As PlayStation and Xbox move toward a more digital future, Nintendo could become the last major platform where physical games still truly matter.
If Xbox was smart, they would now announce they are sticking to physical media for the next generation, and back to console exclusives.
That would deflate the PS6 completely.
I’m not surprised it’s Nintendo who will stand alone. I am surprised Sony officially announced it before Microslop, though. Although the Xbox has been slowly transitioning to digital, they haven’t made any definitive statements on it yet.
The only reason Nintendo is still doing physical is because of their stance (read: stubbornness) to adapt what others in the gaming industry are doing, which can be a double-edged sword. In this case, it works out.
Physical media is not the real issue here. I’m puzzled why it is the focus of attention, and I don’t know if the explanation is just stupidity or intentional detraction.
If console games could be downloaded, stored on to media you own, then installed again from that media, this wouldn’t be a problem. That’s the real issue here.
It’s been a good while since games bought as physical media, don’t come with significant day 1 patches. So, doing away with physical copies of the games have absolutely zero impact. What does, and has been an issue for years, is that you cannot archive games you have bought, with the changes you can expect as part of that purchase.
What’s the solution? Closest I can think of is GOG.
Microslop just announced the overview of a program where you can digitize your physical collection. Just shitting in the wind here, but I have heard that, for a while now, Xbox discs have had unique identifiers. So, they’ll take that disc license and lock it to your account so you can play your disc games digitally without need for the disc in the drive. Whether it downloads the data or installs from the disc, I don’t know. Plans also state sharing will be included where you send the license(?) to a friend. Details are vague at the moment.
This still has the same problems as digital though if it’s tied to an account. If your account is hacked or banned for any reason, your games are gone. If it gets tied to your account, no resale or lending. This is a band-aid solution to a problem they are currently creating. Maybe they figure something out for lending, but it’s still a shitty solution for a problem that doesn’t need to exist.
Like Nintendo hasn’t been pushing their codes-in-boxes since before the switch 2 release.
What first party game was ever code-in-box?
It’s a special case, but the Switch 2 Mario Kart launch bundle came preloaded with Mario Kart World digital. All previous versions of Nintendo consoles with a bundle came with physical media.
But you could absolutely purchase a non bundle Switch 2 and a physical Mario Kart World (for $20 more).
And you’re right that so far every first party game has had both a physical release and a digital release.
The Switch 1 is the last great collectors console, at least the majority of games there are actually on the cart.
For how long? This isn’t mask ROM, the cartridges will lose their data.
The switch 2 will be the last Nintendo console with physical games. That’s just the direction things are headed in.
how i see it, switch 2 will be the last with options, the next sucessor is probably going to be game key carts only because of the eventual game size cost(so itll appease the resell crowd but not the game preservation crowd)
Nintendo doesn’t care about appeasing the resell crowd though. The only reason game key cards exist is because Nintendo still gets a lot of retail sales. But 5-6 years from now I doubt there will be much of a retail market anymore. Places like GameStop will probably be out of business by then, people will be more accustomed to purchasing digitally, and the people still buying physical will be a small percentage of the overall market. At that point, Nintendo makes the same decision that Sony did. Even Iwata knew back in 2009, he predicted it will take about 20 years to fully transition to digital sales.
*Key cards
A console that uses cheap USB sticks would be cool.
We can dream…
Sadly, with the chip shortage, USB sticks aren’t even that cheap anymore. MSoft and Sony would adopt the latest (most expensive) usb version for the transfer speed. You wouldn’t want the cheap chips/sticks anyway, lest your $90 game stick randomly corrupt itself.
Then you have to protect the stick while it’s plugged in so it doesn’t get bumped and break the connector/port; so then it’s back to proprietary sockets that only certain sticks fit into, flip-top covers, or something “under” the console. I remember folks throwing a fit when Apple put the power button on the bottom of the Mac mini 😂
Doesn’t really count when the thing you buy is just a download code.
