Nintendo says it has no plans to abandon physical Switch 2 games, despite Sony’s decision to end new PlayStation disc releases from 2028.
Nintendo has no plans to ditch physical games for Switch 2, with one executive saying the company knows how much fans continue to value cartridges.
The comments come after Sony confirmed it will stop producing physical PlayStation games from January 2028, citing changing consumer preferences and the growing popularity of digital releases.
Nintendo, however, appears committed to offering players a choice between physical and digital games.
Nintendo Latin America general manager Bill van Zyll told Brazilian content creator Coelho no Japão: “We go off what the consumer prefers, and take that into account very heavily.”
“We also have a platform that was just launched. We’re barely just over a year into the Nintendo Switch 2. It’s got both digital and physical capability. There’s no plans to ditch physical. We know how much the fans like it as well.”
The comments will likely reassure players concerned about the future of physical game ownership, particularly following Sony’s controversial decision.
Nintendo has itself acknowledged that producing physical games comes with different costs to digital releases.
Earlier this year, the company announced that physical and digital versions of its Switch 2 games could have different prices.
Explaining that the difference reflected the costs associated with producing and distributing physical games, Nintendo said: “Nintendo games offer the same experiences whether in packaged or digital format.”
Nintendo later clarified that it was not increasing the price of physical games, but instead setting a lower US MSRP for digital versions of Nintendo-published Switch 2 exclusives.
The company’s latest comments suggest that the higher cost of manufacturing cartridges is not currently enough to convince Nintendo to abandon physical releases altogether.
That puts Nintendo in an increasingly different position from Sony.
PlayStation has argued that the shift towards digital media reflects consumer trends, while Nintendo says it will continue to take demand for physical products seriously.
Microsoft has also recently introduced a system allowing owners of eligible physical games to convert them into digital versions, highlighting the different approaches being taken by the major console manufacturers.
For Nintendo, the decision to retain physical games could prove particularly important for players who value collecting, reselling or sharing their games.
With Switch 2 still relatively early in its life cycle, van Zyll’s comments indicate that cartridges will remain part of Nintendo’s strategy for the foreseeable future, even as the wider games industry continues its shift towards digital.
Nintendo not planning to scrap physical Switch 2 game releases
