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Forums - Nintendo - Nintendo: "No plans to ditch physical games"

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Tober on 12 October 2026

Unless Governments taxes plastics into oblivion, I don't think Nintendo will abandon something physical.



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curl-6 on 13 October 2026
Darwinianevolution said:

If their commitment to physical is the key card system, then why bother? Either you make actual physical copies of the games, or you don't. Key cards are some of the worst e-waste I've seen. Still, I hope these disappear over time, and they just make regular cartridges.

More and more releases are using actual game cards I have noticed; almost every third party game in 2025 was a key card, whereas this year a lot of them are proper cards. I would presume this is the result of smaller sizes becoming available.



Helloplite on 17 October 2026

GKC is not a step toward digital. It is simply a move to avoid a costly flash storage. It is resellable. End of story.



PotentHerbs on 17 October 2026

Not going to lie.

Trying out some Switch games with Switch 2 upgrades but having to swap out for different games was inconvenient as hell. Every new Switch 2 title I'm going to purchase in the future will be digital. Especially if we're getting GKC's anyway.



Alex_The_Hedgehog on 17 October 2026
PotentHerbs said:

Not going to lie.

Trying out some Switch games with Switch 2 upgrades but having to swap out for different games was inconvenient as hell. Every new Switch 2 title I'm going to purchase in the future will be digital. Especially if we're getting GKC's anyway.

There's just so much you can fit into a cartridge, so I believe GKC will be the choice for more and more companies.

Geez, even the PS5 and XS discs are becoming small. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth needed two discs on PS5. I'm curious to see if GTA VI will even launch in disc format.



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curl-6 on 17 October 2026
Alex_The_Hedgehog said:
PotentHerbs said:

Not going to lie.

Trying out some Switch games with Switch 2 upgrades but having to swap out for different games was inconvenient as hell. Every new Switch 2 title I'm going to purchase in the future will be digital. Especially if we're getting GKC's anyway.

There's just so much you can fit into a cartridge, so I believe GKC will be the choice for more and more companies.

Geez, even the PS5 and XS discs are getting small. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth needed two discs on PS5. I'm curious to see if GTA VI will even launch in disc format.

Nope: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6210nj8gpro



PotentHerbs on 17 October 2026
Alex_The_Hedgehog said:
There's just so much you can fit into a cartridge, so I believe GKC will be the choice for more and more companies.

Geez, even the PS5 and XS discs are becoming small. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth needed two discs on PS5. I'm curious to see if GTA VI will even launch in disc format.

For me its not even about the best format for physical media. 

I think digital is the way to go, and while I can't capitalize on it for the Switch 2, game sharing is a major feature that blows away any benefit physical media can give me. I'll be able to game share GTA6 with my brother so we both could play right when it launches. And then a couple of months later we'll both be able to play Revelation right when it launches.