Nintendo proves physical games are far from dead in new report | indy100

Illustration of the interior of a Fnac store, a French chain of stores specializing in the distribution of cultural products (music, literature, cinema, video games) and electronics at the Beaugrenelle shopping center

Riccardo Milani / Hans Lucas / AFP via Getty Images

Nintendo is proving that physical games are far from dead, according to new data from its most recent earnings report.

Sony has confirmed it will stop the production of physical discs for games releasing from January 2028 onwards. Discs will still be made beyond that date for games that release before then but there has been a huge outcry against this decision.

There are reports XBOX will soon roll out a disc-to-digital programme, where players can insert discs into their consoles to obtain a digital license tied to their account for each game.

PC pivoted away from discs to digital distribution many years ago so out of all the big players, that leaves Nintendo.

And it seems the Japanese video games company has no intention of pivoting away from physical games because of how popular they remain with their user base.

In an earnings report, Nintendo confirmed that 61.5 per cent of their total sales were digital, meaning 38.5 per cent came from physical sales.

Although Nintendo did say that's a 2.2 per cent year-on-year increase, digital sales also include Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions, DLC and Switch 2 upgrades that can be purchased for existing games that may even be physical.

That digital figure also does not include copies of Mario Kart World that come bundled with some Switch 2 units.

The report said: "Digital sales increased by 90.0 per cent year-on-year to 132.7 billion yen, with proportion of digital sales growing by 2.2 points to account for 61.5 per cent of total software sales for our dedicated video game platform.

"Digital sales increased year-on-year due to factors including an increase in sales of downloadable versions of packaged software and the depreciation of the yen."

Nintendo has quite a different audience to the likes of PlayStation and XBOX - but Nintendo is proving that physical games and demand for them are not dead.

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