Nintendo Physical Game Sales Made Up 47% Of All UK Retail Game Sales In 2021

Q : Do you still purchase physical games ?

Me : YES, DUH !
Let's Get Physical, Physical....

I still purchase all first party games physical, and about 90% of third party games I buy physical when offered.

I can't believe how much Fifa is selling still. The games, much like Madden and NBA2K, look identical from release to release to me.

@Justifier I used to go by all digital, but I've been slowly getting back into physical games just to scratch that collecter's itch for me. I like physically owning my games, however, digital is definitely more convenient.

@StarPoint
At least NBA2K on the Switch tries to innovate as much as their other console counterparts. FIFA on the Switch is pretty much a replica of a 2016 game with a new coat of paint. Worst of the worst in terms of annual franchises.

Minecraft 18.3% digital? That doesn't sound right, of all the games listed I'd expect that to have higher digital purchases than most

At least 20, 30 years from now those physical media will hold some value. Unlike digital. Also on those times at last the European physical games are not slowed down incompatible trash, like it once were.

@Justifier
Aside from collection purposes, I definitely see a full level of justification for buying all digital on Xbox. Discs are about as pointless as those digital codes found in physical boxes, and Game Pass pretty much nixes everything.

But for the Switch, different story. The physical games actually save some storage, so I see some value to them. Plus, game sharing isn't as easy looking at Nintendo.

@Pachrisu Not a Minecraft player, but is online a requirement to play? I'd expect a really high digital percentage for such a game.

@abdias
You're right. Also, physical media will never be phased out (unless we're on the topic of the environment) because it serves as justification for expensive prices of games. Plus, Nintendo still have them a reason to exist due to how much storage they save.

I´m all DIGITAL today. Much better. I don´t need exchange the cartridge all the time.

I buy exclusively physical on Nintendo products. Their last 3 store fronts have a vote of no confidence. I can soft mod these machines easy enough to dump my roms onto the device now to get around this problem, then put the game some place safe or on display.

@Rykdrew people who buy physical don't technically need to do this either. ROM dumpers exist. Every Nintendo system I own I have some sort of ROM library dumped from my physical games. Did that to my 3DS just recently.

The vast majority of games I buy are physical. I only buy digital if it's a first party title I have zero intention on ever wanting to sell/trade like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or Mario Odyssey (basically anything Mario). And if there's a special edition offered for a game I want, I will always try for it instead of digital. I just wish Nintendo would start showing all regions some special edition love and not just dump them all in Japan or Europe only (I'm looking at you, Triangle Strategy, Pokemon Arceus, Link's Awakening, and a slew of others that never saw a North American special edition).

@NotSoCryptic i don´t know how it works...but i have 4000+ physical games, 33 consoles, since Intellivision and it´s a PAIN to clean all the boxes every month and the space i need to keep all these cartridges/cds/dvds....that´s because all of this is not in my home. It´s inside my mother´s house. But man...it´s a pain....one day i´ll sell all of this. I won´t never play these games again.

Please don't call them cartridges - it's just plain wrong.

Gotta wonder if the old SD cards are getting full and people are buying physical instead.

I buy digital when it's digital only, or a game isn't worth the full price and wait for a sale. Beside that I am a physical guy

Physical as much as possible for me.

@Pachrisu I assume a lot of parents are buying Minecraft for their kids

@Rykdrew Yes. Please sell them. That is the whole point about physical games. They are yours to sell. Let someone who can give those games love, appreciation, and usage a chance. I'm willing to best a good number of your 4000+ games are not available through a digital marketplace. Which is the very position I'm taking here.

Contrary to the maybe 500 games you have digital if you started buying as early as 2006. Those digital games are locked to your system. You can't sell them. You're not going to play them again. That digital license dies with you. Making things difficult for preservation of history, research from developers and aspiring developers, and just general fans of the medium who might find a love for older titles.

At the same time you can have your cake and eat it too if convenience is your jam. 30 minutes is generally all it takes to soft mod a nintendo system. Then you just dump away. If you're living in a world where you wish VC still exists, guess what modders tend to do: port emulators for those games. I have every zelda game on my Switch except for 4 titles with out Nintendo's online services. I own copies of them.

