Nintendo on physical games, says they’re “still a key part of our business”

What does the future of physical games look like for Nintendo? At least for the “immediate future”, it’s still important to the company.

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser recently broached the topic as part of an interview with IGN. In some ways, physical games feel like they’re on their way out. Digital games are only becoming more popular. On top of that, Nintendo is introducing game-key cards with Switch 2. Although consumers do receive a physical cartridge, all of the data needs to be downloaded via the internet before it can function. Nintendo itself is thus far offering full physical games for all of its Switch 2 releases.

During that IGN interview, Bowser noted that physical games are currently “still a key part of our business”. For game-key cards, he indicated that the decision for their introduction “are a way that our publishing partners are able to bring more content onto the platform”.

Bowser’s full words:

“In the immediate future, physical games are still a key part of our business. And we value our relationships in particular with our retailers, and want to make sure we have products available for them to sell to their consumers. When you look at game-key cards, for us, our goal with Nintendo Switch 2 – similar to what we were able to accomplish on Nintendo Switch – is to have the broadest and deepest library of content we possibly can. And that includes our publishing partners. And game-key cards are a way that our publishing partners are able to bring more content onto the platform, deeper and larger, more immersive content on the platform.”

You can keep track of all game-key card releases for Nintendo Switch 2 here.