Best Buy Reportedly Dumping Physical Media, Walmart Ditching Xbox Titles as Boxed Games Fade

wccftech.com:

For years now there’s been a battle between game publishers and a certain segment of players over physical games – while publishers would clearly prefer and all-digital future, many consumers still want physical games. Well, the battlelines may be changing, as it seems brick-and-mortar retailers may no longer be interested in selling those physical games.

According to a new report from The Digital Bits, an insider blog devoted to DVDs and other boxed entertainment, Best Buy is planning to get out of physical media altogether in early 2024. While the blog specifically mentions Blu-ray and DVD sales, it seems like there’s a good chance physical video game sales will also be on the chopping block. At least anecdotally, the Best Buys near me have drastically cut back on their video game sections already, opting to mostly offer digital download cards. According to the report Best Buy won’t sell physical media online either.

Jumping off from this report, Limited Run Games CEO Josh Fairhurst, a guy who would obviously have the inside track on physical game sales, says he’s heard Walmart will be dropping physical Xbox games soon and that “deeper changes” are likely coming.

“I would expect to see this trend continue in 2024. I've heard rumblings that Wal-Mart is dropping physical Xbox games soon, and I have to imagine further cuts to physical gaming sections will be made as we get deeper into next year. […] I'd expect deeper changes in their gaming department as time goes on. Retail is becoming more and more challenging and in-store game sales are declining, only makes sense they'll reduce the department in time.”

Fairhurst has also confirmed Best Buy has been ordering far fewer physical copies of games, even ones they made