Nintendo has no plans to abandon physical games, its Latin America chief Bill van Zyll said, following backlash against Sony’s decision to stop manufacturing PlayStation discs from January 2028.
Van Zyll, Nintendo’s vice president and general manager for Latin America, told Brazilian YouTuber Coelho no Japão that consumer preferences weigh heavily in the company’s decisions.
“So, there’s no plans to ditch physical. We know how much the fans like it as well,” he said. He described Nintendo as historically “agnostic” about formats and said Nintendo Switch 2, launched a little over a year earlier, supports physical and digital games.
Nintendo’s audience leans more toward physical games than PlayStation or Xbox players. Some Switch 2 titles ship on Game-Key Cards, cartridges that enable users to download and play games rather than store the game data.
Unlike ordinary download codes, Game-Key Cards are not permanently tied to an account or console. Users can lend, trade or resell them.
Van Zyll said physical games are particularly popular in Latin America, including Brazil. Preferences vary by game, availability and circumstances, he said, noting that digital sales rose during COVID as people stayed home.
He cited collectibility, sharing and resale as advantages of physical games, while noting that Switch 2’s Game Share feature also allows digital sharing.
Microsoft’s physical-media plans remain uncertain. A previous, unconfirmed rumor suggested it might retain discs for Project Helix to win goodwill among hardcore gamers.
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