Nintendo had a pretty quiet year in 2024, all told. Sure, it launched some pretty significant games like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, but there was definitely a sense that the company was starting to wind things down ahead of its big Switch 2 reveal early in 2025.
As such, Nintendo’s performance in 2024 has been greatly attributed to a staggering drop of 26% in UK physical game sales. As highlighted by Chris Dring in his latest The Game Business podcast episode, physical game sales for the Switch dropped by 1.8 million in 2024. By contrast, PlayStation 5 physical sales dropped by 800,000, PlayStation 4 by 600,000, and Xbox by 300,000.
Dring notes that not many people moved away from physical toward digital in 2024, which likely means that the drop was simply down to Nintendo having a generally quieter year than usual.
However, despite Nintendo launching the Switch 2 in June 2025 along with Mario Kart World, the physical retail space will likely continue to struggle thanks to Nintendo’s decision to price digital Switch 2 games lower than physical in the UK. Dring states that he’s not aware of any company doing this before on a wide scale, and the decision will almost certainly drive more people towards digital.
Indeed, retailer GAME commented on the situation, with managing director Nick Arran stating that cheaper digital games presents a “challenge” for the company. It will no doubt prove particularly significant for GAME, as it remains one of the last bastions of the video game retail space, despite a number of controversial decisions in recent years that has seen its presence greatly diminished.
With a tempting Switch 2 console bundle that sharply cuts down the cost of Mario Kart World, cheaper digital games vs. physical, and many publishers seemingly embracing Game-Key Card releases on the Switch 2, it seems like the physical retail space is in for a seriously tough time in the coming months and years.