@NotSoCryptic Thanks for your answer. makes a lot of sense. I got used to buying digital on Steam, because it's so cheap. Games as Tekken 7 I paid U$6.90 for example. On the Switch I buy less games because of the prices. Most of the games I like are also on Steam and I end up buying digital there because it costs less than 1 liter of gasoline. But, what you wrote was perfect. There isn't a single counter-argument to what you've written.

#PhysicalMedia4Life #OwnershipNotRentals

I wish rebellion would release strange brigade on physical

I don't like digital but if games only had digital version it's what I'll take for that moment. If there's a digital and physical version, I take physical any day. If there's disc and cart of a game, I take the cart any day over disc. I never like disc even though I like the PSP more than the PS Vita.

Cloud games are DOA and digital eShop are better for game retentions.

I was going digital (about 50/50) on WiiU but have changed to physical for Switch.
I don't trust Nintendo to keep their digital store open long term, so all Nintendo specific/1st party games I'm only getting on Cartridge so I can always play them in the future.
All except for Mario Kart I get both physical and digital so I can actually share with my non MK owing friends!
On my "other" console I am all digital now

The main reason I'm still buying physical is because, unlike the Wii U and the 3DS, a majority of Switch games I own also have updates and DLC and I've bought more games digitally for the Switch than either system and consequently those 32GB filled up faster, too. Granted I have a 128GB card but I know eventually that won't be enough.
Plus in the cases of digital games I've bought physically, the DLC and updates are already in the Switch cartridge, no need for extra downloads unless more come after their releases.

That mentality is what made me buy Tetris 99, Sonic Mania Plus, Snippeeclips Plus and Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain physically. Eventually that'll be the case for Cruis'n Blast and Cuphead (whenever that happens and it's not one of those "limited run" companies).

Well, PS5 and XBox One have almost no games so this sounds like too little if anything. I guess it's mainly lingering sales from last gen platforms.

That's a pretty big number for Physical purchase of Switch games. And here we have people talking about Cloud but that is DOA already like Stradia....o .. .Stadia.

All physical.
245+ N64 games
80+ GameCube games
80+ Wii games
80+ Wii U games
70+ Switch games
50+ PS4 games.

Still buying Wii U, Cube, PS4 and Switch games regularly.

Love being able to look through my collection and picking out games I haven't played yet or want to play.
They look great too
Love a good box art.

Ah yes, gotta own that 12th copy of GTA V. Seriously why does that game still sell?

sadly here in Brazil Switch physical games are extremely expensive.

I'm had enough of download its not worth it
I am. Going back to physical games it's the only way to go.

I went digital on PS and i regret it with all my heart, it got to the point were i stoped buying games due to storage restrains

FIFA needs to stop being supported

I think 99% of my games are physical, but some of them have cost me quite a lot because of delivery charges. But I do not regret it one bit as I don't trust digital.

@Bunkerneath Yo, off-topic question: What game is your profile picture from? Never seen it, but it looks sick!

@Topic: I've actually gotten a lot more comfortable with buying digital games lately. And with comfortable, I mean COMFORTABLE. As in, in my mind I'd still prefer getting most of those physically, but often enough I am so much of a lazy ***** that I'd rather just get them downloaded. But with games of series I REALLY care about and already know I'll love them (like MHRise, or upcoming Kirby AtfL), I'm still buying those physical.

@NDragon1412 Its call Mulaka

Got the physical from First Press Games, its not bad

@NDragon1412 What one forgets is eShop games are tied to the account that buys the Digital games. And if you plan to give or sell the game your stuck with it. And any family members you want to give them or send them to or re-sell you stuck with the product for life. So there is a cost to only going Digital once you are done or no longer want the game.

@SwitchForce Certainly a real issue for many. But not for me. I NEVER ever wanted to sell any of my games (except TECHNICALLY once where I took a GameStop "trade in 2 games, get new blockbuster game for 10 bucks" offer). And as far as sharing with family members goes - my bro has my account on his Switch. As long as I'm not playing my (digital) games, he can.