Switch devs are being pushed toward digital-only thanks to cartridge cost

Thanks to the design decisions made by Nintendo in the development of its new Switch console, the game industry is seeing a problem it hasn’t seen in two decades: the cost of manufacturing game cartridges versus that of manufacturing optical disks.

This doesn’t matter so much for big games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but it does for mid-range stuff. GamesIndustry gets into the weeds on this with a look at the upcoming game from Tequila Works, Rime, which costs $10 more on the Switch than it does on other consoles due to the cost.

Further complicating this is that Nintendo, like its competitors, has a policy requiring that games in its eShop be priced the same as their physical counterparts – a concession made to keep the still-necessary retailers happy.

GamesIndustry notes that some developers have considered giving games Switch-exclusive features to offset the price difference, but gamers tend to be completionists, platform-loyal, and often entitled. The reaction to platform-exclusive features in games has often been negative.

A digital-only future, but not by choice

Article source: https://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/03/27/switch-cartridge-cost-forcing-digital-only/