
From my perspective on PS the digital experience is better. I don’t have to listen to the disk drive or get up to switch games. I am concerned about preservation though.
Since every game now has to be installed on internal storage, it doesn't run from Disc at all, Physical is just a way of the Publisher/Dev to 'deliver' the Software to your Console - just like the internet is used to deliver the Software via downloading.
Games are either 'incomplete' due to limited 'disc' space or a buggy, broken mess that both require 'internet' to Download the rest of the Game and/or patches to play. The only reason you need the Disc after installation is to 'verify' you still own a valid licence to play.
If we look at 'next-gen' hardware, Physical is only really bought by PS5 (disc) and Series X owners as PS5 (Digital), Series S and PC owners all buy Digitally. A 'large' percentage of the Gaming community can't buy Physical anyway so they are only printing discs for the 'few' on PS5/Series X that want/prefer Physical - but a growing percentage are switching to Digital making Physical a much smaller percentage of gamers.
On top of all the extra costs involved to manufacture and distribute Physical, the market for them is shrinking and the Game on Disc can be 'very' different from the Game today - look at Cyberpunk and how that evolved since Launch - who'd want to 'preserve' that version that came on Disc?
Digital stuffs are lame.
I hate the convenience that remove important things of owning the stuffs.
It’s a shame, as physical movies blow digital/streaming out of the water in both looks and sound.
I blame Microsoft for this.
Fantastic news! Once physical media dies out, I'm sure the industry will pass on their reduced costs to the customers by reducing the price of digital...
Best Buy has sort of lost relevance out here in the States anyway with the push to digital. I feel like, if you’re buying physical, you’re either directly supporting mom and pop stores out here or preordering on Amazon at this point. This is how everyone I know purchases physical games… if they even purchase physical anymore.
Fortunately here in the UK physical media is still quite prevalent. But I do worry about the future, ever since I was a kid I wanted to have a collection and now that I have the ability to they might go extinct soon.
@Powerplay94 @EYEBALL so all the PS users that buy digital consoles and games are innocent? What about me that owns all 3 consoles and haven’t bought a physical game in 10 years? I’d like a slice of the blame if you don’t mind HAHA
Best Buy is on its last legs in my opinion. Unlike Target, Walmart, Costco etc, they only sell electronics. Their workforce has shrunk to the point where their customer service is frankly appalling in comparison to days gone by. There have been rumours of an Amazon takeover for several years but only for the benefit of having certain brick and mortar locations or perhaps the uniquely positioned Geek Squad home services. Either way I give Best Buy 5 maybe 10 years tops.
@powerplay94 Yeah definitely @HonestHick I own all three also, but It could be said that they was the first to implement a lot of this digital/online based console gaming that we have today, starting all the way from the original Xbox (2001), and here we are today with cloud based and subscriptions.
@Kalime78 I will Google it, but my hunchb is that digital costs energy and physical costs resources. Energy can be won in a lot of different ways, including solar and wind for example, for cds and boxes you will always need plastics/oil.
@Anti-Matter what is important things about owning the stuffs?
@AndyKazama @Shepherd_Tallon
Exactly this. Just because physical is disappearing from in-person stores doesn't mean it is disappearing, it's just a reflection of the high street in general.
Platform holders WANT us to believe physical is dying as it's in their best interests. When they release games sales figures and the digital split it ONLY takes into account their own revenue and not the second hand market, which in the UK at least, is seemingly in fine health.
@EYEBALL right but they aren’t the market leader. So their sales shouldn’t be influencing many players nor the market. The real number that catches eyes is how many PS gamers are buying digital. It’s just the way the younger generation of players are buying. They didn’t grow up in a physical only age. Those players are driving a lot of the sales. Most people on here that like physical are older games like myself. That’s the larger issue at play here i believe.
This actually kinda makes sense. My local Best Buy's physical selection is poultry compared to any other stores nearby. They definitely haven't seen big sales from physical media so it's easy to stop ordering new shipments and start letting it languish, but its still sad none the less
@HonestHick Yeah well said, I agree me to, all three are at it now at the end of the day I suppose, don't get me wrong though I buy the odd digital game like the medieval remake but if cloud gaming becomes the standard and the younger generation prefer it, I'll be dipping out, I enjoy what I own and I hope to pass them on to my kids or whatever or for those who are less fortunate.
