According to one industry analyst, Microsoft will be the first of the three console makers to abandon physical media for games, and he sees Sony and Nintendo following suit later.

Microsoft has already tried to push gamers down the digital path with the Xbox One by requiring an Internet connection and getting involved in the sale of used physical games. Sony relentlessly exploited this in its marketing, and it ultimately contributed to the PlayStation 4’s landslide victory over the Xbox One. A console generation and a half has passed since then, but the industry landscape has also changed significantly: In January, we heard from Windows Central editor Jez Corden that the Xbox cuts had affected the physical publishing team.

Mat Piscatella, an analyst at Circana (formerly NPD Group), said on Twitter that anyone who likes to collect games on discs (tapes, cartridges) should be prepared for Microsoft to get out of the game with the post-Xbox Series console. So it will probably not have a Blu-ray drive, and Sony could follow suit with the PlayStation 7, with Nintendo following its rivals one generation later. Piscatella wrote all this to say that Limited Run Games will be releasing a physical version of the remastered collection of the first three Tomb Raider episodes for the Xbox (which doesn’t have one by default).

One more reminder that the Xbox version of this release is not planned for traditional retail, so if you want it – this is truly your last chance. https://t.co/ArKu6rCr7p

— Josh Fairhurst (@LimitedRunJosh) June 23, 2024

Folks should probably just get used to this (no physical Xbox versions) across the market sooner rather than later. https://t.co/jKaxTteB36

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) June 23, 2024

The fact that not only the digital Xbox Series S, but also the white Xbox Series X will soon be like this, confirms Microsoft’s mentality: this version will also be without optical drive and will be released sometime in the fall, during the Christmas season, for $450/€500.

So we can slowly say goodbye to cartridges and disks, which are destroying the second-hand games market, even though it’s been a tried and tested thing since the 80s…

Source: WCCFTech