A new Microsoft job listing seems to hint that Xbox isn’t done with physical games just yet. If this listing is truly indicative of Xbox’s future plans, then it could mean that the company is taking the opposite stance to its biggest competitor.
On July 1, Sony officially announced that it would be ending physical disc production by January 2028, meaning that any PlayStation games released after that date will be available only as digital titles sold via the PlayStation Store or participating retailers. Naturally, this has caused quite the stir in the PlayStation community, with many fans signing petitions and participating in boycotts to try and get Sony to reverse its decision. Sony has stayed firm on its announcement, but that stance might have now paved the way for Xbox to earn a much-needed win.
Xbox Is Hiring a Strategist to Help With Physical Game Launches
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Image via Halo Studios -
Image via Microsoft -
Over the last weekend, a number of Xbox fans and outlets spotted a new Microsoft job listing on LinkedIn. This listing is for an ‘Xbox Games Supply Strategist’, who, according to the listing’s overview, will be “responsible for driving end to end supply chain strategy & performance to enable achievement of the financial & overall category targets for Xbox Games.”
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The part of the listing that’s gotten everyone talking, however, is the section of the overview that states that the Xbox Game Supply Strategist will “coordinate the launch of physical Xbox games across all platforms.” Based solely on this one brief sentence of this job description, it would seem as though Microsoft is planning to keep physical game production in its future, which would put it in the opposite camp to Sony. That said, one job listing isn’t necessarily indicative of the company’s future plans, nor does this specific statement paint a clear picture of how long Microsoft plans to keep investing in physical games, or what form these physical games will take.
Windows Central’s Jez Corden theorizes that the future of physical Xbox games might not be discs, but something else entirely. In his report covering this recent Microsoft job listing, Corden thinks it’s unlikely that Xbox’s next console, Project Helix, will have a traditional disc drive, and will instead offer an alternative method of physical game delivery, such as Nintendo’s SD cartridge system.
Currently, Nintendo’s cartridges come in two distinct forms, one of which contains the full game data in its entirety, and the other, known as a Game-Key Card, offers a license that allows users to download and play a game while the cartridge is inserted. Though the Nintendo Switch 2’s Game-Key Card system has proven to be quite controversial, it still offers a physical product for players to buy, share, and sell, which are all things that will be unavailable for future PlayStation titles after January 2028.
