Part of this is definitely their fault, however even they couldn't stop the digital wave that's been taking over the game industry for years.
I think the reason it's taken so long is because the industry knew they'd have to groom the younger generation into digital distribution, they knew the dinosaurs weren't going to just accept it full stop. We're now reaching that point, I suppose. Does little Billy care that Fortnight is just a download of a license? No. He doesn't even think about it. They've waited years for this, and now that they have a wider market to sell their "licenses" to, they're doing a slow, but forced phase out of physical media. Think how much money it's going to save for anyone producing any type of media? But don't expect that savings to reflect in the price of whatever you're buying, because reasons.
/rant