Best Buy has confirmed it’s ending sales of most physical media following reports surfaced yesterday claiming exactly that. If you play video games — whether it’s on Nintendo, PlayStation, or Xbox — then you aren’t impacted by this change in strategy as Best Buy has confirmed it will continue to sell physical video games both online and in store. What it won’t be selling going forward is physical media of TV shows and movies, which includes both Blu-ray and DVD disc. This will apply to both in-store and online purchases.ย
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According to an official statement from Best Buy, the change will give the retailer “more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech.” What exactly this means, we don’t know. Best Buy doesn’t provide any further details nor does it say when customers will learn more about this tease.ย
“To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago,” said an official Best Buy spokesperson via Variety. “Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy.”
This new change is not going to be effective immediately. Rather, it’s set to commence in early 2024. What exactly “early 2024” means, remains to be seen, but typically it’s used to describe the period of January 1 to March 31, also known as the first quarter of the year. It’s added by Variety this decision was made internally nine months ago.As of mid-2023, Best Buy is operating 1,129 store locations across the world. 969 of these stores are in the United States.ย
With Best Buy exiting this market, customers interested in physical media will be able to continue via Walmart, Amazon, Target, and many other large and local retailers. So far, the market is still quite accessible but there is no doubt it’s shrinking. To this end, it wouldn’t be surprising if more retailers follow suit in the coming years as the digital market slowly consumes the physical media market.ย
