Xbox as we know it is ending, and fans aren’t happy

Xbox fans have spotted something worrying following the conclusion of Microsoft’s 2025 Xbox Games Showcase last week, and it seems that the video game giant may be going in a direction that many fans don’t support.

As spotted by a user over on the r/GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit, several of the games that were revealed during Microsoft’s Xbox Showcase last week have since made their way to online retailers… and it seems all of them are just a code in a box.

As they note, this isn’t something Microsoft have officially announced, but it does more than imply that they will no longer be manufacturing physical discs for the games they publish.

To add fuel to the fire, it also seems like none of the games have been assigned an SKU code on any of the sites where they can be purchased. SKU codes are assigned to physical goods so that stores can keep track of their stock levels, which implies that there won’t be any physical stock to actually check.

As expected, the comments in the thread are mostly just from people bemoaning the slow death of physical media.

“Physical gaming is a mess lately. Many games skip a physical release”, commented user Colossus69.

“Shadow dropping is becoming a trend too that affects physical releases. It seems limited run will have more monopoly in the future as more physical releases will be outsourced to them. And i ain't supporting them.”

“Sucks if true. I don't hate digital games, but still vastly prefer to have a physical disc when possible”, replied user R-XL7.

“Hopefully this is just things taking longer to get into the systems for... some reason…”

I’m not going to pretend I’m not disappointed, but I won’t pretend to be surprised.

Last year, Microsoft shut down several of their divisions dedicated to producing physical games and also let several staff members go in the process. They’ve also been very keen to advertise their Xbox Play Anywhere service at every turn, something that requires a digital game to actually function.

It’s sad for collectors, but Microsoft has been going down this route for a while. Here’s hoping the likes of Sony and Nintendo continue to produce physical copies.