Will Nintendo Switch be the only Gaming Tablet to use Cartridges/Physical Games?

froggyboy604

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I'm not sure if the Switch will always be the only modern gaming tablet which can play cartridges, and Physical games.

I think there is a chance that Sony, and Microsoft next consoles would be a tablet like the Nintendo Switch because a lot of people like Touchscreen devices like tablets, and smartphones because they are convenient, and simple to use.

If Sony does not stop making handhelds in the future, their next handheld maybe a tablet similar to the Switch with a removable controller, and bigger screen.

I think when most people spend over $70 on higher quality games, they prefer to buy physical games, so they can re-sell them to Game stores, and trade or borrow games from friends, and family. Some people also want to save money by using used games for $20 or less from a Used games store.

Cellular internet, Wi-Fi wireless internet, and many Cable and DSL internet connections are still not fast enough to download 9GB-50GB files at a fast speed.

The price of memory cards, and discs is sometimes cheaper for users compared to paying for the bandwidth needed to download huge files on a cellular, and limited bandwidth internet connection which has expensive bandwidth overage fees which charge many dollars per GB over the bandwidth limit.

I saw on the news of some guy paying hundreds of dollars in bandwidth overage fees because he streamed online videos on his smartphone's data plan which was not unlimited.

There is also a chance that a Gaming PC company like Alienware, CyberpowerPC, or Razer can release a PC Gaming Tablet which has a Disc Drive, or expandandable memory slot to put in game cartridges or memory cards which contain huge 50GB or larger games which you can buy from a store. Future PC game releases may become very big in file size, and many people's internet connections may still be far too slow for downloading huge game files in the near future.
 
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There is a good chance that Nintendo will make this popular with other tablet makers, but on the flip side Nintendo games cost $10 more than any game currently on PS4/Xbox one (say minecraft for example).

So I don't know if others would abandon digital only or not for game price increase.
 
There is a good chance that Nintendo will make this popular with other tablet makers, but on the flip side Nintendo games cost $10 more than any game currently on PS4/Xbox one (say minecraft for example).

So I don't know if others would abandon digital only or not for game price increase.

I remember Gamecube, and Wii disc games were somewhat more expensive than PS2 and Xbox 360 games, and Nintendo games take longer to drop in price.

I think people are just used to Nintendo games costing more, and are willing to pay more money for Nintendo games like Zelda, Smash Bros, and Mario.

I think Digital does not work well for console games which cost $60 for a new game because there are a lot of poor gamers who enjoy saving money by buying used games, renting games, borrowing games, and trading games with friends which is cheaper than buying new games. Some gamers also hope to get back some of their money by re-selling their old games, or hoping their rare limited edition games with unique box art becomes collectors items, and sell the games for hundreds to thousands of dollars in the future.
 
Hard to say, but I'm guessing yes. The rest of the industry really likes the idea of digital downloads for games, and getting them to go back to cartridges seems like a tough ask.
 
Sharing games is possible on Steam and Microsoft was going to move in that direction but people lost their cool when they heard about no used games so console gamers will have to keep missing out for a while. They were even going to bring Steam like sales to XB1 but people reacted without thinking.
 
Sharing games is possible on Steam and Microsoft was going to move in that direction but people lost their cool when they heard about no used games so console gamers will have to keep missing out for a while. They were even going to bring Steam like sales to XB1 but people reacted without thinking.

I feel sharing games digitally is not as convenient as sharing physical games where you can just let a friend borrow a few disc or cartridge games, and they don't need to use the internet to download the games which can take a long time, and use a lot of storage space for certain consoles like the Switch where using cartridges would be more affordable than buying a very large MicroSD like a 256GB SD Card which still cost $150 which may not be worth it if you just plan to digitally borrow a few games which you need to return someday.

Steam and Microsoft can also close down the sharing feature in the future, and you are stuck with a lot of games which you need to buy, so you can finish the game sort of like PC Game demos where you can only play a few levels before you need to pay for the rest of the game.
 
Digital sharing is way more convenient. Just peruse your friend's games and download and play any game when you want. No need to meet up with your friend and ask them for games that could end up getting lost. I don't think Steam would go away from game sharing, they'd have to face a negative backlash they don't want to deal with.
 
I think that eventually at some point they will quit making physical games for these consoles and there will only be digital downloads. And then it won't be long before you are just downloading games directly to your tv. There will be no need for buying consoles anymore. You'll be just be purchasing games online....
 
I think that eventually at some point they will quit making physical games for these consoles and there will only be digital downloads. And then it won't be long before you are just downloading games directly to your tv. There will be no need for buying consoles anymore. You'll be just be purchasing games online....

I think it will take some time for all consoles to be digital-only. There are a lot of Game console owners who are nostalgic like music listeners who listen to old Vinyl Music Records on a Record Player. A lot of people who are nostalgic are not always old, and a lot of them can be younger, so if there are enough nostalgic gamers, there would be consoles which has physical disc and cartridges. Some gamers enjoy the feeling of putting in a disc/cartridge, and playing the game on a physical disc and cartridge without the need for an internet connection, or waiting hours to wait for a game to download. Some New Blu-Ray movies now also has a digital version for you to download, and stream to your smartphone, tablets, and PC, so games maybe like new Blu-Ray movies where you can download the digital version of the game if you want to, but you can choose to play the physical game as well.

