PlayStation’s Shift Away From PS5/PS6 Physical Copies: What It Means for Nintendo
Console players are having a rough week, with another big push toward an all-digital future. The latest reports say PlayStation will stop putting out physical releases for PS5 and PS6 starting in January 2028. On top of that, there are indications that Xbox plans to follow a similar path with its upcoming next system, Project Helix.
If you’re the kind of gamer who still prefers grabbing boxed copies, this news doesn’t exactly feel good. Still, there are other ecosystems you can lean on—Steam is the obvious choice for digital, but if you want to keep traditional physical media in your routine, Nintendo is the most immediate alternative.
Nintendo Won’t Be Swayed By PlayStation’s All-Digital Push
Nintendo has a long habit of moving to its own rhythm, often sitting a little apart while the rest of the industry tries to outdo itself in questionable PR decisions. Even when trends shift across the market, the company tends to do things its way, and analysts expect this pattern to hold as physical releases gradually get pushed aside.
The view comes from Circana senior director and video game industry advisor Mat Piscatella, who said in a recent interview that Nintendo is “unlikely” to adjust its plans based on what PlayStation or Xbox choose to do. In his assessment, Nintendo will keep being Nintendo “for now,” rather than react to competitors’ strategies.
Meanwhile, Xbox has reportedly been working to make sure physical game collections still carry weight as the industry moves toward a fully digital setup. The idea is that even with the long-term direction changing, players who buy discs or boxes shouldn’t feel like their habits are about to become irrelevant overnight.
Piscatella’s perspective on Nintendo is blunt: “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 adds, “Nintendo is going to be Nintendo, for better and/or worse.”
He also points out that retail already leans heavily into Nintendo support, and that trend has likely been growing over the past few years. Piscatella notes that Nintendo has maintained a very strong share of physical software and hardware sales, especially since the launch of Switch 2, suggesting stores and shoppers may keep reinforcing that demand.
That said, none of this should be treated as a promise that Nintendo will never step away from physical releases. The company has already experimented with its own controversial approach to ownership through its Game Key Card system. Even so, Nintendo currently sells far more physical copies than PlayStation does, which makes it easy to imagine the company sticking with cartridges until the balance between digital and physical shifts more noticeably and faster than it has so far.
