Nintendo will keep physical game cartridges while Sony and Xbox go digital

Physical game media is dying fast — but not at Nintendo. As Sony prepares to stop producing PlayStation game discs by January 2028 and Microsoft explores disc-less Xbox hardware, the Switch maker looks set to keep cartridges alive for the foreseeable future. That's the view of Mat Piscatella, a games industry analyst at research firm Circana, whose data tracks where consumer spending actually goes.

The last cartridge company

Piscatella's case, outlined by VGC, is straightforward: Nintendo operates differently from Sony and Microsoft. It's self-sufficient, controls its own platform top to bottom, and has little reason to follow a trend driven by rivals chasing digital revenue margins. He's clear this is informed opinion, not insider knowledge — but it's grounded in a track record of Nintendo doing things its own way.

The Switch 2, confirmed for 2025, supports both physical cartridges and digital downloads, and plays existing physical Switch games via backward compatibility, per TechRadar. Piscatella sees no Nintendo successor console coming within the next six or seven years, meaning cartridges stay in the picture well into the 2030s.

A market in freefall

The numbers behind the industry pivot are stark. US physical game spending hit $1.5 billion in 2025 — the lowest figure recorded since Circana began tracking in 1995. Around 66% of Xbox Series consoles sold without a disc drive. PS5 digital edition sales ran at 78–85% of total units through late 2025.

The shift didn't happen overnight. Piscatella argues the move toward digital distribution started roughly twenty years ago; the disc's decline has been steady since. GTA 6, due November 2026, underlines how far things have gone — Rockstar is shipping it code-in-box only, with no physical disc at all. Even "physical" AAA releases are becoming marketing boxes with a download code inside.

What this means for buyers

If you prefer owning a cartridge you can resell, lend, or put on a shelf, Nintendo remains the only major console maker planning to support that. Piscatella notes physical editions won't vanish entirely across the industry either — publishers may lean harder into collector's editions, bundled merchandise, and box art to justify the format without a disc inside.

For Switch 2 buyers, the choice between buying physical or digital stays open. That's increasingly rare in the console market, and worth factoring in if media ownership matters to you.