Xbox to reportedly stop selling physical first-party games

Digital is the future, or so they say. I don’t know about you but I still like to buy physical games. There’s something very satisfying about holding my favourite games and having them on my shelves to admire. Digital is handy but it simply doesn’t offer the same kind of benefits.

In fact, physical media appears to be making a comeback elsewhere. Just take a look at the rising popularity of vinyl records. Even cassette tapes are making a return and yet, in gaming, it’s assumed that we’re all happy to drift to a digital-only age. Last year, God of War Ragnarök’s pricey collector’s edition drew criticism for including a steelbook case but no physical game. It’s a similar situation with The Last of Us Part I’s Firefly Edition. We’re supposed to be satisfied with a code instead. Well, it appears as if Xbox may adopt this technique for its first party games starting with Redfall.

Take a look at Redfall in action below.

Earlier this month, it was reported (via ComicBook) that Microsoft would stop producing physical copies of first-party games in certain territories. Brazil is one such territory that was mentioned. Now, further fuel has been added to the fire after Twitter user BethesdaArabic spotted an important note about Redfall on their country’s Microsoft Store.

The store page read, “The code contained in the physical PC copies of Redfall are Steam codes. The physical Xbox copies of Redfall are Xbox Play Anywhere codes which can be played on both the Xbox Series X/S and the Microsoft Xbox App on PC.” It’s not yet known which countries will see this style of release and whether we’ll see it more often going forwards. It’s certainly not good news though.

I’m sure you can agree, there’s little point in having a digital code in a physical box. What point does the box then serve? Especially if it’s something like a steelbook or collector’s edition. Boxed codes also have no resale value if you’re someone who re-homes played games. I hope this shift to digital-only is swiftly stopped in its tracks.