Idiots... but that it their shame...
Retailers in UK have already started to head down this Rd, tesco have stopped (link below), my sainsbury has (though don't know if this is uk wide), game is struggling and my local shop is 50:50 space between games and cheap tacky merch. CEX might be one of the busier retail shops in my local shopping centre but if it gets harder to buy retail and digital takes over, they are done too as they won't get supply of stock. Sucks as I buy predominantly physical games, not from a preservationist perspective but because I like to sell games on after I've finished with them.
https://www.gamesradar.com/games-retail-unsustainable-according-supermarket-giant-tesco-why-it-going-so-wrong/
@R1spam Why are CEX done because they won't get stocks? I think you are missing that many physical sales are just moving online to Amazon etc. not disappearing altogether. Not yet anyway.
This is more about death of the high-street store than physical game sales imho
There's no way Nintendo is going down the digital route, so will best buy really want to lose out on money from Nintnedo games, I doubt it, plus PlayStation 5 isn't even half way through its cycle yet so there's atleast another 4-5 years of physical PS5 games which surely bring in a lot of money for them as well.
So I'm certain this is just for DvD's and Blu Ray's, and maybe music CD's.
I’m old ( like abacus old) and I will always buy physical if I can. Same with my LP and tape collection. I love the fact that I have a ‘museum’ that stretches through my lifetime. Digital just doesn’t quite fit like that.
I buy my games from Amazon or eBay so im good. All digital future is bad for gaming
Physical games is always the best.digital is cool.but physical disc games is the best.word up son
Silly idea.. people still want phsyical.
Grainger games, Blockbuster, EB, Gamestop have all closed for good near(ish) to me.
5 GAME stores have closed within 45minutes and we are left with 2 completely pointless tiny satellite shops in Sports Direct stores that sell more Funko pops than games.
Tesco, Sainsburys etc no longer sell games in store
The only brick and mortar stores i can think of that still sell games are Currys and Smyths and the sections are not good
As someone who still buys and prefers physical media, the writing is sadly on the wall. Its going to end up like PC gaming in the not too distant future
@themightyant I think because whilst there is a vibrant retail sector for physical games online now, that's going to go down the line as well. You nearly always get a better deal with physical copies as it stands. I got zelda totk for £48 and got it a day early. I personally think those days are numbered, not least because the console providers would rather you buy digital and get a bigger cut as well as kill the secondary market. The series s accounts for 75 % of all xbox consoles and is digital only. The new ps5 revision has an optional disc drive but how well the additional drive sells remains to be seen. The new series x revision is rumoured to not have a disc drive. Arguably two of the biggest ps5 releases of the year in Balders Gate 3 and Alan Wake are digital only! I don't like it but predominantly digital future would seem to be the direction of travel.
This is tragic. People are always going on about collector's editions being the reason for wanting physical - but I often save 50-70% on the cost by either buying a game first hand and then selling, or buying second hand. The cost saving is massive. You can't re-sell digital games. With games getting increasingly more expensive, this sucks [sad face]
@Mad001 PC is not better. Microsoft forces new versions of windows onto us and old ones lose support. Eventually the installers won't run anymore in your modern pc.
Happens a lot with old games. Stuff that ran in Windows 95 -XP hardly works at all now.
Regardless this article is spreading unfounded panic. Games are more than music and movies and streaming services are more popular with those cause there is no need for input and reaction time from the user. Streaming has not taken off with gaming and likely won't.
Given size limits on SSD's there clearly is still demand for physical media.
@Sakai does your Sainsbury's not have an Argos in-store? Because you can still buy physical games at Argos.
90% of all my physical games are bought online where the real competitive pricing occurs. The only option on the high street these days is Game, and they’ve been pretty tragic for the last few years with relatively zero competition. Their prices aren’t competitive with online stores and so they get less business.
There’s still a market for physical games. I know I buy more than ever at the moment as a collector so I hope it keeps going until at least the end of the current generation.
