Are physical games being phased out?

I know this question pops up every few months, but I've just noticed a post from American McGee regarding Alice:Madness Returns. It seems it is very hard to find a copy brand new of this game in a lot of shops. I had already noticed this when browsing the GAME site and Zavvi have it down at over a month delivery which means they're out of stock. Is this a sign of games having smaller print runs now and a shift towards digital distribution. Is this a conscious move by publishers to try and retain some profit from the ever increasing pre-owned sales? I think over the next couple of years the way we buy games is going to change dramatically and I think a large proportion of it will be caused by retailers continually pushing Pre-owned games.

I dont think physical games being phased out due to digital distribution as you cant get Alice:Madness Returns on digital download for xbox 360. I think its more to do with stores that are selling games only restock the current top 20.

I hope not. I like physical games. The same way I like holding an actual book when I read it and having to make room for it on my shelves......I like having stacks of games and having to put a disc in the disc tray.

It's also nice to have a physical backup just in case.

Also if everything was digital then from current evidence I think games would stay at higher prices for longer.

You find a lot more deals when buying new titles in physical shops then you do when getting stuff through digital distribution as there is more competition between stores.

i dont think that they would be totally phased out otherwise what would we do if the game become corrupt download and start again. Yeah cause that would be fun

This is like the physical books ebooks debate that keeps coming up there will be physical games for a lot longer yet and will take a long while for them to be totally phased out

It does seem like this might happen eventually, it's not something I'm looking forward to though. The only good thing I can see in digital distribution is that we will be able to get any game any time, but that will probably mean that older games will be overpriced, me and a mate of mine usually borrow games off each other as well and it would put a stop to that. I think I would find myself buying and playing less games if the only way to get them is through digital distribution.

Its really up to us I guess.

A while back I had a rant up (yes I know I have lots of them, Borza, Virgin, Politicians, EA Scum etc, of which I would like to point out all proved right!), and that rant was about folks using Supermarkets for buying their games. The point was that this was putting pressure on the real Game retailer and etailers which in my view would eventually mean that you would struggle to find anything other than the current top 10 releases in stores. Now we all know that the top 10 sellers list bears little resemblence to the top 10 good game list. This will if unchecked force the proper titles to rely on downloading for sales.

So I think if we all ensured that we use game etailers and retailers only to buy our stuff and steered clear of the vermin that is Tescum and the scourge that is Online Downloading of titles, then the current media based stuff will be safe.

Sadly though the short sighted penny pinching low brained society we live in may well end up fukkin it up for the rest of us. Them and of course EA who would love to see us streaming everything as then they have total control.

So as I said its up to us really.

I find Tesco and the like have no idea over here how to price video games as they're not market aware. As I found before when browsing their store and they had Mass Effect about €5 more expensive then Mass Effect-2. I usually compare prices but never felt the urge to buy from them over a game shop.

I've not been game shopping as often since they shut down the GAME shop near my house. thankfully there's still a proper Gamestop near enough to me outside said Tesco above.