Nintendo Won't Abandon Physical Games, Exec Confirms

A Nintendo VP says the company has no plans to stop selling physical games, keeping a neutral stance based on what fans prefer — unlike Sony's move to end disc production.

Worried that physical games are on their way out? Nintendo just gave you a reason to relax.

Ever since Sony announced it will stop producing PlayStation discs by 2028, players have been sweating over whether Nintendo and Microsoft would follow suit. It's a fair fear — once one giant pulls the plug on physical media, it's easy to imagine the others quietly doing the same.

But according to Bill van Zyll, Nintendo's Vice President and General Manager for Latin America, that's not happening at Nintendo. In an interview, he made it clear the company has no plans to stop selling physical games, simply because it knows how much fans love them.

"Historically, we've always taken a fairly neutral stance, right? We make decisions based on consumer preferences, and we place a lot of value on their choices," he said.

He went on to point out that Nintendo's newest hardware is barely out of the gate. The Switch 2 has only been on the market for a little over a year, and it supports both digital and physical games out of the box. That dual support is a deliberate part of the pitch.

"We have no plans to abandon physical games, and we know how much fans love them," van Zyll added. "So our stance has always been to stay neutral and make choices based on consumer preferences."

That's a pretty reassuring message if you're the type who still likes lining your shelf with game boxes. Sony's 2028 disc deadline has made the physical-versus-digital debate louder than ever, and Nintendo's position puts it at odds with its rival — at least for now.

Of course, "neutral" doesn't mean "forever." Nintendo's stance is built around listening to what players actually want, so as long as there's demand for cartridges and boxes, the company seems happy to keep making them. The moment that changes, though, so could the strategy.

For now, though, your physical collection is safe. So tell us — do you still buy physical copies when you can, or have you gone all-in on digital?