Nintendo has no current plans to abandon physical games, Bill van Zyll, the company’s vice-president and general manager for Latin America, said in an interview with Brazilian YouTuber Coelho no Japão. As reported by Eurogamer and Nintendo Everything, van Zyll described Nintendo’s approach as guided by what players prefer; the Switch 2 supports both digital purchases and physical releases.
Those physical releases can be full cartridges or Game-Key Cards, which act as physical access keys for digital games rather than necessarily containing the game itself. The format has drawn pushback from some players when a boxed release is only a key card, but van Zyll acknowledged that Nintendo is aware of fans’ interest in physical media and said the company currently plans to keep offering it.
The remarks came amid renewed debate over game ownership following Sony’s announced plan to move away from discs for new PlayStation releases by 2028. That remains a stated plan, not an irreversible change: Eurogamer also noted signs Sony may reconsider it. The difference in the companies’ current approaches has sharpened questions about what players retain when they buy games digitally, a subject also raised by Sony’s explanation of digital game licences. Nintendo’s comments describe its present position, rather than a guarantee that physical releases will continue indefinitely.
