Circana analyst Mat Piscatella has discussed the unfortunate demise of physical video game publishing with an emphasis on digital purchases. Piscatella says that Nintendo is the last of the physical forward publishers but new data shows that with the Nintendo Switch 2 digital sales are accelerating more so than they did on the original Nintendo Switch system.
“Nintendo is the last remaining of the physical forward publishers and even they are starting to make that flip. At least in the U.S, other parts of the world may be different. Nintendo still maintains a physical focus and a retailer focus as where the other manufacturers have kind of effectively or nearly effectively moved on to a great degree.”
“There is that dedicated buyer that loves physical but like you said that mix is continuing to shift and with the most recent Switch model you know we are seeing that shift happening a little bit faster even on Nintendo.”
Is there some nuance in this ?
Dont keycards count as digital and Nintendo are practically forcing this route for publishers.
Keep coping bro 😂
All 1st Party Nintendo games will 100% have physical versions of their games. I’m pretty sure Nintendo is against the idea of games going digital only. They did this because they have no other choice. Playstation and Xbox went to this route longer before Nintendo did.
Playstation and Xbox went this way sooner because their online vision and capabilities are 15+ years ahead of Nintendo.
Forcing?
Feels like bad news to me.
Not surprising. Digital makes much more sense for a handheld. I own about 70 digital games and only 3 physical ones.
If I’m taking a handheld out, I don’t want to be carrying and potentially a bunch of cartridges.
Physical production will halt in the U.S. first since it seems that’s where most of the decline is. Anywhere else is up for debate.
Gee, maybe its because the cheap ass companies insist on using the worthless game keys. I only buy physical, but if i had to choose between digital and the key, i would just get the download.
I literally am returning my physical of DQ 1+2 just so I can re-buy it digitally. It’s a hassle to pop it out to replace it with the other game I’m juggling. I really don’t care anymore.
Claims like this are so silly to me. THAT is a hassle? It takes barely any time and zero effort to switch out a game. Y’all are just lazy. This reliance on digital media is so much worse than most people realize.
Right? It takes more effort to drive to the store and get a refund for the game cartridge than the combined “””effort””” it takes to remove and reinsert the cartridge from the game console, lmao
Is it lazy? Or just a preference for conveniency? Is it lazy to have a smartphone instead of buying a cell phone, calculator, camera, notebook paper, pen and/or pencil, bluray player, MP3 player, etc? If preferring digital games for conveniency to switch between games quickly is lazy, so too is owning a smartphone for all the things inside it that can be bought as multiple, separate devices.
This hate boner for digital is something else. Some of us have become WAY too materialistic. When we die, none of this shit is going with us.
wow, when putting a game into your game console is a hassle…..
we sure have come a long way
jesus titty fucking tap dancing mother fucking christ
It’s going to increase when many games are only digital isn’t it.
Me pergunto se futuramente a Nintendo deixaria o servidor ativo pra download dos jogos dessa geração já que ela gosta de vender todos eles mais uma vez na próxima geração
I will buy physical and Game Key Cards. Unless it’s for a game I don’t really care a lot for + it’s on deep discount on the eShop, physical is always the way
It’s cheaper and simpler to get a second hand physical copy of a game.
Of course its going up, most switch 2 games aren’t available physically, and your average consumer is just going to regress to the mean of what’s available. Hilarious to think physcial is dying when these publishers are doing anything they can to get their games in front of retail consumers.
After dealing with some games being physical and others being digital only with my OG Switch, I bought my Switch 2 and decided to go 100% digital. Only exception to that was with Kirby and the Forgotten Land DLC Upgrade. I also had a physical copy of the Forgotten Land and just did the updated DLC. Bought a 512GB SD Micro card and I am good for now. Been more trouble free for me and I have no one I let borrow games or trade with.
As long as the developers try to squeeze as many games into current consoles without having to buy a $700 console then digital games outselling physical games are the least of my problems.
Nintendo last of the physical forward publishers? is that why ive bought every recent release for playstation? because the only physical option is on anything but Switch2? Shit, every game ive bought since Switch 2’s release has been on ps5 and Switch. Oh wait unless you count Age of imprisonment at the end of the week… youre right my bad.
I was lucky enough to have sidestepped this whole conversation. Every game I’ve wanted for the Switch 2 (Nintendo’s first-party offerings + Rune Factory) have had the games on disc. Then again, Marvelous may have been lying or mistaken when they claimed Rune Factory Azuma was on-disc, because the Switch 2 upgrade and all DLC and title updates download the whole game to internal memory.