Like PlayStation and Xbox users before them, Nintendo’s playerbase community is reeling from the news that PlayStation and Xbox’s days of disc drives and physical game releases (not just a code written in an otherwise empty box, but an actual box containing a disc that players insert into their console) are ending. This apparently won’t go into effect until January 2028, but it’s no less catastrophic for anyone who considers themselves enthusiastic about preserving physical media to have to reconcile with.

The PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles being the last ones to feature discs and disc drives is a tough pill to swallow, even if we aren’t sure when the PS6 and Xbox’s Project Helix are slated to arrive. As for Nintendo, no official or rumored stance has been made regarding what its approach to physical media will be going forward, though fans believe that Nintendo has been making similar strides all along. Grand Theft Auto 6 might’ve been the first Jenga piece pulled, but that tower of blocks is continuing to topple.

It’ll theoretically be a long while until Nintendo releases another new console, as it only recently released the Nintendo Switch 2, whereas the next generation of PlayStation and Xbox could feasibly be right around the corner. Still, fans on Twitter/X consider the clock to be ticking on Nintendo’s behalf and expect it to come forward with an announcement stating that it, too, will be ending physical full-game cartridge releases.

For example, user MentalHealthVT writes, “They already started to remove physical by making key cards instead of putting the full game on it. They want you to feel like you have ownership without actually owning it.” Likewise, user chrysos_i states, “This is extremely unfortunate, a true hit to collectors everywhere.”

That said, user adam02051 is optimistic about Nintendo sticking with physical, believing that there are “too many sales from young kids with their parents in supermarkets, toy stores or such.” It would be interesting to learn whether Nintendo’s playerbase demographic could play a role in it not abandoning physical cartridges, as that would essentially leave the physical market open to it entirely.

Amusingly, Bethesda has seemingly taken its own stance recently with an Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Nintendo Switch 2 post:

Of course, Nintendo discontinuing full-game physical cartridges in favor of game-key cards could be the way that it’s headed anyway. Therefore, pulling the plug on physical media for its current-gen hardware could force Nintendo fans to confront that loss much sooner than PlayStation and Xbox users, depending on how soon it could want to do so.