I'm actually just about to buy a few physical games from Smyth's and Argos and I'll continue to buy mainly physical for as long as possible.
@R1spam I agree with plenty you said including a predominantly digital future, just not an ALL digital future yet. But a little push back. Yes the platform holders want to get rid of physical as they make a bigger cut, but this only happens if we let them. I still think there will be a MASSIVE pushback if they try and go digital ONLY next gen.
This was widely reported but if you actually look at the chart they are referring to it may have just have just be talking about one month April 2022. It has 2 pie charts labelled 'Apr Fcst' and 'Actual'. The tweet that announced this also suggested it was just for April 2022.
But even if those figures are representative for the whole generation, that is Xbox, which we know is typically higher digital already, other consoles may not be as high. And if true it would still be 25% who like the option of physical, that's not insignificant. Some territories like Japan still seem to prefer physical media.
Plus any digital to physical game sale splits platform holders report conveniently completely ignore the second hand market. More people like physical than their skewed numbers suggest.
I guess my point is WE still have a say in this, if we do nothing this will happen but if we, collectively, push back at any announcement, like the XBO launch, we can win, for a while longer at least. Did you see the response to the leaked all-digital next gen xbox? It wasn't positive.
@MrMagic no but there is an Argos near me that I forgot about. Good shout mate
I started my PS5 games collection with a lot of discs but as i write I sold almost all of them and now i continue exclusively on digital.
@themightyant it's still pretty prevalent. Especially on Switch. The main place I notice it shrinking is Xbox.
@Nem look in to Linux , play on Linux w.i.n.e
You can play all your xp stuff , or digitize an xp operating system and use it as a virtual pc ( I keep programs up to 30 years old running as for an educational resource)
Lol long live physical media!
Have a good one 👍
@EYEBALL i can appreciate that. I am not into cloud gaming. I would just move to PC. Another reason why i only use my Nintendo and PS for exclusives. Cause the more games I own on or play on Xbox, they can carry along with my saves to PC if the console market goes under. Heck i am still half tempted to build a gaming PC at some point anyways. But that’s another story.
@koffing I'm not sure how happy you'll be each 15 years when you lose the games to anything other than emulation. I've been spending all my disposable income on blurays for the last couple years.. in before the ban.
@Mad001 I'm soldering up a ISA sound blaster from new parts right now. Live the dream.
@themightyant it's tricky mate, I think we exist in an enthusiast bubble and our views are often not represented in a wider commercial sense. Add to this we have a new generation of gamers who are coming up who may never have engaged with a physical game ever and the future doesnt look rosy. Don't get me wrong, if the ps6 and the next xbox don't have a disc drive then I won't be there at launch but millions will.
More bad reporting: "As we’re all gradually coming to terms with, physical media is on the way out."
First of all you need to look at why Best Buy and Target etc are not selling physical media on store shelves right now. That product used to bring consumers in to buy other things. Get legs on the show room floor. I'm not sure when the last time you've walked into a best buy or a target and measured how empty the places are. It's dead. Seriously there was a time in the 2000s where I had to stand in line to get to a register. Getting to the games section was a chore, not because the games section was full, but because people were there with their families buying all sorts of merchandise. Kids would then flock to these sections and bug their parents to buy them games. Teens would pick something up while they were there etc.
Things have changed since 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015. The recent stay at home policies of most countries have lead to this rapid change in trends. No one is going to best buy for really anything. Their gaming hardware section in general and even their PC selection has shrunk. No one buys these things from best buy anymore. Why should I go to best buy for a 70 dollar game in 2023? When Amazon and even Best Buy.com have the game at my door step the day of release.
Digital does not mean Online Market Place btw. It's not Digial sales that are ultimately winning here. Physical is doing fine, something Disney had a nice clean wake up call over in the past year. Now that all of their content is finding its way to bluray and 4k bluray.
I don't blame best buy for dropping any of this from the show room floor. I think the future is going to look like this: you go online, put in an order, you choose to pick it up or get it sent to you. No more will you be going onto the floor, picking up the game, walking to a register. Those days are done. You'll see that happen with the hardware too. No more will you be picking up a PS5 at the store. If they ever stop selling the games. You will no longer be able to buy a PS5 at best buy. I will be surprised if this all digital xbox future will be welcomed.
