Walmart to start removing physical Xbox games in store starting with Starfield.
- Thread starter Bernoulli
- Start date
demigod
Member
Those actually sell. See how stupid your post was?
I mean if you want to ignore reality and replace it with your own that's your perogative.
Codes 208
Member
Most walmarts keep their games behind a glass case for theft protection.
Also why on sunday? Thats easily one of our busiest days.
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I wouldn't put it past some big industry player who has some recent partnerships with these stores to do such a thing but I don't think that's the case and it's not really all at once. People seem to be getting this idea, or trying hard to perpetuate the idea, that Best Buy and Walmart have dropped physical games when they haven't. Best buy got rid of movies but still sells physical games and Walmart has just stopped stocking xbox games specifically as had been reported ages ago. This is just it in action
Wulfer
Member
The point was (before you so rudely interrupted) is this move is affecting all console physical video games. I think its a crime to want any physical games removed from the retail space. Once this starts its over! If you don't think this can happen you just sit back and watch, its already started! Now who feels stupid. The true irony is some here hate GameStop well wait until they remove physical from the shelf space. These stores must be doing this for a reason and that reason sounds like there isn't enough profit in the games space for them to keep the games! Answer get rid of games in that space. They care if it's Playstation or Xbox or someone else, they just want profit!
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StereoVsn
Gold Member
Yep, or give it as a present.
demigod
Member
No it is not. Weird how you call my post rude when you were the one who did it. Look at the post above you. It's only affecting Xbox or will only affect them for now. Playstation and Switch physicals still sell. When it'll be all digitL we won't know but its not anytime soon for Sony and Nintendo. Don't you feel stupid now?
Wulfer
Member
Good luck with that! Why is Sony looking to create discless systems? See your thoughts just don't work in this case! We know they are from the court cases! What you think retail's just sit there and take it up the ass? Hell no! Nintendo is probably the safest bet of the bunch for physical.
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demigod
Member
What court cases? What the hell are you blabbering about now?
How nice of you editing Nintendo in there yet you were making fun of them in your first post.
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Wulfer
Member
Listen its clear I was making a point this is going to affect all console games. This isn't picking sides no one should be in the support of removing any games from the shelf. Is that clear enough now? Stop this bullshit.
StereoVsn
Gold Member
Yeah, it's not great. BestBuy, NewEgg, even Target do carry new games (and Walmart) through online stores, and of course GameStop as well. But Amazon is probably the most reliable.
I have also started ordering more from Canadian retailers such as VGP.
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Quezacolt
Member
i read your post, and i follow that twitter page too, and your "quarter" is exagerated. that number inclues games with minor bugs, minor features missing, like post patch stuff, and even performance issues that aren't fixed even after the game gets patched. So yes, that value is overblown.
Maybe you should do more research before accusing others of saying something stupid.
DownLikeBCPowder
Member
Guess I'll be headed to Walmart on Monday.
kiphalfton
Member
Was at local Walmart earlier, and they have definitely scaled back physical games. Display is probably 4'x 3' wide. And there were a bunch of empty spots. Not just for Xbox, but also PS and Switch.
This is a stark contrast to the old displays they used to have, that had to be about 7'x3', and there were usually at least 3 like that PER system.
Sad times.
This is a stark contrast to the old displays they used to have, that had to be about 7'x3', and there were usually at least 3 like that PER system.
Sad times.
Mind linking me the page? I've got a hard time finding it.
Aside from the fact you can't even spell the term exaggerated, I find it very petty that you're willing to dismiss such an incredible anti-consumer practice just because I openly admitted (see? It's not that hard
) not knowing the exact number. Let's drop my estimation all the way down to 10%. That's still fucking HUGE dude. 1 in 10 games that are either offline or in a barely playable state without day one patches. And this number is only growing (The Crew as of recently)Instead of bickering over who is wrong or right you should look at the root problem and be honest with yourself. Is it a good thing? No.
