Amazon UK is set to end its gaming discount for Prime members on August 7th, according to a report shared on Reddit earlier this week and sourced by Nintendo Soup.

The discount program offered Amazon Prime members a 20% discount on new video game titles. While this is only limited to Amazon Prime members in the U.K. at this time, it’s not unreasonable to expect that this termination of the discount will eventually apply to U.S. members in the near future.

The discontinuation of the Amazon Prime video game discount program follows a similar ending for Best Buy’s Gamer’s Club discount program, which quietly announced that it would no longer be accepting new members back in May. The Gamer’s Club program also offered a 20% discount on all new titles purchased through the retailer for those who purchased a two-year membership term.

In addition, NerdBacon has learned that mega-gaming retailer Gamestop has dramaticly cut the amount of store credit given to customers who trade in their pre-owned merchandise to the outlet.

News that three major retail operators all performing similar moves regarding discount programs for games now constitutes a bona fide trend in the industry. Now that we have identified the trend, the question we need to examine is why.

The answer is physical media is on its way to being phased out.

Earlier this week, a report from Thurrott confirmed that Microsoft’s next generation Xbox, currently code named Scarlett, would come in the form of multiple devices, one of which would be dedicated entirely to full HD streaming.

As NerdBacon has repeatedly said over the past several months, thanks to our excellent sources, Microsoft’s vision of the future will be built upon their ability to stream full HD gaming experiences to any device with an internet connection through their Game Pass service, regardless of whether that device is a Microsoft device or not.

This would eschew any necessity for any sort of physical media and retailers have now caught on and are doing everything they can to maximize the remaining dollars they can get from the consumer.

Take a good look. Gaming’s physical presence at retail is rapidly becoming obsolete.

While Microsoft’s move away from physical media with Scarlett won’t happen right out of the gate, it’s not hard to imagine that the transition to a fully digital distribution method for their gaming content will take place within the next five years. It’s also not hard to imagine that other players will follow suit. Do you really think Sony will still want to be saddled with the costs of producing and marketing disks at retail while Microsoft is maximizing profits through full digital distribution?

Also worth considering is the gargantuan impact that the arrival of Apple and Google will have on the gaming space. There is absolutely no chance that either of those two company’s will utilize physical media for their devices.

All of these moves place retail in a tough position. Technology is now at the point where physical space is no longer needed, and the major players are finally deciding to make the move to a fully digital future.

Appreciate the ability to walk into a Best Buy or GameStop and see shelves lined with beautiful game boxes -each one doing its best to call out to you – to pick it up – to hold it.

Because those days are quickly fading away.

What are your thoughts on Microsoft’s fully streaming console? Do you think the industry is reacting to an upcoming shift to digital distribution in the next generation? Let us know in the comments section below.