Topic: Switch 2, the last bastion of physical game collecting.

Sony have announced that they'll be ending production of Blu-ray disc media, "all models" of Blu-ray, not just recordable Blu-ray. Welcome to the all-digital future, my friends. Do you want a physical copy for Persona 6? Consider buying a Switch 2.

It's wild, Sony and Phillips co-opted disc-based media in the early 80's. Now it's over.

The online argument against this is that, "Sony aren't the only producers of blu-ray discs." Which is fair. But Panasonic, Phillips, and Sony distribute the license to produce blu-ray discs. Are Sony and Playstation going to pay a different company to produce blu-ray discs, and have that disc manufacturer press PS5 games onto them? Ehhhh, I don't believe they will.

Trump's incoming tariffs kicking every physical video game collector right in the jewels out here.

The bad news? The classic "Switch-tax" is about to get larger and hit harder.

For context, Mexico is the largest producer of Playstation blu-ray discs.

Suddenly $100 for a physical copy of GTA VI doesn't seem like a wild concept.

https://www.sony.jp/rec-media/info2/20250123.html

@Magician So is Trump also trying to push the switch to all digital at a faster rate than if he didn’t plan on imposing tariffs?

@Magician
I can only find info on Sony stopping the production of recordable Blu-Rays, not the ones with media already on them, such as movies and games.

Currently, what will stop is the production of blank Bluray discs in Japan.

"In Japan, we have a culture to record TV programs in the Blu-ray disc and we sell blank storage Blu-ray discs for this use only in Japan. The subject products of this notification are these discs. No other products (recorded Blu-Ray contain our TV programs/movie sold by Sony Pictures or Blu-ray player sold by Sony Corporation etc…) are the scope of this notification."

Physical is not going to die yet.

I don't consider true physical games to exist in the Switch world. Many games need a download to be even playable. Once that online service goes down, that physical media is useless. The main advantage is not the physical nature, but the fact that game ownership is transferable.

And on a related note, I'm still bummed that the Switch 2 will not have a second gamecard slot.

@cwong15 I mean, why would they need a second slot if they don’t make any significant changes for Switch 2 cartridges based on physical appearance?

@MrCarlos46
The only reason I can think of would be an easy way to trade Pokémon between games. But they don't even let us do that with the digital versions, so yeah...
Less swapping between cartridges, perhaps?

@MrCarlos46 For me, it's about the hassle of swapping out cartridges. It's made more of a hassle because my Switch often tells me to reinsert the cartridge. It's more of an issue with a hybrid console than a portable, since we're talking about something that would be shared by the family. The swapping hassle is the biggest downside to physical media for me.

@Dimjimmer

Not just yet, sure. But it's fair to assume that the next Xbox (2026) and Playstation 6 (2027) consoles will ship without a disc drive. Or even offer a disc drive as an add-on option.

A recent survey came back with the finding that 95% of games sales in 2023 were digital. That's skewed a bit by PC and mobile markets but console physical sales are also in the minority now, with around 83% of being digital.

I don't think that physical media is dead though. It just need to be acknowledged as a niche market and that an increasing proportion of buyers are collectors, who want better quality packaging and more than just the bare media in the box.

I’m walking away from physical starting with Switch 2. I plan on building a second, smaller gaming PC and opening a steam account so that will be digital only as well. As of right now those are my only plans for next gen as I will ride out the Xbox/ps5 and then switch to PC for those games.

I can’t deal with or afford physical anymore. So I am pretty excited to just buy a bunch of microsd cards and a beefy ssd and call it a day.

I think Switch 2 will be my last console overall cause the way the direction of gaming is taking & the whole digital mess, I'm gonna retire from gaming entirely. Just gonna focus gathering as many blu-ray players as I can & focus on movies instead. I'm just about done with it all. Unless something changes, I doubt I'll stay in gaming for long.

I think I feel more joy from buying films on Blu-ray more than anything. Plus, DVD & Blu-rays cost way less than games anyways.

Digital killed the physical star lol. In all seriousness I don't buy much physical version of games anymore. For one thing it's just easier getting a digital copy. I don't have to go to a physical store, don't have to worry about if the store is going to have what I want in stock. I don't have to waste my day off installing a game that I just got my disc for, and best of all it doesn't take up so much space to store.

@Tasuki For me, it's the price of games overall that's starting to get to me. Both digital & physical. I'll be glad when I'm done with this blasted hobby. although mobile gaming I'm still stuck in. Movies say hi to me already. Heh.

@DanijoEX-the-Pierrot Yeah that too. I tend to find the sale of digital games alot better then physical. So many times I see a physical copy of a game on sale at places like Walmart or Target but then I find the exactly games digital $10 or more less on the digital store front.

Except sadly not Nintendo games.

Nintendo are at least consistent with their discounting. When you'll never get more than 33% off the digital release, it's pretty obvious when a physical copy is a bargain worth snapping up.

@NeonPizza Yeah the box art from the 80 and 90s was great. I still of course have all my Genny boxes since they also double as game cases. I had all my NES boxes too up untill a few years ago when I lost them in a fire, still sad about that. The only Nintendo boxes I have left from that period is the Mario Paint box and the Earthbound one.

I've never had much luck with physical games; they've been stolen, lost while moving, damaged by both water amd impact. Plus when I was a kid my parents didn't really consider me to own things so they simply got rid of the consoles and games at some point. I also had a PC gaming phase.

I only have a handful of physical Switch games and tons of digital ones. And one of my few physical Switch games is Ring Fit which never had a digital version. I plan to go all digital for Switch 2 unless it has more physical-only games which I hope it doesn't. Not being able to resell digital games is a disadvantage but also something I only rarely did.

Nintendo has in recent financial reports had a near 50/50 split with profits from digital versus physical games so I am sure they will continue to support both unless that trend starts veering far more towards digital.

I'm ok with digital distribution of games. I can live with music streaming. But what I can't stand is the rapid and continuing shift towards streaming services for movies

BluRays are a higher quality product than any movie streaming service. Once you have it they can't remove it or edit it. They can't drop the quality. They can't choose to restrict how you play it or throw advertisements into it. They can't up the price

And yet nobody seems to care

But make it about games where the majority of these things are not happening? Or to the extent that they are they exist also with physical distribution? Well, for some reason people care. A lot. And they go on about it endlessly. And I don't understand why