I'd love to hear in your own words why Day One patches are better to have than not.
edit: I also find it quite the curiosity that you apparently have a console which has never been connected to the internet. With a huge gaming library of which you have tried to play everything, without said patches. Super convenient and not at all weird or anything. I don't believe for even one second that you made that statement to be even more of a sore loser.
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DownLikeBCPowder
Member
That's a lot of the problem, for the most part they will come down even less once they have their way with physical and convince everyone to phase it on out.
There was a time when retailers would sell games in bargin bins to get rid of stock and the digital price would need to lower to somewhat match the retailers. ow we mostly get this stuff happening. Digital prices are kept high and they don't really lower prices to match retailer stock clearance.
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mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
They literally made a disc addon along with a new disc PS5.
Gambit2483
Member
That shouldn't be an issue once Switch 2 drops. They can/will easily reallocate space for the new hardware and software/accessories...that is of course unless they hate money.
This whole situation is an Xbox issue, not an industry wide issue as some would have you believe.
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Evil Calvin
Afraid of Boobs
Only idiots!
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Even that article from that website states that it is Xbox doing it first. Then the author assumes the same will happen with Nintendo and playstation. Why is he making that assumption? Why the need to add that extra part when he hasn't heard Rumblings of Nintendo and Sony doing the same thing?
When you over ship physical copies you lower prices to get rid of the stock to make room for new products but with digital there is no reason to do so .
The Sony Too crowd is out today lol
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
See they could have also made the Digital version the default sku with the Disc Drive as optional purchase.
Instead they kept both versions.
Now you could argue that the Disc Version is just the digital version with the Disc Drive add-on.
But we know that's a cost effective choice.
So let's look at branding of the two skus.
One is called a Playstation 5 which is obviously the default Sku.
The other Playstation 5 Digital Edition.
Yet again they could have done this the other way around push the Digital Version as the Default Sku and the other as the Disc Edition
But we know that over 70% of Sony published games are purchased Physically so this wouldn't be a good idea.
Now the PS5 Slim Digital Edition has something the original Digital Edition doesn't.
The ability to upgrade to a Disc Drive.
they didn't need to do this, especially if they want to push Digital purchases.
But why would they do that, they know their userbase buys more physical.
even on the film front Sony is a big pusher of UHD Discs and one of the few that delivered fantastic transfers consistently with new and old releases, unlike Disney who put very little effort and lock alot of their catalogue behind Disney Plus
They also still release Anniversary Editions of Music Albums on CD still as well as Vinyl which hardly anybody does, they just release them digitally or Vinyl
They dabble with streaming and digital services but they also push Physical Media still as much as they did 20 years ago.
They just got their hand in all the pies.
Streaming will kill Digital Downloads before physical really dies.
And you can probably thank Japanese purchasing habits for that.
Quezacolt
Member
Mind linking me the page? I've got a hard time finding it.
Aside from the fact you can't even spell the term exaggerated, I find it very petty that you're willing to dismiss such an incredible anti-consumer practice just because I openly admitted (see? It's not that hard
Instead of bickering over who is wrong or right you should look at the root problem and be honest with yourself. Is it a good thing? No.
I'd love to hear in your own words why Day One patches are better to have than not.
edit: I also find it quite the curiosity that you apparently have a console which has never been connected to the internet. With a huge gaming library of which you have tried to play everything, without said patches. Super convenient and not at all weird or anything. I don't believe for even one second that you made that statement to be even more of a sore loser.
I never said my console was never connected to the internet. My internet is just too slow. I live in a remote area where the only net i can get is 4g with very slow speeds. Most of the time i can't let the console update the games right away, or no one else in the house can use the internet for hours.
Anyways i agree with you that the practice of studios releasing buggy or unfinished games is awful and we, the entire gaming community, should be against that. That doesn't change the fact that people spread false stories all the time.
How many times have i read someone say that physical games don't contain the entire game on the disc anymore? Or how every game NEEDS a day 1 patch.
Those are things that are not true at all. At least for Nintendo and Sony consoles. Things are worse on the xbox side, and became even worse with their cross gen games. Like forza horizon 5 and halo not having either the xbox one or series version on disc. This got worse with the introduction of the smart delivery system.
