Limited Run CEO Claims Walmart May Be Dropping Physical Xbox Games Soon

XBox chose to go with an over the top digital subscription model as the hook for their system so they can't be mad when retailers stop carrying their product that isn't selling well.

@Widey85 you can’t underestimate brick and mortar shelves but there’s a lot of people who do their shopping online too.

We’ve had a hybrid for many years where consoles come bundled with digital games or currency for The likes of Fortnite and Rocket League but even then they still had physical games on the shelves.

Also aren’t some big titles these days just download codes in a box? I don’t buy physical but I’ve heard stories of download codes in packages instead of a disc.

Nobody will ever convince me digital is better i don't care what they say its always better have a physical game than a digital download the sell on value plus we are at the mercy of the game publishers and they are ripping us off as it is.

Well that’s an excellent way to start the week, with bad news!

I can see it happening with how comparatively little market share Xbox has.

Their strategy of saturating the market with Series S didn't go as planned and just proved people are still willing to pay a premium price for a premium product based off the sales of the PS5.

That said, it will be a shame to see Xbox go the way of the PC with nothing but shelves of prepay cards.

I also heard how Best Buy is going to be dropping all of their physical game sales in general.

@InterceptorAlpha
I know what you mean I’ve said for a while in the UK more shelf space seems to go to Sony and Nintendo game space and merchandise.
I was shopping this Sunday a group of lads about 20 ish years old were all around the PS5 tv watching the showreel with admiration and the smaller Xbox section was over in the other side in the corner, like Mr no friends.
We know what console is getting all the shop public awareness.
I think Xbox think the only world is the internet world and shops are a dying breed.

Source: Trust me bro!

@Dan1283 Preach, brother!

@BobaTheFett @ArashiKageTaro Microsoft might want it nobody else does though especially not us the gamers

@MikeHiscoe Exactly! Microsoft brought this on themselves. Greed ruins so many things.

@GuyinPA75 I hope it backfires in Microsoft face

@Widey85
You act like most parents don't use Amazon anymore

@MikeHiscoe
First, there is nothing here to say that Wal-mart will not carry XB consoles. Just physical XB games. And the quotes imply that this will also be applied to PS and Nintendo later. "Retail is becoming more and more challenging and in-store game sales are declining, only makes sense they'll reduce the department in time"

Second, it is inevitable that game sales would turn digital. Business software is almost all digital, CD music has gone pretty much all digital/streaming, DVD/Blu-Ray has gone digital/streaming, etc. There is nothing to suggest this is anything to do with just Microsoft. Facts are, less and less gamers are buying physical games, and more an more they are buying digital games.

I am not saying that physical game sales should disappear or I agree with Wal-mart's potential decision. But thinking this is Microsoft getting what it deserves is not supported by the facts. Every media for entertainment and software distribution is being replaced by digital distribution. Whether we like it or not and it is not just a Microsoft thing.

Ok. I haven't purchased a physical game since the 360/PS3 era.

@JayJ
I read the same thing. A friend of mine is a service department manager and that rumor has come up a few times, so maybe something to it?

Please Don't Walmart & Microsoft!

@Auglicious @JayJ it seems Best Buy has clarified their reduction is not to include physical games. BluRays and DVDs are the focus at this time.

probably likely. my walmart, I only ever really see 1st party, capcom, bandai namco, or super hero (batman/spiderman etc) get restocked for Xbox AND Playstation. Its kinda depressing, because of this everyone is just being conditioned to order from online.

Switch on the other hand...their shelves are so full they have old stock with price tags sitting under the shelves.

@Scummbuddy Maybe that's the official response for now? I feel like it's inevitable at this point. Not just Xbox, but all.

If gaming or movies go 100% digital, it will shut out many rural Americans that don't have the bandwidth for that. This is also why game streaming has yet to do well, the US is too spread out, and even in a major city, Netflix can become unusable on a Friday night.

Music still sells CDs, Vinyl has even made a resurgence, despite the fact that out of all media... music does not require a huge amount of bandwidth to download.

@Dan1283 I'm with u it's a woman on Twitter now locked out of her Xbox account cause her phone number changed . Thousands of dollars of games she can't play. And Ms not helping ill always be mainly physical and digital on sale. When gameing goes all digital us Consumers are screwed.

@ParsnipHero I've only seen it done with the NSW. Which has a rather limited cartridge size.

@Spectrexr1 nobody wants it and us gamers definitely not but unfortunately it's going happen in the future hopefully by the time it happens there ways of trading second hand games and better systems in place for this ive emailed Microsoft a while back about something comptly ignored me they never replied cooperate a holes they and every other company are they are ok taking money of us all the time but when we want something back off them they don't reply