I strongly believe the new NX system will use tiny license only cartridges and have extremely small amounts of data storage.
I.e. the console itself has lets say 8 slots. Each slot can take a security chip and these security chips are sold at retail and can be freely resold through retail but without the security chip in the slot you cannot run the game.
The games themselves are downloaded.
At the moment you buy a ps4/xbone game and often you put in the disc and it starts transferring data to the hard drive plus it downloads a huge patch. It's reliant on the internet for the full experience but you can run the game without an internet connection but there may be issues.
With the NX you simply insert a tiny security cartridge and the game is downloaded.
The huge advantage is very low costs to manufacture. The console can hold digital rights for many games at once so you don't have to keep getting up to change discs. They are small and cheap so good profit at retail and retailers will love them plus there is s/hand resell.
The console itself is cheaper to manufacture as it 8 cartridge slots is a lot cheaper to manufacture than an optical drive.
The console will still have a hard drive and of course you will still have digitally purchased games. The security chips will be tiny so they can be used on both the home console and handheld. Something like 8 slots in the console and only 1 in the handheld possibly.
Surely this is the logical approach to a situation where Nintendo cannot afford to lose retail but want good margins in both retail games and the consoles themselves. It free's up money for better tech in both devices.
There are no losers except those without an internet connection.
Retailers could even provide a super fast download service. I.e. you buy the security chip and they also download it directly to your handheld so you can use it straight away.
I really think there is a strong chance of this happening it just makes total sense all round.
