Best Buy has confirmed that it will discontinue sales of physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs in-store and online in early 2024.
News about the move by the consumer electronics retailer to phase out physical media sales was initially reported by home entertainment blog The Digital Bits on Thursday. However, it was taken as a rumor because the website wasn't loading (still isn't as of this writing). The company officially confirmed the news to Variety on Friday.
"To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago," a Best Buy spokesperson said in a statement. "Making this change gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover and enjoy."
What Best Buy means by "new and innovative tech" in terms of purchasing movies and TV shows is currently unknown. According to one source familiar with the matter, the company initially made the decision to end DVD sales nine months ago.
Best Buy's move to end DVD and Blu-ray sales on its physical and digital storefronts comes two weeks after Netflix mailed its final DVDs to customers, allowing them to keep their final discs if they chose to do so. With both Best Buy and Netflix now out of the physical media market in the age of streaming services, consumers who want to buy physical copies of their favorite movies and TV shows can still access them at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and other retailers. You can also access DVDs from the Redbox kiosks located in and out of any retail store, albeit as rentals.
Best Buy, which had 1,129 store locations as of mid-2023 (including 969 in the US), will still sell physical media during the holiday shopping season before discontinuing the sales anywhere between January and March 2024. However, it will continue to sell physical copies of video games.
Just make sure there are actually discs in the game cases and not paper download codes.
Cristina Alexander is a freelance writer for IGN. To paraphrase Calvin Harris, she wears her love for Sonic the Hedgehog on her sleeve like a big deal. Follow her on Twitter @SonicPrincess15.
