CD Projekt said ditching game-key cards for Cyberpunk 2077 on Switch 2 was "the right thing to do," and it's apparently paid off because 75% of that version's sales were physical

Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the vanishingly few third-party Switch 2 titles to have a proper physical cartridge rather than a game-key card, and it seems that decision is paying off for developer CD Projekt Red. The company says that over 75% of Switch 2 copies of Cyberpunk 2077 sold were physical.

That's according to CD Projekt Red's latest financial report (via VGC). A slide in that presentation notes that physical copies make up 75.4% of Cyberpunk 2077's Switch 2 sales for the month of June, leaving digital with a 24.6% share. It's worth noting that the physical number is for "sell in" copies, which includes those still sitting on store shelves and retail warehouses that haven't yet been purchased by consumers.

Still, those numbers are significant. A report from GamesIndustry.biz in 2024 suggested that, in Europe, just 25% of new games were sold physically that year. However, 65% of third-party games sold for the original Switch in that stretch were physical. That leaves us with two lessons: Nintendo fans still love physical games, and Cyberpunk 2077's Switch 2 port has a substantially bigger physical split than most titles.

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CD Projekt previously called having a physical cartridge rather than a game-key card "the right thing to do," and that sentiment resonated with the vocal group of physical game collectors who had been decrying the push to game-key cards all along. Industry analysts suggest that game-key cards aren't really a major issue for most players, though. While Cyberpunk 2077 was the best-selling third-party Switch 2 game at launch, it wasn't that far ahead of Street Fighter 6, which was sold on a game-key card.

Still, the numbers reported by CD Projekt Red today suggest that early adopters of Cyberpunk 2077 in Switch 2 are hungrier for true physical games than most. The dust still hasn't settled on the game-key card controversy, but it seems the gamble on real cartridges is paying off for now.

Physical, digital, or otherwise, Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the best Switch 2 games so far.