Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Because trying to sell a game code on a card just isn't as effective.

@DarkRula But it would be cheaper.

I mean let's be honest, you could go full expense and do a card in a box, or fully cheap out and just do a download card.

This is the weird "We dont want to spend money on a card, buuuuut we WILL spend money on all the packaging."

I was going to buy DOOM Eternal but if Bethesda does this physical version with no cart approach for it, I'm skipping it for sure.

They do it because of gifting. It is nicer to give a certain game instead of a gift certificate.They also want the grandma that doesn't shop online to be able to find it in a store.

And the cart is the most expensive part of physical. It is much much slower to fill a cart than it is to fill a disc. This is also why I don't think the carts will be much cheaper in the future either, any gains in loading speed will be offset by bigger games.

It is upsetting, but it's yet another "get with the time" kick in the pants. I'm insanely old-school and "get off my lawn" and whatever, but all-digital is just the way every publisher wants to go. Physical releases are going to be boutique, special-edition (unless you're Wolfenstein...lol) affairs in the near future. I give it a few more years before nearly every publisher goes only digital.

Hopefully Nintendo itself will stay in the space for its first-party and second-party games.

Tbh I feel the next system after the 2 new models should just axe carts and be digital only. Even with carts some games like Doom still require an install. Carts have always been the achilles heel of the switch. Its just not viable.

Well that blows. I still have to get wolfenstein II anyway first

@WebHead Digital only being an option is fine like the rumoured XB1 SAD is a digital only alternative to the XB1S but there should always be a physical option.

@Grumblevolcano why? Switch downloads arent as big as competition and you can take it places where Wi-Fi is strong anyway. Nintendo isn't going back to discs. Carts are too expensive.

@WebHead There’s nothing wrong with a digital only console as long as there’s an alternative version that allows for physical media still available to purchase. However seeing that Japan is still mainly a nation of purchasing games in a physical format, and it being the market Nintendo takes most interest in, I doubt it’ll happen.

Why can every other medium and even pc gaming move to digital but not consoles?

Carts are too expensive and disks are too small.

Moving on is inevitable.

Games are too big.

@Octane I mean I understand it may not be able to be help but i do hope devs try a but harder to keep game sizes in check.

@Octane Yeah the way things are going, there's probably going to be a point next gen where 5 normal games (I'm excluding stuff like music games which have thousands of DLC) fills up a 2TB hard drive.

@WebHead Indeed. Just look at Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice; only 12.52GB. Games don't need to be 50+ GB. That's just bad optimisation. But the thing is, they don't care. Nobody's going to boycott a game because the file size is too big (at least, not yet).

Unfortunately we are just gonna have to deal with it. But really the next Nintendo system should be digital only i feel. Carts are too expensive and discs cant keep up as the game has to install regardless.

@WebHead The point of physical isn't to have the game run directly off the medium; installing the game isn't really an issue. You still have a product you can trade, sell, share and keep for way longer than the online storefront or your HDD is going to last.

If a publisher wants to go digital only, they need to decrease the price of their games significantly as well. I personally wouldn't ever pay €60 for a digital license.

Another day, another thing for gamers to be upset about. Seems like it's never ending

@Octane prices aint going down. Games are getting more and more expensive. Plus i would not be shocked to see digital trade in be launched next gen.

I know gamers are a stubborn lot and don't want a digital future. Its just not realistic for physical to stay forever though.