There is some concern among part of the gaming public about whether physical format games will exist for much longer. In many US chains, Xbox games are disappearing. Several rumors suggest that the company wants to get rid of any kind of release that is not exclusively digital. And the existence of disc-less consoles is not something that makes all this less worrying. Something that the CEO of the company has had to come out and make some comments about.
Phil Spencer, CEO of Xbox, has been interviewed by Game File, where he has been specifically asked about the future of physical format on the platform. Spencer has clarified that their strategy does not depend on people moving to digital format and, by extension, getting rid of physical releases is not a strategic matter for them.
That doesn’t mean that recent announcements have left the public with a raised eyebrow. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, one of Xbox’s big releases of the year, has been confirmed to be released exclusively in digital format for a price of 50 euros. But this shift towards digital is something that Spencer has justified not as part of Xbox’s strategy, but as a response to the players. Arguing that the majority of Xbox users have made the transition to digital format, making it logical for them to focus primarily on this over physical format.
Delving into the subject, he has also wanted to add his vision about the future. Even recognizing that the current generation still has consoles with readers, he believes that this will be the last generation in which this happens. That the next consoles will lack a physical reader since installing one costs money and, since they are produced less and less, their cost has a significant impact on the price of the console.
If Spencer wanted to bring peace of mind to players who rely on physical format with this interview, he has achieved the opposite. Many people continue to buy in physical format for multiple reasons — preservation, collecting, the possibility of continuing to play these games even if their digital versions are removed—, and what Phil Spencer has said is that, while it is not a strategic position for Xbox to end physical format, they have no problem ending it. A disheartening response, even though it was expected.
