Nintendo Says Physical Games Still Account for 38.5% of Its Software Sales, Following Sony's Decision to Kill PS5 Discs
Boxed games still account for 38.5% of Nintendo's software sales, the Mario maker has said, suggesting it has no desire to kill physical media anytime soon.
Nintendo has reported that physical games continue to make up 38.5% of its software sales, indicating that the company has no intention of phasing out physical media anytime soon. This stands in stark contrast to Sony's recent decision to stop shipping new PlayStation 5 games on disc from January 2028 onwards, a move that may even affect the upcoming PlayStation 6.
While Xbox is not abandoning discs entirely, it is reportedly developing a system to transfer game licenses from physical discs to digital ownership. Despite the shift towards digital sales, Nintendo still boasts a strong physical game presence. Its ratio of physical game sales to digital has decreased by 2.2 points, meaning digital downloads now account for 61.5% of its sales, while physical sales still make up 38.5%.
This difference can be attributed to Nintendo's diverse audience, comprising younger and casual gamers who often buy physical games for shared family use or resale. Nintendo's upcoming Switch 2 console, launched last year, employs a hybrid approach, using cartridges, Game-Key Cards, and digital codes for game distribution. While Nintendo may not make any drastic changes to physical game availability in the near future, the company has started to incentivize digital purchases for new Switch 2 games by making them slightly cheaper than their physical counterparts.
Upcoming Switch 2 game releases include Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Switch Sports Resort, and the new Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake, with titles like Xenoblade Genesis and Pokémon Winds already announced for 2027.
Written by urgent.news from IGN's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
