Will Xbox games disappear from physical stores soon?

The debate about physical and digital ownership has been going on for quite some time, along with the concept of ownership. Is a digital copy of a game really ownership? Is the physical copy of the game ownership? It is true that we have a CD in our hands where the game files are located, but even these games rely on servers that the developer can shut down at any time, which we have experienced in the past.

We totally understand the appeal of physical copies of games, having grown up in an era where that was the only format we knew. There is also no better sight than when you look in the closet or on the shelves and see all the games you have ever bought and played. Of course, then you touch your wallet and shed a tear for all the wasted money, but you tell yourself that it was worth every cent.

Physical games, however, could be gone very soon, at least for Xbox consoles.

Med pogovorom med Jamesom Batchelorjem, direktorjem spletnega mesta GamesIndustry.biz, in Chrisom Dringom, vodjo omenjenega spletnega mesta, v oddaji Games Industry Microcast, ki je potekala 30. januarja, je bil Dring vprašan, kaj meni o Microsoftovem zadnjem valu odpuščanj. Med skoraj 2000 delavci, ki jih je podjetje odpustilo, naj bi bili ljudje, odgovorni za distribucijo iger za Xbox v fizični maloprodaji. Dring je o tej dilemi povedal svoje mnenje in navedel, da “več trgovcev na drobno” preprosto ne prodaja več plošč za Xbox.

“Tik pred božičem mi je velik založnik povedal, da je v Evropi več trgovcev na drobno ukinilo prodajo fizičnih Xbox iger,” je dejal Dring. “Tako preprosto so prenehali prodajati igre za Xbox, ker je Xbox zdaj večinoma digitalna konzola, da je fizična prodaja iger za Xbox zelo nizka, in na koncu, ko prodajaš konzolo, za katero večina ljudi samo prenaša igre, to prodajalcu na drobno ne prinaša veliko koristi. Marža pri strojni opremi je pogosto zelo majhna.”

“Tega nisem mogel potrditi,” je nadaljeval Dring. “Nisem mogel ugotoviti, kateri so ti trgovci na drobno, vendar mi je to povedal eden od znanih evropskih založniških šefov. Zato mu tudi verjamem na besedo: Xbox (Microsoft) se oddaljuje od fizične prodaje.”

Does the same fate await Sony or PlayStation games? For now, Sony's games look better. The Spider-Man franchise has seen most of its sales at retail, meaning that for now at least, Sony will stick with physical copies of the games.