This isn't the only products with issues. Many things are disapearing from best buy, things that you can't download are now just going away because its cheaper to buy online and have it show up tomorrow or later in the week. Online games journalists have no idea what is going on.
Wal-Mart's physical offer is reduced - sure they have a huge display for each console, but the amount of games in that shelf is barebones.
Target seems to only sell a select few physical games (basically the higher sellers)
I don't really go to Best Buy much anymore, but the last time I was there the physical media offer was barebones.
That's just games.
Physical Blu-ray (especially UHD) are a fraction of what they were. Heck, my local Target reduced its physical movie/show section to a like one end section of an aisle. I think it sells more Vinyl records than movies!
Game Stop (or whatever local equivalent), and Amazon are your best bets for physical anything these days.
@R1spam I get what you are saying but most of my mates who game aren't enthusiasts and prefer physical (they don't like digital pricing and don't trust companies to have ALL the control on pricing)
As for the next generation of gamers coming up I look at my niece and nephew and their Switches and they are almost 100% physical because it allows them to trade, or borrow gamers from their friends.
Perhaps my view is not representative, but I DON'T see physical disappearing, diminishing perhaps, but not gone. Perhaps i'm just blind to it, who knows.
@GamingFan4Lyf Ya if you ever get a chance to peek at Wal-mart's sales distribution of physical games. Its shifted to their online store front. No point in keeping games on the floor at walmart aside from a small selection.
It's just big box stores evolving to meet the needs of the consumer. Right now, those needs don't include walking into the store for a game when you can have it shipped to you. I haven't been in a walmart in about 23+ years. i think the last time was to pick up my N64 a month or so after release when they had some inventory in. I imagine they have a pick up counter just like Target and BestBuy. If there is any merch, its in the back on a palette out of the way. I will not be surprised if the hardware starts disapearing too. I haven't purchased a console in the store since PSP. As I said if you look at the data, most hardware purchases happen online now. It's not that physical media is disapearing, its that the relevance of these stores is disapearing. Now having a large floor with lots of product doesn't really matter in an age where everything is tracked and optimized to show up when you need it. I imagine if a small mom and pop store or a small chain utilized such a strategy they could compete.
Man, I just moved all of my pre-ordering from Amazon to Best Buy since Amazon hasn't gotten a pre-ordered game to me on release day in over a year and a half.
But in all honesty, I've been slowly leaning more and more into digital lately. I've been getting games on Steam for dirt cheap that I have on the PS3/PS4 and selling the physical copy I have, mainly third party games, or games that just run/look better on PC compared to say the PS3.
Mainly because my shelves are getting way too full and I have no more room for extra shelves.
The thought that in the future I will be potentially facing having to wait months for a new games price to drop via the PSN sales and not having the cheaper options like Amazon, ShopTo etc around sickens me. They can moan all they like about how expensive games are to make but when you take away the options for consumers to be able to shop around for cheaper purchases you’re going to face resistance from us all.
I'm not against an all digital future, but there are still many problems I have with it that would really want to see addressed (but they won't!)
1. Game preservation, being able to keep a digital copy in case the digital store stops trading.
2. Digital store monopolies, if the playstation store or nintendo eshop is the only place you can possible get your games then there's no competition and prices I'm sure will rise. I think this is something the EU will enforce if games go all digital as its looking likely that apple will have to enable 3rd party app stores to comply with rules.
3. Licensing issues, digital games can get pulled or editted if music licenses end, giving us a worse game experience.
Going physical until I don’t have an option anymore.
@Kalime78 I've read different. Apparently, physical is more environmentally unfriendly (for print, shipping, etc.) and cloud streaming is more environmentally unfriendly compared to digital download.
I've been to a few different best buys and none of them really even had a dedicated game section. You'd see a couple racks with some controllers, maybe a new release or two, and a buncha older stuff. Best buy was never the go to for games imo. I've seen much better from Walmart.
