With Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) announcing that it will stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation games beginning in January 2028, the industry’s shift toward digital distribution is once again under the spotlight. Nintendo Latin America Vice President and General Manager Bill van Zyll recently said the company currently has no plans to abandon physical games and will continue offering both digital and physical options based on consumer preferences. 
Speaking with the YouTube channel “Coelho no Japão,” van Zyll laid out Nintendo’s position in full:
“We’ve never really favored one format over the other, right? We make decisions based on what consumers prefer, and we place great importance on their choices. We also just launched a new console, with the Nintendo Switch 2 having been on the market for only a little over a year. It supports both digital and physical games. We have no plans to abandon physical games, and we know how much fans love them. That’s why we’ve always maintained a format-neutral position.”
By “format-neutral,” van Zyll means letting player preferences determine how games are released. Alongside digital titles sold through the Nintendo eShop, the Switch 2 continues to support physical game cards, including versions containing the full game data and Game-Key Cards that require users to download the game separately.
Game-Key Cards have sparked controversy of their own, however. Some releases use the card only as a license to launch the game, meaning players must still download the software even after purchasing a physical copy. That approach has drawn criticism from consumers concerned about physical collections and long-term game preservation, underscoring how a boxed release does not necessarily preserve the traditional benefits of physical media.
By contrast, Sony has announced that new titles released from January 2028 onward will be digital-only, while existing disc-based games and titles released before that date will remain unaffected. The decision has prompted pushback from players, while developers including Hideo Kojima have also voiced concerns about the future of physical media. More recent reports suggest Sony may be reconsidering the policy.
Nintendo’s latest statement confirms that the Switch 2 will not follow PlayStation toward an all-digital model for now. Still, with game sizes, distribution costs, and consumer habits continuing to evolve, whether Nintendo can maintain both formats over the long term remains to be seen.
