Sony just confirmed it will stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation titles starting January 2028, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, Nintendo quietly reported that 38.5% of its software sales were still physical in the quarter ending June 30, 2026. That’s not a rounding error. That’s more than a third of the business — the vinyl record of gaming, supposedly obsolete yet stubbornly alive on shelves everywhere. For anyone who’s wondered whether your collection of game cases is becoming a museum exhibit, that number deserves a closer look.
What 38.5% Physical Actually Means
Nintendo’s digital revenue surged, but the fine print matters.
Digital sales hit 132.7 billion yen for the quarter, up 90% year on year, per Nintendo’s own financial results. Digital’s share rose 2.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year. But here’s the asterisk you should care about:
- Nintendo reported a 38.5% physical / 61.5% digital software sales split for Q1 ending June 30, 2026
- Digital sales reached 132.7 billion yen, up 90% year on year
- Nintendo’s digital figure includes Switch Online subscriptions, DLC, and download-only titles — not just full game downloads
- Hardware bundles like Mario Kart World with Switch 2 are excluded from the software sales tally entirely
That bundling makes the digital number look fatter than pure game-download demand would suggest. The 38.5% tells a story, but not the whole story. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella told VGC that Sony’s move is “unlikely to change Nintendo’s plans,” suggesting Nintendo tends to follow its own strategy rather than competitors’ decisions.
Sony Blinks. Nintendo Doesn’t Flinch.
Two console giants are making opposite bets on the future of game ownership.
Sony’s January 2028 cutoff feels like streaming services finally killing DVD extras — everyone saw it coming, but it still stings when it’s official. Nintendo operates on a different wavelength entirely. Analyst commentary and Nintendo’s own investor tracking suggest no current plans to follow Sony’s lead. If you care about resale value, lending games to friends, or simply owning something tangible, that distinction matters right now.
Physical isn’t dead at Nintendo. But it’s slowly shrinking. If that 38.5% drops below 30% by Sony’s 2028 deadline, the conversation about boxed games shifts from “still thriving” to graceful exit — and that’s a marker worth watching.
