Nintendo: “No Plans to Scrap Physical Games” — 5ch Erupts: “PA-PA-PACKAAAAGE, YEAAAH!”

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The story

In an interview with nintendoeverything.com, Nintendo stated clearly that it has no plans to discontinue physical versions of its games. The company said it has always maintained a stance that favors neither digital nor physical, citing the fact that even Switch2, which launched only about a year ago, offers both sales formats. On 5ch’s Hardware/Industry (“Geha”) board, many comments welcomed the statement, while others pointed out the contrast with Sony, which has been scaling back disc drives, and still others voiced skepticism that the policy could change again down the line — reactions were far from uniform.

Well, it’s pretty much a given, but it’s reassuring to hear

Source: nintendoeverything.com / Read the original article here

What people said

4AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:22
Nintendo: "No plans to discontinue Game-Key Cards either"
10AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:26
Re: #4
Going forward, the functionality will stay as Game-Key Cards
People have been pointing out for ages that stuff could get added to what's on the key card

Nintendo tends to tie its own hands and ends up throwing away business opportunities, which creates weird situations
5AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:23
We've always kept to a stance that doesn't favor one over the other.
We put consumer preference first and take that very seriously.
Also, this is still a platform we only just launched.
NS2 has been out for just over a year, but it already offers both digital and physical.
We have no plans to discontinue physical.
We also know how much fans love physical, which is why we've kept to a stance that doesn't lean either way.

(Full quote)
13AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:28
Re: #5
Publishers make physical copies because fans ask for them — it's not the other way around
24AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:36
Re: #13
CC2's Matsuyama: "Scrapping physical is nothing but good"
8AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:25
He's been spouting that wishful "it'll get axed eventually!" line forever, hasn't he
27AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:38
Re: #8
They've got to keep pushing some "both sides do it" argument, or the damage piling up on the brand image they're clinging to stops being a joke and they can't keep fooling the clueless marks anymore — so yeah, a little absurd, sleazy blame-shifting comes with the territory, right?
12AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:27
PS6's gonna copy Nintendo and go with a dongle-based key-card system too

Just wait and see
73AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:07
Re: #12
They're stingy enough to quit discs that cost like tens of yen a press — no way they'd bother making a dongle
17AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:30
Seeing the mess Sony made by going first lets Nintendo be more careful going forward — good for them
Honestly, I bet every publisher doing digital sales owes Sony a quiet thank-you in a way
20AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:34
Re: #17
No, Nintendo set things up with Catalog Tickets so it'd work out fine either way, physical or digital, didn't they?
18AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:30
They went as far as making Game-Key Cards, so of course that's their stance
Not like Sony, just dropping discs with no alternative in place
25AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:36
Re: #18
No cushion, no warning — just BAM, straight off the top
Users must be totally crushed
26AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:37
For fabless Nintendo, outsourced manufacturing of game software is a key revenue stream too, so they won't be quitting it

Pretty different situation from Sony, who actually owns factories
66AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:02
Re: #26
lol
Optical discs barely get used for anything but games these days lol
If they priced Blu-ray discs so the BD business wasn't running a loss, it'd probably come out to like 100,000 yen lol
28AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:39
The whole "digital vs. physical" phrasing bugs me a little
Both downloaded data and whatever's recorded on a game card are digital data either way
If some clueless trash media outlet or random person said it, fine, but… (´・ω・`)
59AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:01
Re: #28
It's about the product format offered to customers, so of course it gets phrased that way, right?
What would even be the "correct" way to say it instead?
32AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:42
Well, the console's only got 256GB of junk storage, so of course they can't quit physical
34AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:44
Re: #32
Thanks to that, they're still somehow holding on even in these parts-price-gouging chaotic times
43AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:49
Re: #32
PS5's 800GB is ridiculously small too though…
46AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:50
Sony: "We're dropping discs, but we never said we're dropping physical copies"
49AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:53
Re: #46
Retailers: "Whether we stock it or not is our call"
53AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:58
Re: #46
Is a code-in-a-box really what people who've been buying discs all along actually want?
52AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:58
Guess from now on you'll be running around with your PS5 clamped in your mouth

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GBS8N3tbEAA3C7U.jpg
56AnonymousOct 12, 2026 12:59




The first one to turn into a flimsy piece of paper was the "Buhitch" (a mocking 5ch nickname for the Switch)
58AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:01
Of course Nintendo can't do it
Most of their users can't even manage a credit card
61AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:01
Re: #58
That's PS users you're talking about
64AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:02
Re: #58
Don't mock Sony when they're the ones who leaked people's credit card info
79AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:15
Can't help it, Switch2's digital ratio is only 20%


Chris Dring: "The Switch2 version of Resident Evil Requiem has a 20% digital ratio — Switch2 runs low on digital ratio for third-party titles"
https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/1773471355/

Switch2's Cyberpunk 2077 has a 24% digital ratio ← lmaooo
https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/1759217169/
80AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:16
Can't help it, Switch2's digital ratio is only 20%


Chris Dring: "The Switch2 version of Resident Evil Requiem has a 20% digital ratio — Switch2 runs low on digital ratio for third-party titles"
https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/1773471355/

Switch2's Cyberpunk 2077 has a 24% digital ratio ← lmaooo
https://krsw.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/ghard/1759217169/
83AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:18
Re: #79
Re: #80
Totally left behind by the times
84AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:20
Sony dropping discs means their digital ratio hits 100%
Good for them
88AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:23
Re: #84
Guess we won't be able to make out anything anymore
The numbers will probably all get lumped together and rounded off
89AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:23
Re: #84
Though sales drop to zero
90AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:25
Still, buying a Game-Key Card doesn't exactly make for a collection though
105AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:33
Re: #90
It does count as a collection — it's still a physical card after all. Planning to collect the whole FF7 Remake trilogy
97AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:29
Semiconductor prices are going up in November, and they said there were no plans for a price hike, then raised prices anyway
Nintendo just does stuff out of nowhere, so you never know
99AnonymousOct 12, 2026 13:30
Re: #97
This kind of thing isn't even something the person actually said in the first place
The thread title's basically clickbait fraud

Background and Key Points of This Debate

Nintendo’s statement that it has no plans to discontinue physical game releases comes from an interview with nintendoeverything.com, in which it emphasized a stance that favors neither digital nor physical. The backdrop is an industry trend in which Sony has been scaling back disc-drive models in the PS5 lineup and moving toward an all-digital future. Where opinion split on the thread was over how to judge Nintendo’s response. Many contrasted Nintendo — which has offered Game-Key Cards since Switch2 launched, preserving a choice between digital and physical — with Sony, which dropped discs without offering any alternative. At the same time, the fact that Game-Key Cards are physical cards that still require a download, and so differ in nature from the traditional notion of “physical = a complete, self-contained storage medium,” was only touched on lightly in the replies and never really spelled out. There was also skepticism that a “we won’t discontinue it” statement doesn’t bind future policy, with some citing past cases where Nintendo reversed course on price-hike plans.

*This article is compiled as an excerpt/summary of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “Nintendo: “No Plans to Discontinue Physical Copies”.”

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