Regardless I mostly get my games online anyway. I'm still focused on collecting all the ps2 era games I was never able to get as a kid and by the time I get around to the more recent games they're already half price on ebay 🤷♂️
For those that prefer physical this sucks, pushes the trend that way. Although most people probably buy online anyway. For movies and shows, I'll stream it and if I really like it I buy the Blu-Ray sets if they are released.
@Adol_Xin That is true.
However, what matters is not what can be (alternative energy), it really is what is the actual source today, and in the near future. I don't believe the actual source of energy have shifted drastically in the last 2-3 years since we made that calculation... not sure if it was on here or on Eurogamer anymore ^^ but 2-3 years back it was still a close call depending on how much you play the game, I wish I remembered the cut off point ^^
@Mythologue I guess this varies widely per country (and actual sources of energy), the number of times you download the game, etc. I'm not saying one is better than the other, I'm saying there are a lot of factors to consider and digital is not (or at least was not a couple of years ago) a clear winner in all scenarios. Physical footprint decreases thanks to 2nd hand (if I remember correctly, one physical game is played by 1,05 to 1,7 person on average on different consoles - aka 2nd hand), digital increases with multiple download/not enough space on HW (that I don't know the stat), and streaming is just a non stop flux of data/energy so not great in many scenarios...
@Kalime78 Even with second hand ownership, you need to account for shipping or travel, which produces more carbon. Physical is burning (or whatever the specific process is), production of the physical medium (cases and discs), shipping, etc.
I'd recommend the 2021 Eurogamer article for more info.
@Mad001 curious if it’s happened to you or anyone else… if I add something that’s free on Prime to my watchlist and come back to it later it’s often now requiring money. Almost as if they go “oh you’re interested in that? Well watch it right away or you’re going to pay!”
Id be more for digital media if there was some universal blockchain record of it. So companies wouldn’t be able to just end your access to it. Across the board. Maybe one day
The day gaming becomes digital-only is the day I will only focus on completing my physical backlog on old generation consoles.
@elfoam yeah maybe. I’m more concerned about streaming and always connected than downloaded vs physical but I don’t see a way to stop the market
I know I'm a very niche case, but I live in two different neighbor countries and I've a PS5 in both houses. In my case digital is a godsend.
Sucks. I’ll admit most of my games are digital, but I buy movies on disc. You can’t beat a 4K Blu Ray for top notch picture and sound.
I've had bad Internet patches due to technical issues at times and that doesn't make the idea of a 100% digital world very appealing.
Fun little story - my brother just sold his collection of PS3 and PS4 games and bought himself a really nice Omega Seamaster with the proceeds.
@elfoam nice 👍
@MasterEMFG ah dang happened to me once corner gas was included in prime to watch finished season 1 then it was buy the next day , that show is soooo funny I bought the dvd box set lol
@MasterEMFG screen recorder apps you can record just like you did on a old video recorder 👍
Why do some of you want to get rid of physical games. What is the advantage of less choice? I'm always buying used games at a fraction of the price, made some good money selling a few too
The beginning of the end
The all digital PS6 and Xbox Series whatever is looking more likely.
This is just the future, love it or hate it. As the world's internet gets better so will streaming games too. Everyone scoffed when Netflix started offering movies and tv to stream, surely it'd never work!? Now it's the preferred way for most to watch new shows. Gaming just needs more time but that's definitely the route I see things going in maybe another 10 years or so, probably even less with how quickly technology advances.
@gabuloid I think that removing the game resell possibilities could bring more money to game companies and digital store prices would be probably not go higher anymore. I remember the Days Gone PS4 case, where many people played the game, but most of them bought game second-hand, so initially disappointing sales were not improved with time, even if interrest of game community was stable.
If digital prices were actually cheaper than the identical physical product (to reflect the absence of manufacture, transportation, etc) I would be on board, but they aren't, so I'm not.
@Adol_Xin
Owning the games in physical is really important for me.
They are not just objects, they are like part of my family.
Every games I bought are become my family members.
I can see their presence, their actual existence.
I still keep being old school in term of gaming, doesn't like the convenience from digital games as it degraded the important of owning the stuffs.
I can share my games collection to my sibling when I have the physical games, it will not happen if I have digital stuffs.
And that's why I still persistent to support physical games.
