As Sony plans to end the production of discs, Nintendo says 38.5% of its sales come from physical copies
While Sony commits to ending the production of game discs, Nintendo has reported that almost 40% of its software sales are physical.
That's according to Nintendo's latest financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year ending March 2027, which confirms that between March 30 and June 30, 2026, 61.5% of Nintendo's sales were from digital purchases, meaning 38.5% came from physical sales.
The Mario maker reports that in the previous quarter, it earned 132.7 billion yen from digital sales alone, a 90% year-on-year increase and a 2.2% increase in the proportion of digital sales compared to the same time last year.
Software sales for the Switch 2 also increased by 9.2% year-on-year to 9.46 million units, and original Switch software increased by 38.6% year-on-year to 33.81 million units.
However, Nintendo confirmed the 61.5% digital sales include other software, such as Switch Online subscriptions, Switch 2 Edition upgrades, download-only titles, and downloadable content (DLC) purchases, which would boost digital sales. It also doesn't include digital copies of Mario Kart World, that would be bundled with a console.
Meanwhile, for physical units, net sales for software bundled with hardware are classified as hardware sales.
"As a result, although bundled software such as Mario Kart World is included in the number of software units sold, the corresponding revenue is not recognized as software sales or digital sales," Nintendo said.
Nevertheless, the ratio is significant, and 38.5% in physical sales suggests that Nintendo doesn't plan to abandon boxed games any time soon, unlike Sony.
The PlayStation company shared its plan to retire the production of game discs by January 2028 last month, and has recently confirmed that it is "cautiously" moving forward with its decision despite the backlash (via IGN).
Although some game companies are willing to fight to keep physical games alive, Capcom has recently stated it's unlikely to be significantly impacted by the death of physical games, because 90% of its unit sales are digital.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
➡️ Read our full guide to the best gaming consoles
1. Best overall:
PlayStation 5 Slim
2. Best budget:
Xbox Series S
3. Best handheld:
Nintendo Switch 2
4. Most powerful:
PlayStation 5 Pro
Demi is a freelance games journalist who helps cover gaming news at TechRadar. She's been a games writer for five years and has written for outlets such as GameSpot, NME, and GamesRadar, covering news, features, and reviews. Outside of writing, she plays a lot of RPGs and talks far too much about Star Wars on X.
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.