EA has bad news for gamers who like physical games

techradar.com:

EA has decided to restructure its local German contracts and gradually end the sale of physical game copies in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. 

FIFA 23and Need For Speed Unbound will be among the last games to get a boxed release in German-speaking countries. As of May 2022, EA “will no longer generate sales of packaged goods” in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, it explained in a statement shared by Games Wirtschaft(opens in new tab). This decision was taken shortly after EA decided to stop selling physical copies of games from its in-house store Origins.  

This decision hasn’t come out of the blue. EA stated in its annual report(opens in new tab) that “the ongoing shift from physical goods to digital downloads continues to have a negative impact on revenue development”. The decline in physical copies sold can be seen across the board. In the US, the sale of physical copies has dropped from 80% of total copies sold in 2009 to 17% in 2018. 

Looking towards the future, EA says it had to move on from physical sales to prevent financial losses caused by selling physical products in a market that didn’t want them. “The Company’s ability to develop and support digital products and services”, is the most important thing to EA, according to its annual financial report. 

EA isn’t the only publisher looking to downgrade its physical games distribution. Activision Blizzard dissolved its German subsidiary in May, with business operations ending in March 2021. While the entire staff based in Germany were let go, the publishing activities are being controlled in Activision Blizzard’s European Headquarters in London. 

As digital sales increased steadily, Activision Blizzard’s local physical sales in Germany had sunk from €55m ($55.1m /