Sorry, physical collectors.

Earlier this week, Nintendo announced Game Builder Garage for Switch.

Alongside the reveal, we got an early look at the North American box art - confirming a physical release was on the way?

In Europe, Game Builder Garage will be "available in downloadable format only", according to Nintendo's latest release schedule.

What this does mean, though - is that if you're located somewhere in Europe and were planning on picking up a physical version of this game, you'll now probably have to import a copy from another region.

A Nintendo representative also confirmed to Nintendo Life this week that the digital file size of Game Builder Garage would take up 995 MB of space on the Switch?

Will you be picking up a physical or digital copy of this upcoming release?

Was interested but for most digital games I cant see myself paying £20 or more.

I only buy games I wish to play.

I get why people are unhappy about it but physical media is on the way out.

When you can store 100 games on an SD card smaller than a game cartridge, it really no longer makes sense.

Physical media is dying and I am excited for what the future holds.

Particularly with it being something that multiple kids in the family might want to play, mad to not have a shareable cart?

@MaxlRoseGNR just buy a us version.

I'm not opposed to buying digital games but if a game is digital-only at the price of a retail game I'm unlikely to buy it until it gets a sale, whereas if this had a physical release I'd probably have bought it at launch.

@Schizor88 can't play physical games.

Considering there's a physical version everywhere else for this game.

Also people gave the publishers of Crash 4 ***** for not releasing physical either, but look where we are now with Nintendo themselves not wanting to release this game physical in PAL regions.

I was slightly interested in this but I have a policy of not buying into the digital only game crap they pull nowadays - ESPECIALLY if only Europe gets the game digitally.

I read the title as the digital version being Europe exclusive.

I basically refuse to buy games digitally, unless it's digital-only but even then it really depends on the game.

Maybe Nintendo doesn’t believe such a small game should receive an international physical release as it probably wouldn’t sell many copies.

But it just feels off to have it physical for 2 of the 3 primary regions and skip the 3rd, though again Brain Training missed out on an NTSC physical version!

Just glad that it IS a smaller game and not a more notable release of Nintendo's!

Once they start to have their mid-range/mid popularity series as digital only or physical in certain regions, then that's grounds to worry.

so those who want physical can get it.

but then again I just get a physical version from that country?

and if Japan has an English translation version.

Maybe we can finally kill physical game media in a generation.

And why some would want physical media dead altogether boggles my mind.

I can see why people only want to buy physical and why people only want to buy digital?

Personally, I ALWAYS choose physical unless it’s a game that is only available digitally, which accounts for most of the indies I own.

The reason I like buying physical is because I’m somewhat stuck in the past and having a shelf filled with my game collection is a really satisfying and gratifying thing.

Just game how you wanna game.

Plus, physical media won't fall prey to the idiotic censorship that is often seen on streaming services in order to appease perpetually indignant activists?

And hilariously, CD still runs rings around streaming/digital, so I will always buy CDs where I can (and the odd digital purchase if I only want the odd song or if a CD version is not available, though I would not buy a full album digitally if a CD version is available).

And with respect to the Switch, households with multiple consoles can share a single physical copy of a game.

And one of the reasons I am so strongly opposed to DLC is that it renders the physical version less useful in these situations.

If Nintendo routinely reissued their games with the DLC on the cartridge like they did for Pokémon Sword/Shield, I would have no issues with the practice, as I don't buy physical releases to serve as glorified boot discs or for their novelty value of a case (though they are really nice to have as a collector).

@oatmaster You can still play games with a console that's not set as your primary console.

Just not at the same time, but that also goes for a cartridge.

@sanderev You can still play games with a console that's not set as your primary console.

I dont need to own everything I have but I just dont like having subs for everything.

Ofcourse this is just a digital game so you can download it later until you can’t?

I love the Gamepass model, pay £11 a month and play as many games as I want including new releases on day 1.

You do realise that this also applies to physical games nowadays, how many games are actually released without requiring a patch.

You do realise you can appreciate games in a digital form too, not just with a box?

It is sad for people who have extensive physical collections, but surely the main thing is experiencing the game.

A game you buy should work out of the box?

A game shouldn't be a transient thing like hearing a song on the radio.

You're treating these people like they've murdered your family because they've chosen a different way to enjoy their media.

I'm all for discussing this: I admit it's a move that rubs people the wrong way but personally it doesn't affect anything to me, because I still get to enjoy the game.

Perhaps its worth stressing that its a subset of the community that is like this, but they're the vocal ones, so it does seem like its everyone sometimes.

