UK Retailers To Boycott Xbox Due To Game Pass Announcement
A number of UK retailers are considering boycotting Microsoft after the company announced that all games from Microsoft Studios will be added to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service at launch. While the move is greatly beneficial to gamers, it has greatly upset independent game retailers to the point where some have stopped selling Xbox hardware and software altogether.
According to a report by Game Industry, retailers believe that if the subscription service can offer new titles at release alongside a growing library of games, the potential for repeat customers will decrease drastically. As such, they have resorted to drastic measures in the hopes of getting Microsoft's attention.
"Essentially, it's made [our Xbox business] worthless overnight," one UK retailer told the outlet. "You've got the whole section sat there, and why would people buy a £12 to £15 second-hand game when they can just pay a tenner and get a massive catalogue of titles to keep them going?"
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While it's important to note that Microsoft doesn't get a share of their used-games sales, independent retailers still contribute a significant portion to their bottom line through console sales. As such, they are taking aim at this aspect specifically.
"Why should we support them and sell their consoles and accessories if we're going to get very little out of it?" they said, adding, "We might as well go where we're supported, which is Sony."
But while many are already up in arms, some retailers are hoping that this is just a trend. Still, others aren't too concerned due in part to most of their sales being made up of mostly Sony products such as the PlayStation 4.
It seems that going digital has been the way to go for most video game companies with both Sony and Microsoft offering game passes as well as selling their games via digital downloads. This puts the pressure on traditional retailers to either change their business models or go the way of the dodo.
