Nintendo confirms no plans to drop physical Switch 2 games

Nintendo VP Bill van Zyll says the company has no plans to abandon cartridges. In an interview with the Brazilian YouTube channel Coelho no Japão, van Zyll stated that Nintendo remains agnostic regarding media formats and bases its decisions on consumer preference. The Switch 2 launched just over a year ago and supports both digital and physical games.

The shift toward digital distribution creates a storage limit for physical releases. Switch 2 cartridges max out at 64GB, while original Switch cartridges topped at 32GB. To handle larger AAA titles, Nintendo introduced game-key cards. These physical cards contain a license to download the game data. Titles like Black Myth: Wukong and Grand Theft Auto VI use this model. Game-key cards allow users to trade or sell the game, unlike digital-only purchases.

Physical media comes with a higher price tag. As of May 2026, first-party Nintendo titles on cartridge are $10 more than digital versions. Nintendo claims this price difference is because it lowered digital prices by $10 to pass savings on to consumers.

Nintendo has announced plans for the Switch 2 to have a lifespan of about six to seven years.