Nier series director Yoko Taro has expressed his concerns over the decline of physical video games, after Nintendo started to replace some Switch 2 cartridges with Game-Key Cards, and PlayStation announced plans to end physical disc production for new games in 2028.
Following up from a tweet in which he showcases his physical copy of Hi-Fi Rush, the legendary game designer writes about how he is "saddened" by the loss of physical games. Yoko thought that publishers would continue to distribute games physically in some form, but now believes the industry is going in a different direction.
個人的に物理メディアがなくなるのはさみしい限りだけど、時代の流れなんでしょうね。物理流通を握ってる事自体は steam などに比べてアドバンテージと言えるから、ＤＬ化が推進されても高額な限定版だけ物理、みたいな（ＣＤ流通的な）未来が来ると思ってたけど。ハズレて残念。 https://t.co/25PmkG836mJuly 19, 2026
As translated by GamesRadar+, Yoko says: "Personally, I'm saddened by the loss of physical media, but that's just the way things are going." He goes on to explain that he never thought physical media would be phased out completely.
"As keeping control of physical distribution has its advantages compared to just releasing games on Steam etc, I thought that in the future, even if digital game downloads were pushed, there would still be expensive limited editions (like what we see with CDs). Seems I was wrong," he writes.
He continues by talking about Nintendo's controversial Game-Key Cards, which the company has been offering as a replacement for some physical releases. Rather than having the data for the purchased game on the cartridge, Game-Key Cards allow players to download the digital game once they are inserted into the Switch 2.
"Switch 2 keycards are more confusing than normal ROMs," Yoko says. "And they're specified with a huge label on the cover of the box like 'THIS IS A KEY CARD.' I guess that's just the future…"
It seems as though like many players, Yoko has resigned himself to a future without physical games despite how unpopular Sony's announcement has been.
