Back in late October, we reported that the upcoming Croc remaster would be skipping a physical version on Xbox, and the publisher has been discussing this with some disgruntled fans on social media over the past few days.
The situation is that the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 versions of Croc will be getting a disc version, but the Xbox, PS4 and PC releases will be digital-only (including a code as part of the Collector's Edition) due to lack of demand.
This recent response proved controversial with disappointed Croc fans, who began sharing their vast Xbox libraries to prove that there is demand for physical versions of games. However, the developer explained that the demand doesn't get close to the minimum number of discs they'd be forced to order, so there's really no way around it.
Here's a bit more of what Argonaut Games had to say in response to someone on Twitter:
"Respectfully, there are minimum manufacturing runs for physical and all our data indicates that we would not be able to sell enough copies to justify manufacturing physical for Xbox. We developed the game so it's not as if we don't like the platforms, but we have to be realistic."
"We've tried really hard to come up with a practical solution where the alternative is to not have one."
As unfortunate as this situation is, we can understand the decision to avoid a physical Xbox disc in this case, especially when you consider that even a big first-party release like Avowed is going down the code-in-a-box route next year.
In terms of the digital release, the Croc: Legend of the Gobbos remaster was set to launch before the end of 2024, but it's since been pushed back to early 2025. We'll be playing it soon, but there's no official date for it as of yet. It's clearly a shame to be missing out on the disc, but if the data says it's not worth it, there's not much to be done!