People consciously deciding they want to trade ownership for convenience is fine with me- I have done so for movies/ shows, while for music and games I like to have the option to choose. But keep some sense for maintaining basic rights while you do so. Even if you don’t want physical media for yourself, I find it hard to understand why people are so eagerly rooting for the business interest side of things here. And now we are even talking about the console itself. If someone does something illegal, we have a criminal justice system and legal procedures to deal with that. Nintendo can report me to the police or outright sue me if I pirate their games, that’s fine. But to even go there where they (or any other company) should have the option to remote-destroy my property? If, in some examples brought up, you legally bought a weapon and then illegally hurt someone (which, by the way, is a way more serious act than hacking your console) it’s a police matter, it’s not the weapon manufacturer or the vendor that show up at your house and confiscate or destroy the weapon. And deciding the consequences is a court matter, it’s not the victim of the crime deciding the punishment for the offender. It’s your rights you are talking about here, and people saying “that’s o.k. because it is in their best interest” - yeah, THEIR best interest.

People are coming across as if physical is an eternal format it isn't as physical formats have a lifespan themselves which takes a hit each time it's played and over time, this is before we get to the whole issue of day one patches which undermine the whole argument of physical.

The math holds up fine when 90%+ of the third party games on the Switch 2 are going to be Game Key cards, that already tells you all you need to know. The total Switch 2 physical library is going to be overwhelmingly a bunch of Key Cards, then you'll have the Nintendo published games and that's about it. Only a few 3rd parties are going to bother with putting their game on a cart, and they're not evil or bad for doing that. It just makes sense. 

The Key Card exists because 3rd party publishers don't want to pay the damn $8-$10 for the cartridge and they're correct in not wanting that. In 2025 when game budgets are skyrocketing, you can't expect publishers to subsidize even $8 a copy ... that money is important to their bottom line. Key Cards let Nintendo still have a physical presence. Even Nintendo themselves is not willing to subsidize the cost for physical, we're seeing physical games have a $10+ premium over digital Nintendo software. You want the cart? Well then you can pay $70-$80 a game for Nintendo games, that's just how it's gonna be. 

Digital is more profitable, even Nintendo knows that. A 30% cut from 3rd party sales for example would net Nintendo billions of dollars of extra revenue on software just from 3rd party fees alone quite probably for the course of a generation. That's a huge windfall for Nintendo and Sony to be able to not only get their standard licensing fee but another fat chunk of revenue for essentially doing nothing? That's fantastic margin expansion, every business lives for that. 

Nintendo has long relationships with retail in Japan that's the main reason they are sticking with having a foothold in physical, but it will diminish as time goes on and the fact if Nintendo is going to cry about a digital future, they'll be crying all the way to the bank.

Playstation 6 and Switch 3  (and whatever the next XBox is if it even releases) will be digital only and both Sony and Nintendo will make more money in the long run that way. Switch 2 is probably the last major console that will support physical media and it will be kinda shitty support frankly. A ton of Game Key cards and Nintendo physical games with a mark up. So for those who really are all about that, enjoy it while it lasts (and also enjoy paying $10 more per game in many cases). GameStop probably won't even exist past 5 years, it'll be a minor miracle if they can make it that far. The writing is on the wall and there's no huge incentive for Nintendo or Sony to want a physical/digital mix, they again stand to make more money in a digital only future. 

Physical had its time, at this point it's just becoming a farce. Like what? Cyberpunk and like 2 other games are slated to be physical releases on the cartridge itself? And the Nintendo ones are like $70-$80 a pop for physical? The writing is on the wall here. 

This.

I buy both physical and digital. With Switch, I'm more physical-heavy for retail games. Yes, there are scary unknowns for digital. But so far, I've had discs and such stop working due to scratches or other things versus any big issues with digital purchases. Now physical still has plenty of advantages and I am worried about losing access to some of my digital library one day.

But physical is not eternal either, as you said.

I do find it unfortunate that Switch 2 seemed like it was going to be a haven for physical games and now it seems like it will help kill them more aggressively than we expected. 

If I had to guess there probably is no material difference in cost between 64GB, 32GB, 16GB, etc. It's about the same and having just one size (64GB) likely is actually better for the manufacturer as it streamlines production, so Nintendo and the cart manufacturer just cut a deal for 64GB carts only. The speed of the carts is what is likely making them a little more expensive, not the storage size itself as 64GB isn't exactly a ton today. Switch 2 requires faster loading speeds than the Switch 1 carts did, you can't have the cartridge version load at like 1/4 the speed, that won't fly. 

Larger sizes, I wouldn't be surprised if it never happens. 64GB is enough for Nintendo's own games, 3rd parties will have Game Key cards. If it's a situation where like Nintendo has a game above 64GB or a third party that really wants a physical cart for their game but 64GB isn't enough, you'll just be downloading that extra data onto your internal storage. Simple as that.

That's why I wouldn't be holding my breath for 128GB carts. If it ever happens it's probably a ways off and will be one of those things that's used for like a tiny handful of games. 

64GB is still larger than a dual layer Blu-Ray disc (50GB), people saying "N64" like c'mon dude, if the N64 had 900MB cartridges (bigger than a CD-ROM) back in 1998 for only $8-$9 a pop, I'd be tap dancing down the street on the way to Blockbuster Video to go pick up Resident Evil 3 and Metal Gear Solid and Castlevania: SOTN for the N64. This is miles different from the N64 (never mind the industry standard is digital download). N64 carts could hold 1/20th of a CD really (as almost all N64 games were 32MB max, like 4 games being 64MB late in the N64's life cycle doesn't cut it) while being 100x plus the cost of a CD. 

This is about what I expected of the discussion. Nevertheless, heated arguments in good faith are fun. But if there's a problem to be had, it'll become more apparent once the generation is truly underway in a few years.
The Switch had a major problem with third parties not actually giving a damn to our even the tiniest of games on a cartridge and force an actual download rendering the ownership of the physical good moot.


Game Key Cards are basically a similar scenario to what we have early on here. Albeit with the added bonus that Key Cards do have re-sell value, therefore not an account tied purchase.

I do think the situation will likely either normalize itself as it is or there will eventually be a growing adoption of full physical game instar of the other option, especially if people do speak with their money and support the better choice.

Hopefully, very quickly. I don't want to buy a game-key card for a game.

If you're willing to pay $10 more to have the game on a cartridge and there's really a huge audience for that ... ok ... but seriously I doubt it. This is one of those classic cases of a group of people who are extremely loud on the internet but not very sizable in actual reality. 

Game Key Cards are going to be the norm on the Switch 2 minus Nintendo published games and even with those Nintendo games you will pay the $10 premium to have the physical copy, Nintendo is not going to give it for the same cost as the digital version in most cases. 

Wasn't there also a 8gb cart?
Atleast the rumors early on said, code only (small mem), 8GB, 64GB, where the options.


*edit:
yeah it is odd, they don't have a 16gb, or 32gb option.

They also record what you say and do on the webcam, and online chat (voice), and reserve the right to use it against you.
(ei. ban you from online if they deem you say or do, something inappropriate ) 

So your basically paying for it to spy on you lol.
This is the same issue the kinect had for xbox.