Topic: Switch Physical Boxed Games List & Release Dates (US & CA)

I'm gonna go broke. I bought all the following:

• Persona 5 Royal 1 More Collector edition
• Persona 5 Royal launch steelbook edition
• Atelier Ryza 3 Collector edition
• Octopath Traveler II Collector edition
• Octopath Traveler II steelbook edition EU import
• Espgaluda II LRG release preorder from eBay, as I just got into shmups and preorders closed a month ago, so that's $50 extra down the drain to the scalp-masters

All in addition to physical versions of as many of the 54 shmups I recently ordered digitally that also had physical releases...

Why must I be so impulsive and compulsive about this stuff... I can't wait for Switch 2 when I make the full transition to digital only and can chop out like $6,000 per year of extra needless expense.

Octopath Traveler II, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line, and Tales of Symphonia Remastered all made it into the AmazonNA top 100 Switch games yesterday.

Yeah, I saw a quick video, it looked good but I can't find many reviews.

Are you assuming the next console gen will finally eliminate physical media? Do we know that? I'm scared and angry that things are going in that direction.

I think if people just bought the standard editions instead of the hundreds of dollars CEs, the limited game companies would move away from the obscene prices.

@Hamstrman
No.

I simply made the decision to switch to digital only with Switch 2. I already have 500+ physical games for Switch, so I don't want to do it now and have a partial collection.

Next gen will be a clean break.

@JaxonH @Hamstrman

Yeah, I'll be digital-only on the next Nintendo platform as well. As an aside, I'm under the assumption that the Switch successor won't be backwards compatible with the current Switch's cartridges. But that's the perspective of a pessimist, I prefer to assume the worst. But I hope I'm wrong.

@Magician What would change the Switch successor does have backwards compatibility?

@MarioBrickLayer If the Switch successor has backwards compatibility with Switch cartridges I would continue to collect for the platform.

@Magician @JaxonH - I have officially surpassed 1,300 games for Switch physical. I enjoy the hunt where I can, but I won't be making a transition to digital.

I simply hate the idea of my right to play a game I bought tethered to the company's decision. I don't hate digital outright, and will buy if the desire outweighs the concern.

But yeah, as one who has had Steam uninstall Hatred when that whole debacle came about, can't say I'd sign on to an all digital format. Hopeful that Switch 2 is backwards.

@Paraka That's a massive part of the reason I'll always prefer physical media to digital. Between Nintendo shuttering almost every other eShop/Shop Channel, I don't want to risk it if I can help it.

@Hamstrman Being a Japanese company finding much success in Japan with physical media (Splatoon 3 sold nearly 2 million in the first couple of days!) and Nintendo selling the carts to publishers, I think them abandoning physical media completely unlikely. Didn't the Switch cart outperfom Dvds in the UK or something recently too? Yeah, I can't see them actively wanting to get rid.

Nintendo won't abandon physical. Not a chance.

I understand ppl's fears of digital, but personally I don't share those fears. I own some 500 games digitally on Switch, another 300 digitally on Steam, another 100 digitally on PS5/XS... and I've never once had any issue with losing access to a game. I understand on occasion there's an outlier- some game gets removed or what have you. But for 99.9999% of games that's not an issue. So to me it feels like driving a car. Could I get in an accident? Sure. But it's extremely unlikely, to the point the benefits far out weigh the negligible risk. Besides which, even if that did happen to a game, I wouldn't be too upset over 1 game when I own basically 1,000 games. On top of which, once I have a game downloaded that I paid for, it's mine and nobody can take it from me.

But that's just me.

@JaxonH Assuming you are still playing your Switch in 10 years, lets assume Nintendo have shut their Switch EShop by then (highly unlikely), I don't think you'd be able to access your games if your Switch broke and you bought a replacement on Ebay, there wouldn't be a way to move your content over as I understand it.

@MarioBrickLayer
That's true.

However.

The eShop will still be around in 10 yrs for redownloads. Even now in 2022, 16 yrs later, you can still redownload Wii games, and Wii U games. Can't buy new games, but you can redownload. And that was before they integrated with online accounts. The modern eShop will last even longer. 25 yrs minimum.

By that point I'll be nearly 60 years old close to retirement, and, even if they stop redownloads, you'd still need the system to break. Which, that's extremely unlikely because at that point it will be a legacy system not played often, preserving it's lifespan. On top of which, I always keep a 2nd Switch with all my games downloaded. So even if something happened I could make that my primary.

It would take an act of God for 25+ years to go by, and then my Switch breaks, and then my second Switch breaks, all before I'm dead and gone.

@JaxonH I didn't realise you could download all of your games to multiple switches? I was hoping to pick up a couple of switches hopefully heavily discounted in a few years when it's been discontinued!

@MarioBrickLayer
Oh ya. You can have an unlimited number of Switches with your games downloaded to. Only one can be your primary, while the others are secondary. The secondary does a quick online check when launching a game to ensure the primary system isn't currently playing it.

At any time you can deactivate your primary Switch (either via eShop of the primary Switch or via website), and the next Switch you launch the eShop from becomes your new primary.

@JaxonH You can still make purchases on the Wii U eShop. You just have to load the balance up on Switch. I still have some final purchases I need to make before it's completely shuttered.

Perhaps not, but more and more games will likely require a digital download due to the data restrictions of physical.

I aggressively collect Switch because I feel it may be one of the last Nintendo platforms where physical will flourish. Remember when Netflix was mail order DVD's and they switched to streaming - most doubted that concept. I see the same for video games, unfortunately.

@Belexes
You're probably right about that. Physical will continue, but file sizes next gen will be at least twice as large, meanwhile cartridge costs rise exponentially as size increases.

Meaning, more and more we'll get mandatory downloads and digital only releases.

Which... I'm OK with. I resisted it for a long time, to the point of pulling my hair out in frustration any time a game required a download. Until that fateful day I just gave into digital and embraced it as the new standard. Ever since it's like a weight lifted off my shoulders.

Unfortunately, old habits die hard, and half a Switch collection simply will not do. Either go big or go home. I either want a complete Switch collection physically or none at all (by complete I don't mean complete complete, but as in, "every game I'm interested in).

Physical will be a round for the indefinite future. Until the day cloud streaming advances to the point you can play games without noticing any difference from native, it won't break through. And gaming is particularly resilient against streaming, more so than movies and music, which, even movies still have a sizeable physical market.

But ya, enjoy it while it lasts.

A new shmup, Sophstar, via Red Art Games. And a CE for Rain Code from Spike Chunsoft.