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Update: As noted by Variety, Best Buy has confirmed that it will stop selling physical media sometime in 2024. However, it will continue to sell physical video games.
Months after U.K. retailer Tesco pulled game discs from store shelves, a report has emerged that U.S. retail giant Best Buy is ditching physical media as well. In the absence of an official announcement, there’s currently no confirmation that game discs are included in Best Buy’s plans but there are rumblings of other retailers following suit and phasing out physical games.
Sales of game discs have been declining for a number of years
The report in question comes from The Digital Bits, who quote their industry sources familiar with Best Buy’s plans. According to them, the retailer plans to pull physical media not just from brick-and-mortar stores but also its online storefront. Many have pointed out that both Walmart and Best Buy have seen their stock of physical media dwindle in recent years.
In response to the report, Limited Run Games CEO John Fairhurst wrote on Twitter that he’s heard Walmart is all set to drop physical Xbox games soon in what seems like an effort to start phasing out discs altogether.
The writing has been on the wall for quite some time in the West as U.K., Europe, and the U.S. increasingly turn to digital downloads. Speaking specifically about video games, sales charts continue to show digital downloads take a bigger slice of the pie than discs.