Report: Some European retailers will no longer be stocking physical Xbox games due to no demand

[John Elden Ring]

Several European retailers are reportedly no longer stocking physical Xbox games.

That’s according to GamesIndustry.biz’s Christopher Dring, who said on the Games Industry Microcast that he’d heard that sales of physical games for the console are so low that retailers have decided to stop stocking the products.

“I got told by a major publisher just before Christmas, that across Europe, several retailers have started not listing Xbox anymore,” said Dring.

“So they’ve just started not stocking Xbox games anymore, Xbox is such a digital console, the physical performance of games is really low, and ultimately when you’re selling a console that most people are just downloading games for, it doesn’t really benefit the retailer very much.

 

[BigMclargeHuge]

Makes sense. Xbox isn't doing good in the States, but things are downright horrific in Europe.

 

[Box]

It's weird how Silent Phil Spencer has been about this and all the Third party rumours

 

[AshHunter216]

There's also a rumor that most of their upcoming games will be digital only releases. Their next console probably won't have a disc drive.

 

[Bryank75]

"more game to more people"
Proceeds to fire 2000 Devs and remove physical options.

 

[Thirty7ven]

Low software sales in general, coupled with Series S market share and digital to physical ratio, means retailers have never had as little incentive to stock Xbox games.

I suspect the amount of shelf space Xbox consoles occupy will also become smaller and smaller.

 

[Loy310]

Good

 

[arvfab]

Silent Phil

Silent Phil: Not Even A Short Message

Is the name of the next horror game by Konami.

 

[Yurinka]

Some in Spain already didn't have an Xbox section since years ago, and only had some Xbox games in the PS or Switch shelves. Some stores didn't even have Xbox games.

 

[Gediminas]

don't worry, PHIL is visionary
4D chess move, you just don't see it, beggards.

 

[EmberBlaine]

I literally only bought my Xbox One for Killer Instinct and the potential for more Rare games getting revivals. I've bought almost every major game on Xbox One / Series X over the last almost decade. I'm about ready to just jump ship to PS5 and rebuy a large chunk of my Xbox games on PS5. Most of them are third party anyway.

It's really sad to think Perfect Dark won't get a disc release, if that game even comes out...

 

[EmberBlaine]

Hell honestly, it's been rough having just the Series X the last few years. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is the first Xbox only title that I've had an interest in since Halo Infinite (which I honestly really really liked, despite what most people say)

 

[laynelane]

I literally only bought my Xbox One for Killer Instinct and the potential for more Rare games getting revivals. I've bought almost every major game on Xbox One / Series X over the last almost decade. I'm about ready to just jump ship to PS5 and rebuy a large chunk of my Xbox games on PS5. Most of them are third party anyway.

It's really sad to think Perfect Dark won't get a disc release, if that game even comes out...

I've been wondering about that with regards to physical releases. If MS does release first-party games on other platforms, will it be digital only? I'm really only interested in the Fallout series, but I'm very committed to buying physical and don't plan to compromise on that.

 

[Nimrota]

This will genuinely enter it into a death spiral. Sure, nobody is buying them, but people still see them on shelves. Removing physical is going to severely limit visibility. If they had a good exclusive, and I walked by it in a store, it at least puts it in my mind. Any digital ad is either blocked, or outright ignored subconsciously.

 

[laynelane]

This will genuinely enter it into a death spiral. Sure, nobody is buying them, but people still see them on shelves. Removing physical is going to severely limit visibility. If they had a good exclusive, and I walked by it in a store, it at least puts it in my mind. Any digital ad is either blocked, or outright ignored subconsciously.

Agreed. Their mindshare is already low and this will just push it lower - perhaps non-existent in countries who do not have the infrastructure for a seamless all-digital gaming experience.

 

[Batzy]

I need someone to explain why this is a big brain move, cause for me it seems the console is dead.

 

[Jivesh1995]

Who could've guessed that conditioning your playerbase to not spend money buying games could led to a downfall in sales

 

[Kokoloko]

Who could've guessed that conditioning your playerbase to not spend money buying games could led to a downfall in sales

But Gamepass is £10 X 40million people per month = ………. What a load of crock shit people use to say about Gamepass And how it will change the industry and be successful

 

[Satoru]

"more game to more people"
Proceeds to fire 2000 Devs and remove physical options.

I love that the EU and the CMA ended approving this deal that was so good for competition: less jobs, less competition due to Xbox basically ending their hardware offer, and probably less games because the brand is in shambles.

 

[Old Gamer]

I love that the EU and the CMA ended approving this deal that was so good for competition: less jobs, less competition due to Xbox basically ending their hardware offer, and probably less games because the brand is in shambles.

And let's not forget the best part: because they also turned a blind eye to MS taking over OpenAI, now a big portion of those lost jobs are being replaced by AI.