Sony recently announced that it will stop launching PlayStation physical disc games in 2028 and officially move into the all-digital era. This has also made many players worry about whether Nintendo, another major console manufacturer, will follow suit soon. However, industry analyst Mat Piscatella believes that the answer is probably no. He said bluntly: “Nintendo is going to be Nintendo.” This means that no matter what Sony and Microsoft do, Nintendo will mostly follow its own pace and is unlikely to give up physical games just because its competitors change their strategies.
Physical version is still a good business for Nintendo
Piscatella pointed out that in recent years, retailers have become more and more willing to support Nintendo products. Especially after the launch of Switch 2, sales of physical games and consoles are still quite strong. This is also an important reason why Nintendo is not rushing to fully digitize. While a large number of PlayStation players have already switched to the download version, Nintendo players still maintain the habit of collecting cartridges, exchanging games, and buying physical versions. Therefore, at least for now, physical games are still an indispensable part of the Nintendo ecosystem.
It doesn’t mean there’s no change at all.
Of course, this does not mean that Nintendo is not moving towards digitalization at all. The Game-Key Card launched on Switch 2 has caused a lot of controversy. Although some games sell physical cartridges, the card itself is only a “download key” and you still need to connect to the Internet to download the complete game. Many players criticized it as just a digital version disguised as a physical version. However, analysts believe that this is still fundamentally different from Sony’s direct cancellation of the physical version. At least Nintendo has not yet released a signal to completely abandon the cartridge.
The scariest thing about Nintendo is that it never follows the script!
There are many trends in the gaming industry, but Nintendo has always been the one least likely to follow trends. When everyone thought it would pursue performance, it launched Switch; when everyone thought it would follow Sony’s example and give up physical products, it is likely to continue selling cassettes. It can only be said that other companies are guessing each other’s next step. The biggest feature of Nintendo is that no one can guess its next step.