About the day one patches thing. I never said they were a good thing. In my opinion, a game should be launched in the best state it can be. But i do know that for the most part, day one patches serve to fix some bugs that were found only a few weeks before the release, and they didnt have the time to include the fixes on the disc.
But again, for the most part, those are fixes for small issues, wich wouldnt affect the game for most players.
newtypepilot
Member
it's hilarious seeing the xbox fanboys trying to deflect this as "the end of physical!!!" LMAO.
no, it's just the end of xbox.
no, it's just the end of xbox.
Gambit2483
Member
I wasn't necessarily trying to say that was their point or argument. Just trying to dispel any fear or general concern that this is an industry wide issue before anyone made an assumption or inference from their particular anecdote.
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Pimpbaa
Member
Or it's both. If Walmart plans on dropping physical media, then of course they are going to start with the lowest selling console.
edit: doesn't help that the most popular xbox series console has no disc drive.
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bender
What time is it?
Someone earlier in the thread mentioned a large shelf space reduction for all platforms in two stores and another poster confirmed this in their store.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Reduction is different than not selling any physical games at all.
bender
What time is it?
You asked. I answered. Everyone being reduced to much smaller sections is interesting and being reduced in the first place is telling.
Shake Your Rump
Banned
Goddamn, I forgot about the luggage trick. Hah. People actually used to do that! I remember one time, I personally hid something in self-build furniture aisle. I don't recall what.
Shake Your Rump
Banned
No GameStop?
BestBuy still sells physical games online.
I am fortunate to have an actual game shop in my town. I buy about 75% of my games there. I completely avoid Amazon, and buy a few at GameStop since it is in the mall.
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kiphalfton
Member
That doesn't make sense logically.
We're several years into the console cycle and lots of consoles, accessories, games, etc. have been produced to date. Yet they don't take up very much space currently.
No, not every game to date is on the shelves, resulting in a snowball effect (i.e. with each game that's released, it piles up higher and higher, overtaking the electronics department). However, there is still more stuff currently than there will be new Switch 2 items that will be on shelves at launch. Why? Because they can only release so many switch 2 games, and we'll be lucky if we get even half a dozen launch games.
Your post reads as though somehow when "switch 2 is released" stores are going to instaneously have a whole aisle devoted to switch 2 stuff. If it's anything like the Switch release, there won't even be any consoles on the shelves as they will be sold out, leaving accessories and launch games.
Pimpbaa
Member
Yeah, this happened to my Walmart years ago. Have to use amazon or buy digitally nowadays (no game store in my small ass town) to get stuff that isn't just the top 10 selling games.
Remember when MS prioritized the Series S when this gen started and was putting the XSX in data centers for streaming? And its only recently that the split between Series S and X got more even?
Remember how some ppl were literally upset that Sony was prioritizing the PS5 disc sku? "The PS5 DE is a paper launch, it doesn't exist!!, it's only so they can say $399!!"
Fun times. I would not be shocked if the PS5 DE alone is close to sales of the Series consoles combined. It's already past Series consoles combined in some regions.
Thank you. How can you buy physical games for a consoles with no disc drive?
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Interesting.
I haven't been to the local one in a while but whenever I go next, will keep an eye open.
jayj
Banned
They've also been selling digital-only versions of the PS5 and are continuing to push that direction. Face it, physical media is slowly being phased out this gen, don't be surprised when next gen is all digital.
Moridianae
Member
I'm seeing some discussion here about GameStop and their potential benefits from this.
It won't help them. They've been struggling for years and the new ownership hasn't done anything but further cuts, closures and horrible policy changes. They've alienated their customer base for ages.
Rumors around the mill suggest an announcement of around 500 store closures by Q1.
They have money from the stock boon, but they're having a really difficult time making profits.
If anything, this will give them a small boost if they try and capitalize on it, but that won't happen as more and more large games(BG3, Alan Wake II, Hellblade II) cut out physical releases.
