The future of physical games has been the hot topic of the hobby ever since PlayStation announced that it will not be printing discs for games launching from 2028 onwards. So far, Microsoft has kept quiet about whether Project Helix will take physical discs when it rolls around, but it’s otherwise been gaining good press thanks to the Xbox disc-to-digital feature. Nintendo has mostly left the debate alone as well, until recently, when a LatAm VP weighed in on the subject.
In an interview with Brazilian YouTuber Coelho no Japao which was done in English, Bill van Zyll, Nintendo’s Vice President and General Manager for Latin America, gave a pretty short response when asked what the company’s stance on physical media is. In fact, the response comes in at less than 30 seconds in a nearly 30-minute video.
“Look, historically, we’ve been very agnostic, right? We go off of what the consumer prefers, and take that into account very heavily. We also have a platform [that] just launched. We’re barely just over a year into NS2. And it’s got both, y’know, digital, but it also has physical, that capability. So there’s no plans to ditch physical. We know how much the fans like it as well, so our position has been to be agnostic”.
On one hand, it’s about as safe as an answer can get. In fact, there’s a lot of goodwill to be gained among gamers to just say that a company will lean into what its fans want. Bonus points for if it also happens to be true.
But on the other, one has to recognise the nebulous nature of the claim to “go off of what the consumer prefers”. After all, PlayStation came to the conclusion that gamers don’t like physical media very much, since its “full game software” sales were up to an 85% digital-to-physical ratio in Q4 of its FY 2025 calendar. Then there’s the whole situation with Nintendo’s own Game-Key Cards.
Ultimately, what van Zyll says may be music to gamers’ ears right now. But you should probably not be too surprised if the reality no longer matches this sentiment sometime down the line.
(Source: Coelho no Japao / YouTube)
