After Sony announced that it would stop producing PlayStation physical game discs in January 2028, the production costs of physical games became a hot topic in the industry. According to gaming platform FRVR, citing people familiar with the matter, the manufacturing cost of physical cartridges for Nintendo Switch is about US$12 to US$15, while the cost of Switch2 cartridges is "slightly higher."

Cassettes are twice as expensive as discs! Nintendo spends twice as much as Sony to maintain its physical presence

The same source said that Sony costs about $6.50 per PS5 physical disc to produce, which is much lower than the cost of Nintendo cartridges. This is also one of the key economic factors behind Sony's decision to phase out physical discs - as the proportion of digital games continues to rise, the manufacturing cost of approximately US$6.50 per disc, coupled with logistics, warehousing, retail sharing and other links, has caused the profit margin of physical versions of games to be continuously compressed. It is no longer economically worthwhile for publishers to continue maintaining physical production lines.

Cassettes are twice as expensive as discs! Nintendo spends twice as much as Sony to maintain its physical presence

Physical games are facing an "indestructible cycle" that is difficult to break: the higher the proportion of digital versions of games, the smaller the scale of mass production of physical versions, and it is more difficult to reduce the cost of a single copy. At the same time, retailers' demand for physical game shelf space is shrinking, further accelerating the shrinkage of physical channels. Sony's decision to discontinue the production of optical discs is based on long-term observation of consumer purchasing behavior data - when the vast majority of players have become accustomed to purchasing digital versions directly through the PlayStation Store, continuing to bear the fixed costs of physical production has become a "misallocation of resources."

Cassettes are twice as expensive as discs! Nintendo spends twice as much as Sony to maintain its physical presence

After Sony withdraws from physical disc production, Nintendo will become the only major console manufacturer that still fully supports physical game media. Although the production cost of Switch cartridges is higher, Nintendo has not yet expressed its intention to abandon physical channels.