Nintendo has no intention of killing the cartridge, at least not yet. Bill van Zyll, the company's VP and general manager for Latin America, used a recent appearance to restate a position Nintendo has held for years: physical games are staying, and an all-digital future is not on the roadmap.

As reported by Eurogamer, van Zyll framed the decision as a continuation of existing policy rather than a new commitment. The same claim was carried by the channel Geeks + Gamers, though that video drew on the same remarks rather than offering an independent account, so this is one statement traveling through two outlets, not two confirmations of it.

The Business Case Nobody States Out Loud

Treat this as a reaffirmation and not a surprise, because the economics favor Nintendo keeping cartridges around. A physical release gives Nintendo a second sale every time a copy changes hands at a used-game counter, where the original publisher collects nothing but the shelf space still carries its branding and its install base. It also protects Nintendo from the one argument digital storefronts can never fully answer: what happens to a library when a server, a license, or a company's patience runs out. A plastic cartridge in a drawer answers that question by simply existing.

Compare that to the posture of publishers who have pushed hardest toward all-digital catalogs, where the incentive runs the other way. Digital sales carry no manufacturing cost, no distribution partner taking a cut, and no secondhand market cutting into day-one revenue. Nintendo's hardware model, built on first-party exclusives and a loyal collector base, does not need that same squeeze. Physical media is not a concession to tradition. It is a revenue structure that still works for the company making the decision.

What This Does and Does Not Promise

Van Zyll's comments reaffirm existing policy rather than announce a new one
No production numbers, release slate, or hardware specifics for Switch 2 physical support were given
The statement was made regionally, in a Latin America context, not as a global platform announcement

None of this guarantees every future Nintendo release ships on a cartridge, and the company has trimmed physical runs before on titles it judged would sell better digitally. What it confirms is a default setting, not a contract. Retailers and collectors get to keep planning around physical shelf space for now, which is exactly the audience this kind of statement is built to reassure.