Circana says that it seems unlikely that Nintendo will abandon physical media

With news yesterday that PlayStation will no longer be offering physical games from January 2028 and Xbox presumably doing the same with their next console, Project Helix, which is scheduled for late next year, many have been wondering what Nintendo will do. VGC caught up with Circana senior director and video game industry advisor Mat Piscatella who said that it was inevitable that Sony and presumably Microsoft will abandon physical games as “sales of new physical video games have fallen every year since the late 2000s.”

When it comes to Nintendo, Mat Piscatella said it all remains up in the air, but the firm has held a “very strong share” of physical software with the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 and that retail has “leaned into Nintendo support more and more” meaning he doesn’t expect physical Nintendo games to go anywhere soon. Here’s what he said:

“Sales of new physical video games have fallen every year since the late 2000s.  You may have seen the chart I posted over on Bluesky that has the US data for 12 months ending May. The US physical market has recently seen the slightest growth because of Nintendo Switch 2, but that won’t last.

“My gut says Nintendo does what Nintendo wants to do, and I don’t see them changing anything in their plans based on what Sony or Microsoft do on anything, really,” he explained. “Nintendo is going to be Nintendo, for better and/or worse.

“Retail has already leaned into Nintendo support more and more over the past few years (Nintendo also holds very strong share of physical software and hardware sales since the launch of Switch 2 in particular), so this could continue to increase, sure.

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