@Scapetti I still prefer to own physical games!

If Sony stop supporting the PS3 and killing the ability to connect to the servers then your digital games are no more if your CMOS battery dies.

PS4 and most likely 5 (was only tested on a digital only version) have it much worst where both physical and digital titles become unplayable.

If that happens I can just sell my physical PS4/5 collection but you can't do that with digital.

Perhaps Nintendo will do a 180 and give us a delayed physical release, but I'm not sure how this one will play out.

I'd understand if it was digital everywhere but there's no excuse to avoid physical solely in Europe.

A game like this seems like it's destined for paid DLC unfortunately and so those importers would need to set up a non EU account for the privilege or miss out entirely.

It doesn't seem right considering its a first party game.

Imagine if it was NA that was announced as not getting a physical release, I doubt the comment section here would be filled with the same people saying "If you don't like it, import it".

Its not a deal breaker for me though like it is for some!

Getting rid of physical media doesn't help digital-only people, it just hurts people who prefer owning their own physical copies of games or movies.

The quality is much better than streaming and you get to watch the movie any time you'd like rather than hoping it's on one of the many streaming services competing with each other these days.

There's no legitimate reason why physical and digital media can't co-exist?

@__jamiie It just won´t sell like Pokemon Snap nor Resident Evil: Village Maybe Nintendo of Europe should follow Square-Enix their example https://store.eu.square-enix-games.com/en_EU/product/603781/oninaki.

Once we know if you can get other people games and share your games, without a silly code system too please Nintendo do it like Mario Maker.

The game page for Australia says it's available instore/ downloadable, so I think we're getting a physical version.

Here's the link to the game page

thank goodness Switch is region free, now longer have to import said game to play said game

All digital: 100 games on one piece of storage

Physical: Each game on it's own storage medium

WHEN your digital storage fails (and it WILL, as will the physicals - I'm not fooling myself here) all 100 games are gone like they never existed in the first place (some might argue then never even did)

One game breaks or fails, the other 99 are still playable

I'm not a digital naysayer, or a physicals-only purist, or anything extreme like that..

but it's a factor that needs to be considered by the game industry going forward

My roommate can't play a game from SIX YEARS AGO thanks to changing OS builds and configurations

@sanderev only on the account that purchased the game though

@Scapetti And what happens when the eshop inevitably goes down for good, like the Wii shop channel and such

To tie it back to the article though, having a whole region be excluded from a physical release (ESPECIALLY for a Nintendo first party title) seems a little dumb; it'd at least make sense if it was a Japan only release

Maybe it's just cus it's a much smaller (and less of a priority?) release that they see no need to release it everywhere, but it still sucks for those who enjoy the physical collection side of things

Sure they could import a copy, but what if they don't want to incur the extra costs of that, or they only collect pal region games

There are many reasons why people do/don't care about whether a physical release does/should happen, but it should really be freedom for the consumer, not a funnelling towards the almighty digital age

it DOES sound like that's a problem for "future you", and it's not my place to tell you that you HAVE to care about that now or ever

We are talking about playing digital games on a non primary console (like for your kids)

Better to hand them a physical copy to play

I do sincerely hope that the people trolling us about the "death of physical" (that has an interesting sound coming from meaty bipeds) aren't the same ones crying about Nintendo's failure to localize Mother 3, or venting their displeasure at the game selection on NSO

People in all regions should get a choice between physical and digital games

If you buy it physical, you still have to play it on Nintendo's online service if you want to share or play other people's games

In 20 years, when the Switch servers are long gone, that physical game isn't going to work any better than the digital version, unless your sole reason for buying it is making games just for yourself

Just that Scapetti's post sounds like he's glad and for the death of physical media

As if ignoring physical and going all digital wasn't already a completely viable option

This kind of programming game will probably have loads of update and dlc

Perhaps Europe is more welcome to digital media

I'm in the UK, it's digital only, and I like it, you're in the US where it isn't, and you don't like it

I see people defending the cut of physical games and being ‘excited about the future’

It doesn’t matter how cheap a digital service would be, I ALWAYS sell my physical games to other gaming enthusiasts if I want to recover the money/get rid of something I don’t enjoy

If you’re so enthusiastic about digital games, go buy digital, who stops you, but stop talking like this is a future worth looking for, because I really don’t think it is

A digital only future will be a horrible monopoly over my time AND every single game out there, since with a single decision entire services could disappear overnight

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