NIS President Says No Sales Difference Between Game-Key Cards and Traditional Physical Releases

Nippon Ichi Software president Kenzo Saruhashi said in a recent interview that the company does not see a noticeable difference in sales between Nintendo Switch 2 Game-Key Cards and traditional physical releases on other platforms.

The comments came during a discussion with RPG Site about Nintendo's new Game-Key Card format for Switch 2 physical releases. Some Switch 2 players have expressed concerns that Game-Key Cards reduce the feeling of ownership since game data is not stored directly on the card.

Saruhashi responded: "Currently, we don't see a difference in the sales between them." He added that NIS is monitoring the situation closely but has not observed any meaningful impact on software sales.

The president also addressed Sony's previously announced plan to stop producing physical discs for new PlayStation titles starting in 2028. He said NIS is on the same page as other publishers and does not yet know Sony's long-term intentions regarding physical media.

"We don't know if disc sales are just going to go completely away or not," Saruhashi said. "As you know, we make a lot of limited editions. We like to add a lot of goodies in them, especially NIS America. As for the future and what's going to happen, we're paying very close attention to the market reaction and we don't plan to stop."

NIS's next major global release is Village in the Shade, launching on October 27 for PS5, Switch 2, Switch, and PC via Steam in the West.