Nintendo has no intention of abandoning physical game releases for the Switch 2, a senior executive has said, drawing a clear line between its strategy and Sony's decision to stop producing discs for PlayStation consoles from early 2028.
Bill van Zyll, general manager for Nintendo Latin America, told Brazilian content creator Coelho no Japão that the company bases its format decisions on consumer preference. «We go off what the consumer prefers, and take that into account very heavily,» he said. «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 follow Sony's July announcement that it would cease manufacturing physical PlayStation games after January 2028, citing «consumer trends». One report claimed that only seven PlayStation titles had sold more than 100,000 physical copies in the United States this year. The move drew criticism from gaming fans and industry experts, though a planned boycott of PlayStation was reported to have had «no measurable impact».
Microsoft has responded to the shifting landscape with a new physical-to-digital scheme, allowing players to convert their existing physical games into digital versions at no extra cost. Nintendo's position contrasts with both competitors, even as production costs for physical cartridges rise.
Earlier this year, Nintendo announced it would sell physical and digital games at different prices. The company said the change reflected the different costs associated with producing and distributing each format, and offered players more choice in how they buy and play Nintendo games. It later pushed back against claims that the move amounted to a quiet price hike for physical titles. «The cost of physical games is not going up,» Nintendo said. «This means that when Nintendo sells digital versions of Nintendo published games exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2 to consumers in the U.S., those prices will have an MSRP that is lower than their physical counterparts.»
The confirmation that Switch 2 will retain physical cartridges is significant for collectors, retailers and players who rely on the second-hand market. It also preserves a distribution channel that remains important in markets where digital storefronts are less dominant or where broadband access is limited. Nintendo's dual-format approach means the Switch 2 will continue to offer both options, a flexibility the company appears keen to maintain.
Van Zyll's remarks suggest Nintendo sees physical media as part of its platform identity rather than a legacy burden. With the Switch 2 barely a year into its lifecycle, the company is signalling that it will not force a transition while demand for cartridges persists. The stance may reassure fans who feared the industry was moving irreversibly toward an all-digital future, and it puts Nintendo at odds with Sony's timeline for phasing out discs.
For now, Nintendo's message is straightforward: as long as players want physical games, the company plans to keep making them.