And it looks like Series S is playing a huge part in Xbox’s digital shift.
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Holy crap, I knew the digital/physical ratio was high but thats wild
If you told me this 5 years ago id be non stop doom and gloom, “this is the end of gaming” lol
Now I dont care, game pass is an absolute game changer for mebut I can totally see why people will always be physical, when it comes to anything before 360 im big on physical too
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Haven’t personally bought a physical game since the Xbox 360, and I don’t know anyone who still does, so this doesn’t surprise me.
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I went all digital in 2015 and haven’t looked back.
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There is a major misunderstanding of the UK gaming market especially the Xbox side.
I’ve not bought a physical game since Halo 5. Went to the midnight launch realised this is ridiculous freezing at midnight in October queuing for a game I could have been playing at 12.01 but instead had to wait till the next day to play as it installed (took ages on XB1) and downloaded the patches etc…
Gamesharing, digital currency and gamepass means being all digital is basically not losing you money and you don’t have to queue up for new releases or wait for deliveries and whatever. It does I think lessen the hype a bit. But that’s how things go.
However, many simply don’t understand that physical sales on Xbox in the UK aren’t tiny because the install base is tiny - its because those invested in Xbox especially in this market have almost all gone all digital.
When you think COD is a game that will capture the more casual crowd yet only 10% went physical this just confirms it.
Interesting to see the Series S outselling the X - I’ve heard the S is much easier to make and MS wanted to stock the X much more this holiday but likely to be the S in greater numbers due to the shortages of components again.
On the latest DF Direct episode, Rich said he had seen the sales split between Series X and S and that most people would be surprised by how much the Series S has sold.
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The VGC artlcle made reference to the fact how the Series S is actually outselling the Series X in some key markets. The Series X is close to being a myth at this point lol.
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The last time I bought a physical game was in January, 2018.
The only physical copies I have bought or received are gifts or collectibles. It’s still a lot more nice to gift a game physically.
It looks like I am becoming an increasingly rare Xbox gamer in that I usually still buy physical 
.
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I still buy a mix of physical and digital. Especially when I suspect a game might be a one-and-done type experience, I like the ability to re-sell it.
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I wonder if the UK is particularly digital due to smaller average home size. Just getting rid of the build-up of ‘stuff’ was a big motivator of my going digital in all things – books, movies, music, games – I don’t need pointless physical ‘stuff’ cluttering up the space I have when there are digital alternatives.
I think Xbox was always the digital oriented console. From the OG in a lot of ways, and in the 360 era where digital stores started popular.
Xbox BC program makes me think I should go more digital with games because games can sometimes be hard to find if it gets delisted.
Xbox has always been more popular digitally, last gen had a higher ratio than the other consoles too and its probably stemmed since the 360
It was/is only going to get bigger this gen and things like gamepass, series s and the pandemic have likely made to progress much faster than it was already
Id love to know the digital ratio for FH5, it’s retail sales dropped by 80% in the UK so I wonder just how much it’s increased digitally
I would not surprise me if we are looking at a similar ratio. Plus you have to take into account Game Pass into that equation, which is digital also lol.
I’ve been buying games digitally since the end of 360 gen . The only games I bought physically were/are PS exclusives so that I could sell them after a week or so .
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Yeah I have to imagine FH5 being on gamepass would only further lead into digital sales between the early access bundles and gamepass discounts
If it’s even higher than CoD that would be wild
still the best way to buy console games IMO, keep at it.
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Doesn’t matter, UK boxed sales forever!
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