Starfield Discs Could Be Removed From Sale At US Retail Giant Soon

Its no secret that as far as Physical goes, the ONLY platform MS can sell to is their Series X - which isn't the most popular Hardware in the Xbox ecosystem.

PC and Series S owners will buy Digitally anyway and Game Pass Subscribers probably aren't buying many (if any) first party games Physically when Game Pass allows then to play 'free' and/or 'buy' at a discount at a later date - so why buy Physical?

That really just leaves a 'niche' group of Xbox gamers that have a Series X, prefers to buy Physically AND unlikely to own Game Pass. I bet the vast majority of 'Starfield' players either bought Digitally or played via Game Pass with relatively 'few' buying Physically.

I think people should have a choice but when the 'majority' of Xbox gamers (PC/Series S/Cloud) don't buy Physical, can't play Physical discs, etc, as well as MANY Series X users choosing to buy Digitally OR play on Game Pass, the Physical Market isn't sustainable...

its the only streaming future i dread. hope it takes a few decades or i may be out of luck.

Nothing wrong with that.

@BAMozzy
Hence maybe this year the new digital series x with 2tb of memory and the removal of the disc series x.

Seems really weird how only this one game would be getting that kind of treatment considering all the games that sit around on shelves for years.

@OldGamer999 Honestly I just like having the disc drive for backwards compatibility and watching movies these days. It's the only reason I can still play the original Forza Horizon for example.

I got my Series S free with points from Shoppers Drug Mart, large chain here in Canada. Looks like they are also moving to get rid of all physical disc products, all games discounted to CAD$19.99 (so like less than USD$15), including Starfield, etc. Not a surprising move...

Hardly surprising considering the Series S is all-digital plus Game Pass exists which will be the downloaded version of the game.

Also, most big chains in the UK have stopped selling physical video games. I expect more and more stores to stop selling them. Whether people like it or not, discs are on the way out. Microsoft clearly agrees considering they are at least planning to have the updated Series X to be all-digital as well.

Very lame. Gonna have to see if the full game is on the disc, even if unpatched, so I can get a copy.

@rustyduck The day that mainstream gaming becomes streaming only is the day that I check out. I'll happily play my giant backlog of retro games that require no internet/downloads.

I'll take a copy for $0.03 thanks

I know I have to accept it, but it's hard.

I'm feeling like Duncan Mc Leod, right now. Among the very last of my kind. Still buying my games on disc, even on Xbox, every time I can. I have Starfield on disc, for example. And I'm waiting for my physical copy of Baldur's gate III, still on Xbox.

Also, I'm still buying movies, on bluray, and on bluray 4K. And even on that market, it has become incredibly hard : right now, you have to be quick, you have to preorder a movie as soon as it is announced, because it'll be very quickly established "out of stock". The Mandalorian, for example, is sold out in my country, even before its official release date. And it's an old series, that every fan has already seen.

But it is what it is. The next Xbox, if any, will be all digital. We all know that. Playstation ? Maybe a generation more, but at most.

So, I know. This is the future. I have to accept it.

But it's hard ! XD

It's just easier now going digital tbh I loved my discman as a young lad but nobody is missing that now plus it's green not manufacturing the discs I'd say starfield is especially selling bad as its not on playstation just xbox and most people in there right minds would just play it tru gamepass and there are more series s consoles out there than series x

@Topov81 Will probably be worth something in a few years considering how rare they will be by then

I may have to swing by wally world today.

I’m at Walmart now. They can’t sell it, even for $.03.

I don't know who had that idea, but the amount of hatred that Starfield has received goes beyond any imaginable planet, in spite of being commercially and critically successful. Are they going to destroy all physical games or just Starfield? Why destroy them? It reminds me of the legend of E.T. video games being buried in the desert.

Well as Walmart or was it Best Buy were removing movies, so Xbox games isn't too far off is it I guess. Thing is as a physical only on Xbox let alone the other platforms I dabble in digital for demos more than games it isn't surprising.

What is surprising is if companies go eh we get rid of Xbox copies because they aren't successful well neither was Wii U but Nintendo has their presence don't they? Yes different era but I mean Xbox One sold 50 mill, same with 3DS unless that was PSP 80mill 3DS I forget either way. As the years go on sure things change of availability but I mean if consoles sell well but physical does like say a few 100,000 I think that's still something isn't it? Yes not a lot but what about the Indie physical on Xbox or third parties of other sorts that's where I think it really sucks.

If it was oh limited physical runs then sure but it isn't. Gamepass and cloud really has changed things. I don't deny it's not a bad thing I just don't use those services. Granted I have a few Xbox One games/smart delivery both One/Series games but I'm mostly buying up OG/360 games for it besides blu-rays to watch on it so..... And that's just in my region not in the US where this applies.

My local appliances/media store has no Xbox game section at all, being a rural area not surprised but even still the consoles are available in the Switch games section of all things yeah that makes sense.

The website shows the Xbox games listed so at some stores sure but I'd have to go EB or retro game stores still for them.

The section was downsized and either fits more walking space (more likely), holds the PC peripherals or made way more for the keyboards and other equipment.