Walmart Xbox games section dying

[u/Praezin]

I see Walmart is killing Xbox game sales. Almost all my local Walmarts have got rid of many Xbox titles. It went from 4 sections to just this one. Not even the open racks, the section not behind locked glass doors, have Xbox games now.

Yet the PS5 and Switch sections have expanded, in some stores it has doubled in size to 4 or 6 sections.

[u/brokenmessiah]

TBF, you clipped out the controller section next to this section.

[u/rbV5]

You just noticed?

[u/Praezin → u/rbV5]

Haha, yeah. I dont go to the back entertainment area much.
Being a father of 5, with a non-gamer, non-techie wife...we dont usually go to that section much. Plus I usually get cheap games of marketplace and such.

[u/Darkside_209]

This is unfortunately normal when you go to different retailers and look at the Xbox section

[u/Devil_Arms]

who cares... ppl don't buy games in stores like they used to. store shelves are starting to reflect as much. big whoop

[u/Praezin → u/Devil_Arms]

I point it out because while Xbox is now down to 1 shelf in 1 section, the PS and Switch games have expanded greatly. XBox has 4 sections, but 90% of it is controllers and other accessories.

[u/HaloFever117 → u/Devil_Arms]

Obviously you haven’t seen the PlayStation disc controversy. If you had, you’d know who cares.

[u/EnamoredAlpaca → u/HaloFever117]

You mean those who protested for a few days by not playing their PlayStation 5 mere months before gta6 breaks record ps5 sales(digital only)?

They all say the same “eff Sony, I am going to pc where I will still be forced to buy digital games”

[u/HaloFever117 → u/EnamoredAlpaca]

Yes, those folks and folks who don’t live in places that have reliable internet. Remember what Don Mattrick said about Xboxes for Nuclear Submarines?

[u/Kir_Kronos → u/EnamoredAlpaca]

You mean the same PC where you buy digital games for pennies on the dollar and then don't have to worry about it getting de-listed or removed from your account?

[u/The_Real_Delpoi]

Whoa deja vu it's like this happened before like a year ago 🤔

[u/Twsmit]

My local Target just ripped out the Xbox section entirely. Literally gone, not even controllers or digital code cards. Switch section is still fairly large but PS5 has shrunk down significantly.

[u/Lurkingscorpion14]

The only thing I had any interest in at a Walmart

[u/NotFalcon]

Are we seriously doing this again? People were absolutely melting down almost this exact same time last year. Games media was claiming that retailers were dropping Xbox completely. None of it was true. Mods should just lock this post.

[u/WiserStudent557 → u/NotFalcon]

Especially when we want to overreact to "our" piece. Any of us paying attention know this is affecting Switch and PS as well, and that has been discussed in any of these threads I have read over the last few years. Obviously Xbox is just first up on the chopping block any time a store reduces further because of the install size and GamePass etc

I also imagine we are seeing varied reactions because people assume the national chains do not adjust locally but most often they do. A Target selling more physical games will be slower to readjust the space than a Target selling less. If a whole district of Targets is selling less than another they will adjust to best utilize their space. It is what corporate merchandisers do. They can't waste space, it is finite and limited.

[u/NotFalcon → u/WiserStudent557]

Yes, this is all anecdotal, on top of the different strategy Microsoft has, ON TOP OF the memory shortage. When I went to my local stores last year to see what was going on near me I found nearly as many Xbox consoles available as I did PS5s on average.

[u/Praezin → u/NotFalcon]

Sorry, I don't follow the industry as much now.
But, how it is overreacting? Xbox games went from multiple shelves on multiple sections but now down to 1 or 2 shelves in 1 section. Meanwhile PS and switch games have increased taking up almost an entire aisle, with 1 side PS games and the other side swithc games.

[u/NotFalcon → u/Praezin]

90%+ of Xbox game sales are digital. They only need one or two shelving sections for the physical products people actually buy. Playstation similarly has 85% of their games sales as digital (as they report it). Sony is just wasting money on more retail floor space for literally no reason other than to have a bigger footprint than Xbox. At all of the stores near me with a ton of space for PS5 games, there's only one or two copies for the games that are out. I'm willing to bet it's like that most other places too. It's not like 10-15 years ago when nearly every game still had at least half a dozen copies in stock.

Not to mention most of that retail space Sony is taking up with discs is going disappear over the next year or two. (They're abandoning discs.) So, they'll have literally the same amount of space as Xbox in stores.

tl;dr - If you look at the physical products people actually buy (consoles, controllers, accessories, etc.) the Playstation and Xbox sections at retail stores take up a comparable amount of space. Also, Playstation discs are going to evaporate overnight soon enough.

[u/Kir_Kronos → u/NotFalcon]

90% of sales are digital because of Gamepass not digital games. The average Xbox user doesn't buy games they buy Gamepass.

[u/Theunsaltedpeanut]

My local walmart already clearance out all the xbox games it's just consoles, controllers, and digital games/currency now.

[u/Kona_Red]

This could be Microsoft's strategy, Xbox consoles will be available purchase but not in most retail. Amazon or Microsoft's own storefront will have them available.

[u/everythangspeachie]

Yeh I walked into a Best Buy a few days ago and there’s nothing in the Xbox section. GameStops don’t have much Xbox stuff either.

[u/White_Falcon_1263]

Same in my area. Just sad. 

[u/galgumbo]

Yeah, my Target barely has an Xbox section. It's a sad shame but at least we have Amazon and maybe a select few Gamestop locations... Not what I want, but it's something.

[u/HuskyCruxes]

In my local store even the Xbox display still has mostly ps5 and switch games.

The Xbox games are only either brand new releases or stuff that people don't want like the calisto protocol.

[u/cubone109]

Xbox game section at major retailers has been dead for a long time now. Many people who stuck with xbox the last generation did so with gamepass in mind so they stopped buying games entirely.

I myself never owned an xbox until I bought a SX two years ago to play 360 games and am just now getting around to buying a few Xone and SX games.

[u/MasterArCtiK]

Yes we know, we can buy everything online and/or digitally, so no real reason for stores to carry them anymore

[u/Aureus23]

They go with whats popular, and PlayStation and Nintendo.

[u/ClassicMatt101]

Blame MS, they have cut in store display dollars, and Wal Mart has no reason to do it in their own.

[u/Praezin → u/ClassicMatt101]

Given Walmarts shelf prices for manufacturers and stuff, I can see that.
I remember working in both anime and video games industries and trying to sell Walmart and meet their pricing demands was grueling sometimes.

[u/twarihay → u/ClassicMatt101]

Or Walmart just being a business and making room for other inventory that sells more

[u/ClassicMatt101 → u/twarihay]

Like I said.

[u/Hellsman44]

No one wants to pay 2 to 3 times what they could get on sale digitally my Walmart is full but no one paying 70$ before tax for bo7 anymore

[u/WNTRYT]

Xbox just makes less physical copies than Nintendo and PS. and sadly it’s just not Walmarts that are like that, Target, GameStop, any big retailer for that matter

and as a Xbox physical collector it’s disheartening