wow they are really waving their physical dick in sony faces about going all digital. this is basically the most taunting I've ever see them do to them
Much like back in 2018 when Sony not only locked Fortnite players who played on PS4 to the PS4 version, but also prevented crossplay with Xbox One and Switch version (i.e. only crossplay with PC version) - all to try to increase PS4 sales numbers and make more money. The
2018 Crossplay Trailer for the Switch version of Minecraft, which showed two people playing in the same multiplayer world through the Switch and Xbox One simultaneously, felt like the biggest dual middle finger towards Sony's trademark stupidity-arrogance from both Nintendo
and Microsoft. It was a big enough public roast that Sony was practically
forced to allow crossplay with Microsoft's and Nintendo's consoles to save face.
This whole scenario is essentially history repeating itself. Let's see if Sony's smart enough to realize that and change their plans before Nintendo joins in on the taunting (Nintendo's non-Pokemon 1st-party games are still fully on cartridge, and they've shown no signs of changing that for the foreseeably future).
If it wasn't for the fact that they would still have actual game data on these discs, it would feel a bit like Xbox version of the Switch 2 Key-Cards, so this feels like a step in the smart direction. Nintendo could learn a thing or two, and most definitely Sony.
Nintendo already knows. Their 1st-party Switch 2-exclusive games (save for Pokemon, which is in a unique quasi-1st-party/3rd-party state that changes depending on platform and region) are all stored on physical cartridge. It basically makes what many Xbox discs do - install from disc to console - completely redundant, since cartridge read speed is much faster than disc read speed, and can thus be read directly from the cartridge.
Game Key Cards are primarily for third-party publishers, because otherwise many of those publishers would either not release on Switch 2 at all, or would use "code-in-a-box" to force digital purchases/downloads regardless while still maintaining retail space, just to avoid paying cartridge fees. (Funny enough, EA
still went with "code-in-a-box", even when Nintendo tried to meet 3rd-party publisher halfway and EA's game, as usual, exceeded the maximum cartridge capacity. Because EA
HATES the used games market and customers having even the
slightest bit of ownership over their games.)
