If there’s something I don’t like to read about networking, it’s when some people try to override others based on their preference. Not long ago, I read a controversy on Twitter that affected fans of the physical format and a lot of people were unaware of this way of acquiring video games. It’s as if now that the digital format has taken hold, the option of the physical is no longer valid in Yupi’s worlds or something like that.
The last physical game that entered my collection wasn’t even purchased by me, it’s a German copy of the Rare Replay that my colleague Adrián gave me from Gamescom 2015. It has already liked, and since I bought a game in this format even more. I think my last game was Halo 4… from that point on I went digital. But that I don’t consume it doesn’t mean others can’t. I like to see people share their collector’s editions on the networks.
Physical format still boosts Xbox sales, says Phil Spencer
100% digital users sometimes think that we are the only market, but we are not. In Xbox One and Xbox Series, this is something that escalates as Microsoft’s consoles are perhaps the most and best prepared for digital thanks to account sharing, backward compatibility, and improvements with older games. … that and a long etc. But the point is, the physical format is still perhaps one of the sales dislocates the most. All this despite the ever-growing Xbox Game Pass.
This is something that Phil Spencer himself confirmed in his recent interview with The New York Times. The director says that although Game Pass is the fastest growing branch of the business, It is not the biggest and it does it because it is the one who has the most room to do it. However, they still sell physical games which drive sales.
The transaction is more important than the subscription. Membership grows faster, simply because it’s relatively new. And with Game Pass, we were one of the first to move into this space. But the transaction activity is very important. We still sell physical disks.
Maybe in the future it will be the other way around, but today there are two options that complement each other and do it quite well.