Cognition Dissemination: Xbox Could Be Telegraphing a Physical Games Exit

The ever-impending all-digital future has manifested in discussions among several gaming communities and corners for years. These intensified after the first step happened, when publishers made every piece of software available digitally on all gaming platforms in addition to a good deal of them physically. But it always seemed far off, something being saved for a time when the world becomes an even worse cyberpunk dystopia than what we have now.

But we’ve been slowly progressing to this future over time, which intensified when people were hesitant to leave the house during the lengthy height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This further intensified with the release of all-digital console variants in this current generation. Now, signs suggest that it might be closer than some want to think, and that one gaming hardware manufacturer could debut their full-throated embrace of this “future” by the year’s end.

Microsoft was bound to be the first hardware manufacturer to make the digital shift with their Xbox line, thanks to their history with making and providing hardware and software for the PC market over several years. Three recent signs suggest that company is now aboard a fully-booked all-digital train that could arrive at its destination in months.

The first sign came from the recent Developer Direct, where Microsoft showed off three Xbox-exclusive (as in: Also on PC) games. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II was the game releasing soonest shown during the presentation, which Microsoft clarified will be a $50 digital-only game when it arrives on May 21st. There are a few ostensibly understandable reasons for this, with how the game’s length will be on par with Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (i.e. around seven-to-nine hours), but other signs shouldn’t be ignored. This will hardly be the first digital-only Xbox Game Studios-published title released during this console generation, but Hellblade II notably looks like a higher-budgeted title than Pentiment and even Hi-Fi Rush. It could be a sign that the other two titles shown, Avowed and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, could follow suit.

The second sign came through a possible retailer sheet, which potentially showed that Starfield will be heavily discounted at Walmart as part of a plan to clear the game out of stores. That discount, to note, was a mere three cents. It’s an incredible price, but a sure sign that the stores were desperate to get the game off shelves despite its popularity (and the subsequent criticism). It’s a possible sign that Walmart is indeed getting out of selling physical Xbox games, something they were reportedly considering according to Limited Run Games CEO Josh Fairhurst in mid-October last year.

Granted, I want to note that this is still being treated as a rumor, despite being boosted by prominent retailer followers like Wario64 on Twitter. No one has actually seen or purchased the three-cent Starfield, though it reportedly exists in the store databases. There have been scattered reports of people purchasing Starfield and the 2023 Forza Motorsport title at discounted prices, but that’s not enough to indicate a trend. This one will be worth watching.

The third sign came through reports of which teams were impacted through the layoffs at Xbox Studios announced last week. Specifically, a whopping 1,900 people will be losing their jobs, the biggest among a recent series of soul-crushing layoffs in the video game industry. Those are primarily from teams in the recently-acquired Activision Blizzard, further proof that mergers never, never benefit the common workers. But some layoffs did impact Xbox divisions outside those, reportedly including one that coordinates physical releases with retailers. There’s only one good reason why they’re diminishing this department, and I probably don’t need to spell it out at this point in the piece.

 

All of this is being combined with information already known. Unredacted FCC documents from the government organization’s case against the Xbox Studios merger with Activision Blizzard suggested that Microsoft was working on an “adorable” new Xbox Series X variant. This one includes 2TB of memory and, most notably, won’t include a disc drive. The likely intention of this is to replace the current 1TB Series X model that indeed comes with a disc drive. In this case, it will join the recent 1TB Xbox Series S in being one of two all-digital Xbox Series variants that Microsoft will have in production.

Microsoft is better than Sony and especially Nintendo when it comes to preserving digital titles. They’re the only hardware manufacturer that’s made sure titles from two generations ago remain playable on the current platform. But it’s still a bad step to see a hardware manufacturer potentially, and likely, go entirely digital for all their offerings. Several among the gaming community still like to purchase their games physically, and place them on their shelves, for the sake of security and ownership. Digital software is far fickler, and that’s before getting into the nightmarish potential for publishers to have their titles removed from owners’ libraries.

The chances of Microsoft going through with this are too high for comfort. If they do, don’t be surprised if Sony and Nintendo follow suit. The battle for physical releases might already be lost, but anyone who cares strongly about ownership and preservation should continue fighting for it. We’ll at least still have companies like Limited Run Games and iam8bit providing titles.