Overview

• Recent first-party titles including The Outer Worlds 2, Ninja Gaiden 4 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 will ship as digital codes only for Xbox Series X/S
• Gears of War: Reloaded is slated for a full-game Blu-ray release on PS5 but has no disc edition planned for Xbox
• Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says the company supports physical media but follows customer purchasing trends
• Some Xbox releases, such as DOOM: The Dark Ages, have shipped discs with under 1 GB of data, requiring major downloads to play
• The shift reinforces Microsoft’s play-anywhere and Game Pass subscription model while stoking concerns about long-term game preservation