Their entire system is based on physical media and that's rapidly disappearing both in games going digital and customers not buying physical.
Nothing to support their trade-in and pre-owned unless they significantly cut stores and transform themselves into something akin to DKOldies(carrying vintage, etc.)
It won't help them. They've been struggling for years and the new ownership hasn't done anything but further cuts, closures and horrible policy changes. They've alienated their customer base for ages.
Rumors around the mill suggest an announcement of around 500 store closures by Q1.
They have money from the stock boon, but they're having a really difficult time making profits.
If anything, this will give them a small boost if they try and capitalize on it, but that won't happen as more and more large games(BG3, Alan Wake II, Hellblade II) cut out physical releases.
Their entire system is based on physical media and that's rapidly disappearing both in games going digital and customers not buying physical.
Nothing to support their trade-in and pre-owned unless they significantly cut stores and transform themselves into something akin to DKOldies(carrying vintage, etc.)
Solarstrike
Member
The Great Reset is closing in. Nearly everything is going to require a subscription fee.
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BlackTron
Member
While the CURRENT action of removing Xbox games coincides with a death of Xbox physical sales specifically, some doubt is cast on the bigger picture by the story last October that Walmart intends to stop selling physical games period in 2024. How accurate this is and whether they go through with it fully remains to be seen. My prediction: if they ever fully 100% drop physical, as in not even a single Nintendo game, they will end up reversing the decision and stocking at minimum a modest selection of hits (Mario, Zelda, TLOU, COD) because not as many people will replace the physical purchase with a download card as anticipated. Wanting a physical copy or needing a code as a gift are the last two real reasons to give a shit about the retailer and they're taking one away, probably thinking everyone buying physical now will just switch over. If you wanted physical, you now have two options: go somewhere else, or acquiesce and buy a digital version you don't need from them because it's on the eshop anyway. I think this is bad for attach rate. It just removes one incentive to grab the game with the system.
The only way around this is forced bundles where you are forced to buy a DL card with a game system. I don't see any other way around this. Retailers will HATE people buying a system, going home and buying the game straight from the eshop. I'm not making the case this will be endemic but if even 10% do this, well that's 10% of consoles that could have come with a software margin that just passed through them instead. The other solution is new console pricing model where the retailer gets a bigger chunk. And console makers don't mind the trade-off because it enables them to rake in more downloads. But this seems farfetched (kinda silly throwing out ideas) and more likely the retailer would say "wait can I have a few physical options again. It's worth an aisle endcap I goofed". I think it would backfire.
Shit, even if they don't stock it on the floor and need to go to the back room like Toys R Us used to do. It's not only about losing sales, it's losing sales that might have been attached to hardware inventory passing through you. That's a drag meant to be relieved by selling a game. Of course I could be wrong and most people who would have bought physical will willingly buy a download card with the system when they can do the same thing at home but I don't see it.
The only way around this is forced bundles where you are forced to buy a DL card with a game system. I don't see any other way around this. Retailers will HATE people buying a system, going home and buying the game straight from the eshop. I'm not making the case this will be endemic but if even 10% do this, well that's 10% of consoles that could have come with a software margin that just passed through them instead. The other solution is new console pricing model where the retailer gets a bigger chunk. And console makers don't mind the trade-off because it enables them to rake in more downloads. But this seems farfetched (kinda silly throwing out ideas) and more likely the retailer would say "wait can I have a few physical options again. It's worth an aisle endcap I goofed". I think it would backfire.
Shit, even if they don't stock it on the floor and need to go to the back room like Toys R Us used to do. It's not only about losing sales, it's losing sales that might have been attached to hardware inventory passing through you. That's a drag meant to be relieved by selling a game. Of course I could be wrong and most people who would have bought physical will willingly buy a download card with the system when they can do the same thing at home but I don't see it.
Saber
Newd Member
In Brazil some digital games go to a whooping 2x times the valor of the original.
I bought Monster Hunter at that time for R$ 157. But the digital version(pure, not deluxe) was more than R$300.
Call of Duty is one the same track here.