EA is gradually starting to stop sales of physical games in Europe. From May 2023, the American publisher will no longer sell physical copies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It is not yet known whether EA intends to adopt this strategy in France.
If EA assured in August 2022 that it would continue to produce single-player games after an unfortunate post on its part on social networks, the American publisher seems less inclined to offer physical versions of these titles. Indeed, we have just learned that EA has decided to restructure its local contracts in several European countries.
How will that change anything? To summarize, EA plans to gradually end the sale of physical copies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Thus, FIFA 23 and the next Need for Speed Unbound will be the last games to benefit from a box release in these countries.
In an official press release relayed by our colleagues from the specialized site Games Wirtschaft, EA declared that it “will no longer generate packaged product sales” in the markets mentioned above. This decision also comes shortly after EA’s announcement to stop selling physical copies from its Origins store.
The disappearance of physical games is underway
Note, however, that EA’s position on the subject is not surprising. In its annual report, the American publisher specified that “the continued shift from physical goods to digital downloads continues to negatively impact revenue development”. A study published in July 2020 also proved that dematerialized games reached records and greatly exceeded physical sales figures.
This report revealed for example that more than one out of two games sold on PS4 by Sony is in digital format.. The observation was the same for EA and for Take-Two, the parent company of Rockstar Games in particular. For EA therefore, it is inevitable to abandon the sale of physical copies to compensate for the financial losses caused by these versions which do not find takers. “The company’s ability to develop and support digital products and services” is today the priority for EA.
Remember that the American company is not the only one to have taken this kind of decision at the local level. Activision Blizzard, to whom we owe the Call of Duty licenses or even Overwatch 2, dissolved its German physical copy distribution subsidiary in May 2021. Nevertheless, the video game giant continues to offer physical copies on the Old Continent via its European headquarters located in London.
Source: TechRadar