Cognition Dissemination: The Future of Physical Ownership Looks Apocalyptic

Two pieces of news in the last week spelled out the near-future for physical media. Both happened so close to each other that the occurrence appears divine.

Longtime entertainment site The Digital Bits (which seemed certain to keep its circa-early 2000s web design style intact at one point) was first to report the rumor that Best Buy planned to stop carrying DVDs and Blu-rays starting in early 2024. This seemed to be a progression of the chain’s already-evident plans, after some individual stores reportedly already removed their home video sections. But this will remarkably extend to their online segment too.

Best Buy confirmed the news themselves about 24 hours after the rumor dropped. The fourth quarter of 2023 will mark the last holiday season where Best Buy will have DVDs and Blu-rays available. They might sell plenty of them for inexpensive fire sale prices, but that won’t change how this will mark the harrowing end of an era for the most prominent physical home video store after Suncoast and FYE largely collapsed upon themselves. Best Buy will continue to sell physical video games, but several stores have reportedly scaled down those sections too. Take a guess as to where this is going.

The second ominous sign came from Crunchyroll, which completed their subsuming of Rightstuf last Thursday – on the very same day the Best Buy rumor dropped. The online store was once the most prominent seller of physical anime and manga goods for over two decades, ranging from DVDs and Blu-rays to assorted merchandise. They were disappeared without a trace in mere hours. Big Anime hungered and fed. It’s anyone’s guess as to how long they’ll keep up physical sales after the company already whittled down their DVD and Blu-ray output following their subsuming of Funimation.

It’s very easy to see where this is going: The digital future long foretold has finally arrived, and it’s terrible. There’s no data suggesting that sales of physical DVDs and Blu-rays have cratered hard enough that the medium is immensely unprofitable for plenty of companies. Don’t put it past any of them to be more concerned about having increased control over what the customer base is entertaining themselves with. The companies simply want you to consume the content. Heaven forbid you continue to own this stuff. This is all happening while streaming services continue their price increases, and it won’t be long until one of the main providers reaches the eye-popping $19.99 a year for their standard ad-free service.

The above info is mostly about physical movie and TV show sales, but fear not: They’re coming for video games too. Limited Run Games CEO Josh Fairhurst mentioned on Twitter that he heard Walmart planned to stop selling physical Xbox games soon. This tracks, considering Microsoft’s recent and future moves. The company has delved heavily into Xbox Game Pass, their subscription service that gives the player base access to plenty of games for a small-ish fee. The company, per leaks last month, also plans to launch an “adorably” all-digital Xbox Series X variant with 2TB. Walmart may not be the only store planning to get rid of physical Xbox games.

Sure, a minor stumble was introduced for the all-digital video game future through Sony subtly hiking the price of the digital PlayStation 5 option with their announcement of the “slim” hardware. The option is jumping from $399 to $449. Considering that cost and the $80 needed for the disc drive on the slim PS5 should anyone want it, it sure makes more economical sense to just buy the disc model that’s remaining at $500.

There is a clear movement for less ownership of entertainment media. This is when it’s worth heaping praise upon companies determined to keep the physical media train chugging.

One of the biggest is Discotek Media, which never hesitates to remind fans of not only their commitment to releasing anime, live-action movies, and tokusatsu works on physical media, but to preserving older media for the job. Just this week, they announced the license of an old anime (as in, older than me) that felt like it would never receive an official translation: Chie the Brat, late Ghibli movie director Isao Takahata’s final TV series. They also raided the bin behind the remnants of Pioneer/Geneon Entertainment for the Hand Maid May and Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure series. They also remain committed to providing 4K Blu-rays for certain movies, including the recently-announced Belladonna of Sadness. One of their biggest retail partners was absorbed by Big Anime, sure, but they’re keeping on.

It’s also worth praising Limited Run Games, which releases and has released several titles that would seemingly never get physical releases otherwise. It’s an ominous sign that Best Buy, one of their largest business partners, is whittling down their physical output. But they clearly won’t be deterred either.

The endgame here will involve the market for physical games and movies moving to a niche one. Titles will still be released, but only the biggest nerds will continue purchasing them. Prices for them are bound to notably increase, and the chances of them being discounted will reduce. There’s a chance that the market could reach a point where a significant-enough audience misses owning their products and wants to buy movies and video games physically again. For them to be missed, however, they must first leave. It will be a while before that happens. Buckle up.