I think Consoles with disc will still exist for gamers who are nostalgic, and like forms of older gaming like gaming on an arcade machine, and older consoles like the Nintendo 64, re-makes of old consoles like the NES-Mine. A lot of gamers also like that they can re-sell their old games, and get back $30, or more if the game and console becomes a collectors item sort of like an unopened Final Fantasy 7 Playstation 1 game which sells for a lot of money on eBay.
 
I think it will take some time for all consoles to be digital-only. There are a lot of Game console owners who are nostalgic like music listeners who listen to old Vinyl Music Records on a Record Player. A lot of people who are nostalgic are not always old, and a lot of them can be younger, so if there are enough nostalgic gamers, there would be consoles which has physical disc and cartridges. Some gamers enjoy the feeling of putting in a disc/cartridge, and playing the game on a physical disc and cartridge without the need for an internet connection, or waiting hours to wait for a game to download. Some New Blu-Ray movies now also has a digital version for you to download, and stream to your smartphone, tablets, and PC, so games maybe like new Blu-Ray movies where you can download the digital version of the game if you want to, but you can choose to play the physical game as well.

I think Consoles with disc will still exist for gamers who are nostalgic, and like forms of older gaming like gaming on an arcade machine, and older consoles like the Nintendo 64, re-makes of old consoles like the NES-Mine. A lot of gamers also like that they can re-sell their old games, and get back $30, or more if the game and console becomes a collectors item sort of like an unopened Final Fantasy 7 Playstation 1 game which sells for a lot of money on eBay.

I am one of those owners who are a bit nostalgic, believe me. I much prefer having the actual physical copy of a game but I still think the future will move forward regardless of how nostalgic I feel about the consoles are now or how they use to be.
 
I am one of those owners who are a bit nostalgic, believe me. I much prefer having the actual physical copy of a game but I still think the future will move forward regardless of how nostalgic I feel about the consoles are now or how they use to be.

I think there is a chance that there would be an all-digital future someday in the far future. But, it may not be for many more years because many console gamers still prefer physical games over digital. 77% of total console gamers still prefer physical games according to a survey done in 2016 at Physical vs Digital: Report Says Gamers Still Prefer Physical . I think a lot of the people who prefer digital are gamers who buy cheaper and older games like Minecraft where they spend a few dollars to $40 on an older or less popular game, and are not paying $60 for new games. The 77% of gamers may want to buy physical games because they can re-sell the game if they get bored of the games.

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I think that eventually at some point they will quit making physical games for these consoles and there will only be digital downloads. And then it won't be long before you are just downloading games directly to your tv. There will be no need for buying consoles anymore. You'll be just be purchasing games online....

digital downloads won't become a mainstream till internet is a thing everywhere though, and by internet I mean decent broadband.
 
digital downloads won't become a mainstream till internet is a thing everywhere though, and by internet I mean decent broadband.

I agree digital downloads won't be mainstream until the internet becomes better, and available everywhere. Political issues like internet censorship may make disc popular for a long time for people who smuggle banned games, and consoles into some countries like North Korea, and China.

I feel the internet may cost more, and get worse in the future because the government are getting rid of Net Neutrality , internet privacy laws, and allowing Internet Service Providers to raise prices higher where fast internet become super expensive, and overcharge people for bandwidth overage fees. Faster speeds like 100Mbps which cost hundreds of dollars a month in some countries like Australia and Canada, and smaller towns around the world where a slower internet connection can cost a lot of money.

I think console gamers in China and other countries like North Korea mainly play foreign console games like Xbox, Playstation, and Switch from Disc because Xbox Live, Steam, and PSN maybe blocked in China's internet, and games need to be approved by the government before stores can sell them.

Faster higher speed Web hosting is still expensive as well where it cost a lot of money to keep many servers online to host many game files 24 hours a day. If all the worlds games were digital-only, and every gamer in the world downloaded games at the same time, it may overload the server, internet connection, and local ISPs like Comcast.
 
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I also worry that faster internet will not be affordable in the future because of price increases for fast internet, and the government not listening to people's complaints that faster internet is too expensive for non-rich people.

Hopefully, I don't need to spend almost all my time working, cut back on food, or borrow money to pay for higher speed internet, so I'm not left behind where rich people can afford very fast internet to quickly download big files like 4K games and video while less decent broadband internet takes hours to days when downloading a 2 hour low quality video file.
 
I also worry that faster internet will not be affordable in the future because of price increases for fast internet, and the government not listening to people's complaints that faster internet is too expensive for non-rich people.

Hopefully, I don't need to spend almost all my time working, cut back on food, or borrow money to pay for higher speed internet, so I'm not left behind where rich people can afford very fast internet to quickly download big files like 4K games and video while less decent broadband internet takes hours to days when downloading a 2 hour low quality video file.

my issue is that 4k HD media is driving download times through the roof.
 
my issue is that 4k HD media is driving download times through the roof.

I still have bandwidth caps, so one longer 4K movie may cause me to go over my bandwidth cap, and causing me to pay expensive overagee fees.
 
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