The Xbox series is dead. They're becoming increasingly rare, and when they are offered, you generally no longer find the full game stored on them.
Xbox has been dwindling in interest in the physical games market for years, but the trend is accelerating again recently. With the release of the Xbox One S All Digital at the end of the last generation, then that of the Xbox Series S for the current one, all without a disc drive, the message was clear. And we see it more and more with the release of new games, now often deprived of the famous disc.
The latest blow to date for fans of physical formats, The Outer Worlds 2, criticized elsewhere for its expensive price, will only be available via a code inserted in a box for owners of an Xbox Series X. On PlayStation 5, the title will indeed be entitled to a disc version. For those who haven't been following, let's remind you that Xbox is the publisher of the game, developed by Obsidian.
Xbox is abandoning physical games to favor subscriptions and digital
For Gears of War Reloaded, there currently seems to be no boxed version planned for Xbox, even with a simple code inside. You'll have to turn to a digital purchase or Game Pass to enjoy the title. Here again, PS5 players are better off and will benefit from a disc, which could even contain the full game, without the need to download a day one update. This is increasingly rare these days.
Among the future releases already announced, we also know that Ninja Gaiden 4 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, two games under the Microsoft umbrella, will have a physical Xbox version without a CD, but with a simple code in the box. The retail version of Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will come with a disc, but it won't launch the game. This was already the case for Doom The Dark Ages, whose disc only contained 342 MB of the 85 GB needed to install the full game.
For Avowed, the situation is even more comical. The standard edition of the game didn't get a retail release at all. A physical premium edition did hit the shelves, but with just a game code. In short, Xbox isn't the recommended ecosystem for advocates of preserving physical video games. Fortunately, the backward compatibility policy of Microsoft's gaming division is at least one of the best in the industry.
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