During one of my usual Reddit dives, I came across a post claiming that a Target store had stopped selling Xbox games. According to the poster, Jawaad127, who happens to work for that Target store, while Nintendo Switch and PlayStation titles were plentiful, Xbox games had completely disappeared from shelves. Naturally, I wanted to see if this was true, so I visited two different Target locations near me.
The first store I hit up felt like a ghost town. Outside of NBA 2K26, Madden NFL 26, and EA Sports College Football 26, there were no Xbox games to be found. Not to mention any consoles or controllers. When I tried to ask an employee what was going on, explaining that I was working on a gaming story, no one could give me an answer.
So, I drove another 30 minutes (thanks to the ever-lovely traffic) to a second Target store. The situation was nearly identical, though this store had a whopping five Xbox titles available. Not exactly reassuring. However, I did manage to speak with an employee who said that every October, Target tends to rearrange its shelves, which might explain the lack of Xbox stock.
That could make sense — but it still doesn’t explain why the Switch and PlayStation sections were fully stocked, complete with consoles, accessories, and entire aisles dedicated to them, while Xbox had been reduced to a tiny section.
At this point, the in-store results weren’t convincing enough, so I checked Target’s website. The “available in store” listings showed more than what I saw physically, but still far fewer than Switch or PlayStation titles. If you wanted Doom: The Dark Ages, Madden NFL 26, EA Sports College Football 26, NBA 2K26, or Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4, you were covered — but that’s about it. The listings even mixed PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 games in with Xbox results.
Checking out Target’s online offering did have a wider Xbox selection, but most of those were digital downloads. Physical copies were scarce, suggesting that Target may be quietly reducing or phasing out physical Xbox inventory. You could argue that physical games are on the decline, sure — but that doesn’t explain why Switch and PlayStation still get full shelves.
I’m not ready to say this is another “Costco situation,” where the retailer drops Xbox products entirely, but based on what I’ve seen firsthand, unless that Reddit post’s explanation was accurate, Target could very well be the next major retailer to stop carrying Xbox games in stores.
*Update: Since I had to get some things, I decided to stop by the one Target today and noticed that the Xbox display had been updated. Yes, the physical games are completely gone, and while I mentioned there were Xbox Game Pass and Gift Card cards, whatever physical games were there were replaced with digital cards for the games.
I decided to try my luck again and speak with another Target person, and I was told that this is it. This is all the Xbox display would get. They didn’t go as far as to say there won’t be any physical games since that was above their pay grade, but whatever was out there as of now, is it.”
The section didn’t get any bigger, but they did also put out some controllers and some headsets.
I also did take a look to see if any physical games were on sale maybe as clearance games, but I did not see any. But as far as games are concerned, I don’t see Target putting those out anymore.
At this point, it’s hard to say if this is simply a temporary reset ahead of the holiday season or the start of a larger shift away from physical Xbox game sales. Retailers like Target constantly reevaluate shelf space, and if sales data shows weaker demand for physical Xbox copies compared to Nintendo and PlayStation, that could easily explain the change.
Still, for those who enjoy walking into a store and grabbing a new release off the shelf, it’s a disappointing trend to see. Whether this is a short-term stock rotation or the beginning of a long-term pullback remains to be seen, but it’s certainly caught the attention of Xbox fans, myself included.
