Major UK retailer Tesco has announced it will soon stop selling physical copies of games in its stores. The move towards digital releases has been changing the industry and impacting physical game sales for some time. As far back as 2016, major seriesCall of Dutywas seeing a 50% drop in physical salescompared to the previous year, thanks, in part, to an increase in digital sales. Since then, the trend towards digital and away from physical sales has only continued.
Back in January, a report revealed thatphysical game sales are down substantially compared to digital sales. It seems clear that this trend is not a temporary phenomenon, and it’s putting pressure on retailers as they struggle to make a profit on the physical stock of games they’re carrying. Now, it seems one retailer has simply decided to call it quits and cease carrying physical games altogether.
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In the UK, supermarket chain Tesco has announced that it will wind down its sale of physical games, effective immediately. While it will continue to sell those games it still has available at its various locations, the company will not be restocking any titles. So, once its current offerings have been sold off, Tesco will no longer be selling physical games in stores.
Tesco locations will still be carrying cards to add money or points to various games, but this will be the extent of the company’s involvement with the game industry going forward. The retailer explicitly cited the rise of digital sales as the reason for its decision, leaving no doubt about the growing importance of online commerce in gaming.
As digital sales rise and physical sales decrease, it makes sense that retailers will begin to phase out video games in stores. The profit margins on games are fairly limited for retailers, and they take up quite a bit of shelf space that could be devoted to other products that sell better and bring in more revenue. It’s also not surprising to see a company in the UK take the lead on this change. As recently as 2020,physical game sales in the UK were down 20% over the previous year, so it’s to be expected that retailers in the country would start looking to move away from the product.
This move by Tesco also highlights the increased pressure exclusive game retailers are under as it becomes harder to get gamers to head out to brick-and-mortar stores when most things they could want are just a download away. It’s no secret that many game retailers are struggling, with prominent companyGameStop recently firing its CEO. As the shift towards digital sales continues, more stores could be forced to adapt or get out of the game-selling business altogether.
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