Physical media, the bell tolls for thee.
I have to admit I am somewhat surprised to hear that big box electronics and related crap seller Best Buy still exists. I am even more surprised to hear that enough people were still going into big box stores to buy physical media that it survives even to this day. I do still have a player, but it isn't plugged in and hasn't been since I moved houses years ago.
The Digital Bits has learned from industry sources—and we've confirmed it with multiple sources now—that Best Buy plans to exit the physical media business for good next year, possibly as soon as the end of Q1 2024.
This includes not just their in-store Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD sales, which the retailer has been gradually phasing out for a couple of years now in their many store locations nationwide, but online sales as well. This means no more Best Buy-exclusive Steelbook titles, and no more titles from Best Buy period.
The fact that Best Buy is discontinuing physical media sales in their retail locations should come as no surprise; anyone who's visited a Best Buy store location on a Tuesday recently will be all too aware that the retailer's disc sections keep getting moved around and have gotten smaller and smaller. Our own experience here at The Bits is that some store locations don't even bother to stock new-release titles on the sales floor anymore—even their exclusive ones. More than once, in their Southern California locations, I've had to ask for the titles and wait while a clerk checks the storeroom.
