Nintendo says it has ‘no plans’ to abandon physical media

We live in a world where physical media is becoming less and less common, and this is especially true for video games. Gaming started moving towards digital releases around 20 years ago, and it’s only gotten faster every year since. We’re now in an era where digital releases are 100% confirmed and physical options only come along if we’re lucky.

In 2026, the shift away from physical really accelerated, as companies like Sony said they would completely abandon physical titles by January 2028. This sparked concerns that other major players in the industry would do the same. Luckily, for now, it looks like Nintendo is going to stick with the physical and digital versions.

In conversation with Coelho, Bill van Zyll, vice president and general manager of Nintendo in Latin America, talked about digital and physical versions. van Zyll didn’t mince his words on the subject, flatly stating that Nintendo has no plans to move away from physical releases while acknowledging that gamers like to see titles released that way.

Gn tech

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