It's been a pretty sad week for console gamers with the announcement that physical game media is pretty much toast. As of January 2028, PlayStation will no longer release physical games for the PS5 or PS6, and reports suggest that Xbox will do the same with its new Project Helix console.
It's a crappy time to be a gamer for those who value physical games, but there areother platforms to turn to if the PlayStation and Xbox are giving you a rough time. We've got Steam, of course, with its excellent digital storefront, but if you really don't want to give up traditional physical media, you might have to turn to Nintendo.
Nintendo won't be swayed by PlayStation's all-digital future
We all know that Nintendo marches to the beat of its own drum these days, sitting in the corner while the rest of the games industry fights over who will make the worst PR move of the week. It often defies gaming industry trends, for better or worse, and analysts believe this whole shift away from physical releases will be no different.
This comes from Circana senior director and video game industry advisor Mata Piscatello, who said in a recent interview with VGC that Nintendo is “unlikely” to change its plans based on what PlayStation and Xbox are doing, and for now it'll just be Nintendo.
Xbox is reportedly testing a feature that will allow you to digitize your physical games
Xbox is reportedly trying to make sure your physical collections matter before the coming all-digital era.
“My gut says Nintendo is doing what Nintendo wants, and I don't see them changing anything in their plans based on what Sony or Microsoft are doing in anything,” Piscatella says. “Nintendo will be Nintendo, for better and/or worse.”
“Retail has already relied more and more on Nintendo's support over the last few years (Nintendo has also had a very strong share of physical software and hardware sales since the launch of the Switch 2), so this could certainly continue to grow.”
Of course, this isn't confirmation that Nintendo will never give up on physical releases, as we've already seen it share with its controversial Game Key Card system. On the other hand, Nintendo sells a lot more physical copies of their games than PlayStation, so I can see the company sticking with physical cartridges until that digital/physical share starts to decline faster.