#physicalgamingforever 🤟
@Thumper haha would YOU do that, tho?
... and now I have no reason to go to Best Buy any more.
@BAMozzy
'deliver' 'incomplete' 'disc' 'internet' 'verify' 'next-gen' 'large' 'few' 'very' 'preserve'
The stupid thing is that the local Best Buy already has a lot of open space in the store with nothing in it. Might as well close down the store and move Best Buy to a little strip mall.
I personally prefer digital now (bar Nintendo Switch games) and have been for a good few years, but I hope the option remains there for those to buy physical for PS/Xbox who still to do.
@WaveBoy
I know some will say I'm part of the problem but once you start going digital fully it's quite hard buying physical again, I find anyway.
Yes, I would like to see some sort of returns for digital, as you say 1-2 hours. I know MS do offer refunds if you've played less than 2 hours but I think it is limited to few times a year.
I'd also love to see some sort of digital trade-in system, i.e. you could sell the licence back and get some sort of store credit. It will never happen mind lol
Yikes. The simple reality is that physical media is still the only way to play most older games. Some of which are absolute classics. The death of physical media will not be good. A game can be removed from a digital storefront in the snap of a finger. Physical media is such an important backup for preservation.
I had a feeling this was gonna happen.or they misunderstood what was saying.physical games still sells a lot.i enjoy physical games more.digital is cool.but physical boxed games are the best.word up son
The update of them not stopping physical video games is good news. Without them putting games on sale, it would limit the ability to get games on sale from Amazon since they basically just match other retailers and Best Buy seems to put games on sale more frequently than some of the other US retailers.
Amazon will stick with physical media for a long time probably, but other retailers stopping would only make getting them more expensive. Basically, less retailers selling physical media means less putting things on sale, in the end meaning less options of getting them on sale from Amazon (easily my top place for buying physical media).
I love buying my games on physical discs and will continue to do so ,its up to us gamers who love physical to keep it alive ,physical discs will be around for ages ,all gd and happy gaming to all
I moved from high end PC because of all digital. I will move from PlayStation if or when it goes all digital. I will not get mad I will just fix the problem. There are so many other things one could spend their time on.
@WaveBoy PS3 game cases were nice given their kind of unique size, rigidness, and having “Blu-Ray Disc” imprinted on the plastic. (And of course the discs still had active recurring function.)
Was curious about that. Digital Physical (cases, or the gift card like ones/wallet top up looking ones with the games presented and receipts to redeem not the paper itself because security reasons and stealing but that versus ink being unreadable in the future on a receipt so redeem while can and re-download the game from there I guess) exists out there.
If it's DVD/Blu-ray sales then sure I guess even is disappointing there too. But whether digital physical, steelbooks or whatever collector's editions (then digital deluxe existing and digital artbooks, no idea about digital song lists being a thing compared to soundtrack CDs still) and whatever cosmetics/quests are digital in the game anyways.
CDs/DVDs/Blu-ray players exist but will they for long who knows. 3rd parties make hardware and physical media that's niche return when looking into many physical media formats I'd never even heard of and going wow that's small/big, wow that's cool what they were going for of length, engineering, too ahead of it's time and so on.
Doesn't affect me but is still interesting to hear about around the world which are getting changes to their retail stores as it is scary stuff to hear about the future/what audiences are making things lean a certain way. Also due to the Disney physical movies going away sadness. I don't buy them anyway but still. Streaming services future.
PS4/5 cases are fine, PS3 ones are similar but colour or thickness aside it is odd seeing the PS4/5 cases and blu-ray in thinner or thick but not as much as game cases designs it's weird so slim they get. Which for 2 disk tv show case it's weird with the thinner ones and paper inserts/bonus versus the more space ones and the disk holder you flip to go between disks.
@pixeldragon,physical will survive no doubt ,but if it all went digital then I'd quit modern gaming as there's alot more to life than gaming anyway ,physical will be around for a gd while yet
@pixeldragon ,oh and happy gaming to you as gaming is a brilliant hobby
@EvenStephen7 obviously not aware of digital rips of bluray movie discs, saved as images? Identical experience to owning the disc, but no disc required.
Tap here to load 107 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...