The layoffs at Xbox leave Microsoft’s physical video games in the air
2024 has started as an earthquake within the video game industry, as can be seen from recent news. Microsoft, in fact, has recently carried out mass layoffs in Xbox which, in addition to reducing the workforce in a newly acquired company like Activision Blizzard, have also caused the dismantling of the physical release division within Xbox.
As it was reported by The Verge following the news, about almost 2,000 employees being laid off within Xbox, it was also known that one of the most affected departments was the physical releases department within the company. In fact, this department would have been completely eradicated, which implies that Xbox will no longer personally handle any physical release campaigns.
However, there is still the question of whether they will completely eliminate physical releases from their catalog. It already surprised everyone that, in the recent Developer’s Direct (ironic name after the layoffs in a matter of days), one of their most anticipated games, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, announced that it would be only a digital game, but other recent releases, like Starfield, were distributed by Plaion, a third-party company unrelated to Microsoft. Therefore, it remains to be seen if they will rely on third-party distributions, or if they will completely eliminate the physical format.
The future of physical format
Physical format lovers will not be happy at all with the decision made by Xbox, and the reason is more than evident. For years, the digital market has been far superior to the physical one, but physical format lovers are loyal to it and to game preservation. And having the big companies force the community to definitively switch to the digital market is not to everyone’s liking.
The digital format is instantaneous, fast, and very attractive for the majority of current players. In fact, there are many titles, especially games as a service, that fit much better in digital formats than in physical ones. However, decisions like dismantling the physical division in Xbox, and more and more releases opting to be exclusively digital, make it so that, in the medium term future, the physical format is on thin ice for all types of video games.
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