Oh noes teh sky is falling!

[FlamedLiquid]

Helps my wallet. Hopefully this will mean less exclusive steelbooks and they will won't be retailer specific.

It was a fun run?

[Brian81]

I guess that is one less credit card in the wallet. I have zero reason to go there outside of physical media. Home appliances I'd rather go to a home goods store and for electronics, a place like B&H or Amazon.


Edit - that said, I won't celebrate this because it is one less place to buy media and isn't positive in the big picture. I don't want studios to stop releasing on physical media. I mostly have interest in boutique and foreign cinema, but I also have an interest in animation and really want those lousy Walt Disney transfers to be updated, like Sword in the Stone and Mickey's Christmas Carol. Don't want those BDs to be the end point.

[Trekkie313]

Walmart is already the largest retail seller of Blu-ray, DVD and 4K titles

Really? Many locations have pitiful selections and low inventory on exclusives, plus getting a pre-order before they sell out on limited edition products is a crapshoot.

[Adam_ME]

I'd much prefer steelbooks stop being exclusive to Best Buy. Do what Paramount and Sony(with catalog titles) have done and make them available at a bunch of different retailers.

Regardless, I'm glad I can finally stop giving them any of my money. I've never forgiven them for the bait and switch they pulled with their Elite Plus program last year.

[snipemonkey]

Eh.

Just means there will no longer be annoying BB retailer 'exclusives'. We'll just be able to get the same stuff other places now. Or the studios will make other deals with other places for exclusive access.

Honestly, BB has been 99% out of the physical media business for years now anyway. About time the corpse finally admits it's dead. Their stores are mournful, depressing places. They only seem to stay in business out of sheer inertia.

[VictoryAtNight]

Less money to spend and more money to be saved.

[ben6543]

Everytime I check a blu ray price on Best Buy pre-order or not its always 2-4 dollars more than what Amazon is selling/pre-ordering. so no loss for me

[Bitofacraic]

I only occasionally bought from them so not a major deal for me. Pretty soon though it seems everything will just be on Amazon

[djgcue]

Crap no more $40+ steelbooks!

[GenPion]

Originally Posted by soaptrail

I don't think so, most studios are losing money from streaming so it is entirely possible streaming falls of a cliff. Studios just have to figure out how to make money and discs will come around again even if it only becomes niche like records.

Discs still sell well. Over twice as many Blu-ray/4K release have come out in the past two years compared to several years ago. Sales on catalog films with new editions sell better than before in many respects - limited editions tend to sell extremely well.

It's becoming more of a niche with some markets but the market is still bigger than some might think it is. Gone are the 20 billion+ a year revenue from the early 2000s era of DVD but 4 billion+ a year in sales is still a huge amount of revenue.

[gto35830]

Originally Posted by Brian81

I guess that is one less credit card in the wallet. I have zero reason to go there outside of physical media. Home appliances I'd rather go to a home goods store and for electronics, a place like B&H or Amazon.

Crutchfield also.

[ben6543]

Also that sucks because that's one less store my favorite Blu Ray hunting youtube guy Durant Cinema can go too. He always goes to Best Buy

[Saraph]

I know people who have good experiences there are going to miss them. I'm not that person.

I hate BB with every fiber of my collector being and I hope they fold with this being the first step. I miss the days when returning or even getting an exchange wasn't a hassle or an epic saga of terrible choices. I miss GCU, My Best Buy perks for spending a certain amount every year, and people who actually cared to help you.

These days BB is short staffed by design, their CS is offshore and (by a BB employees own admission) isn't even technically connected to BB, they're just contracted out to take the calls and don't even utilize the same system.

I do hope this isn't a big blow to physical media in the states as some are suggesting but we as consumers deserve better than BB has been offering for years now.

[GenPion]

Last time I was in Best Buy (to return an item for my sister), the Best Buy employee tried to sell me on a Best Buy elite program to gain extended return time frames. Nice try, Best Buy. Nice try.

[snipemonkey]

Originally Posted by GenPion

Discs still sell well. Over twice as many Blu-ray/4K release have come out in the past two years compared to several years ago. Sales on catalog films with new editions sell better than before in many respects - limited editions tend to sell extremely well.

It's becoming more of a niche with some markets but the market is still bigger than some might think it is. Gone are the 20 billion+ a year revenue from the early 2000s era of DVD but 4 billion+ a year in sales is still a huge amount of revenue.

Yup. Physical media will never 'die', it'll just become more and more of a specialist/collector thing, like vinyl is now. Stuff will get more expensive because it will be pressed in few numbers for a non-mass-market crowd but it'll still be available for those who want it.

[Brian81]

Originally Posted by gto35830

Crutchfield also.

I have used them before. Remember Etronics? Grey market but got things CHEAP through them. J&R was good as well. Then there was Vanns which I miss quite a bit. Even had a card for them. Vanns was like B&H for the western US.

[ROTTENLUNGZ206]

Hopefully Target gets more. They always have good Target Circle deals plus 5% savings for using their Red Card.

[Agent Kay]

4k WAS the last format then.
Shame.

[Member-866753]

This may be a naive take but I still think these can sell online only. A lot of stuff doesn’t necessarily attract foot traffic (being honest, I’m ALWAYS alone in the movie section at these stores) but still make money. So instead of Best Buy steelbooks, it’s just from the studio and you can grab it at places that still sell them like Walmart, Bullmoose, or Amazon.

[Member-866753]

Originally Posted by ROTTENLUNGZ206

Hopefully Target gets more. They always have good Target Circle deals plus 5% savings for using their Red Card.

My Target has totally abandoned their movie section. It’s just books and toys now.