Frontier Developments announced today that they have teamed up with Sold Out to release physical retail editions of two of their popular PC games, Elite Dangerous and Planet Coaster, later this year.

Even though releasing games physically is becoming a shrinking part of the industry, especially on PC, Garry Williams from Sold Out seemed optimistic about the physical release of these titles when speaking to GamesIndustry, citing the milestone Rocket League recently hit at retail:

"Almost any quality game works as a boxed release. You wouldn't ask 'why does Call of Duty work as a boxed release?' ... Quality games will sell whatever the distribution method. Rocket League would look rather silly if they had stayed digital-only and missed the recently announced 1 million boxed sales. Disruption offered challenges like early access, digital pricing and episodic content, which distracted from traditional publishers, and developers are now starting to see the value of delivering to consumers what they want, and in a manner that they want to receive content.

With over half a million Planet Coaster Steam sales since launch, you can see that demand for PC gaming is still high. Code strippers and other pricing challenges had started to make boxed versions look like they could end up as collateral damage, but the data shows that with key releases, boxed product can still outperform the market. We see this as an opportunity to implement some new ideas. So watch this space."

The retail version of Planet Coaster will release on May 23. The physical version of Elite: Dangerous, titled Elite: Dangerous: Legendary Edition only has a vague "later this year" release window, but it was confirmed that it would come with the base game, the Horizons expansion, and 1000 Frontier points.  These games are coming to retail a while after their original releases, although Williams mentioned it is better for developers to try and coincide digital and retail releases.

"In our experience, hitting day-and-date, where possible is always more advantageous. However, with genre-defining products such as these, the demand has always been there, and we're delighted to help Frontier meet the customer on their terms, however and wherever they chose to buy.

We wish to keep laying the ground for a fresh restructuring of the industry, one that returns emphasis to the publishing functions that were trampled underfoot in the initial indie gold-rush and, into the bargain, helps to provide consumers with clearer assurances of quality. A new breed of publisher may be the only answer to the problems created by digital storefronts we were once told were going to make publishers extinct."

Planet Coaster and Elite: Dangerous are both currently available digitally on PC.