Rumour: Switch 2 Game Cases Might Take Up More Space On Your Shelf – Nintendo Life
GuestGuestLogin | Sign UpNintendo LifeGuestLogin or Sign UpHere’s how they could compare to the current Switch casesWe don’t have a release date for the Switch 2 and we also don’t know what its game cartridges will look like just yet, but there are now reports we might already have “leaked proportions” of the new system’s physical game cases.French retailer ‘Fnac’ has reportedly shared the dimensions of the Switch 2’s plastic game packaging, with the new case design said to be “19.5cm” by “13cm” (via ‘Necro’ Felipe Lima of Universo Nintendo):”FNAC’s listing for Take-Two Interactive’s Nintendo Switch 2 game has dimensions similar to the potential physical media cover. Taking into account that the measurements are accurate, I made a simple assembly”A comparison of this bigger case alongside the original Switch game case is also doing the rounds online (by @CardnlH), and it seems this new case size could be closer to the dimensions of existing PlayStation and Xbox game packaging.So, yeah – more plastic and these cases could also potentially take up more real estate in shops (and on shelves) around the globe. As for the game card, Nintendo hasn’t shared any details about this just yet, but the “first look” Switch 2 trailer did show off the game card cover slot, which is also located next to the audio jack.If Switch 2 is anything like the jump from DS to 3DS, the game card might not be that different at all. Nintendo has also confirmed backward compatibility – noting how the new system will be able to play original Switch games including “physical and digital” titles.Nintendo will reveal more about the Switch 2 at its upcoming Direct presentation, airing on 2nd April 2025. And keep in mind these reports about Switch 2 game cases are just rumours – so take everything here with a grain of salt because the final product could be completely different…or maybe even the same as the existing design.A complete guide to Switch 2 – official details, rumours, leak historyCart in the right placeFollowed by a hands-on tourWhat size do you think Switch 2 cases should be? Let us know in the comments.[source reddit.com, via overkill.wtf]About Liam DoolanLiam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief.Comments 120Could this mean we are getting game manuals again? Jk, because i highly doubt it😂 but bigger game cases look interesting…^Nope, not gonna happen.The first switch game cases are already a waste of plastic. Ugh. Let’s just go back to the DS/3DS shape.Considering the ‘everything is bigger’ marketing angle they seem to be going for I could see this.That’s almost as big as Wii U game cover size. Switch 2 case can be as same size as PS VITA game cover box dimension so the cover design size will be not too much like PSP style with longer rectangle size.Bad move if true. Keep the same dimensions but differentiate with color.Physical for life.Hehehe big boxes make brain go brrrrr.I’d be stunned if Nintendo go bigger with the cases. I took a screen shot just in case I need to add to the list of fake Switch “leaks” and rumours over the years. My phone is almost out of memory! 🤣Don’t care how big, as long as it exists.@Darkri74345 I guess you may have forgotten about the Vita games cases, eh? Just compare THAT to a PSP, DS/3DS, & Switch case. Believe me, you’ll be surprised how SMALL Vita cases really are.Eh, even if they’re much bigger, ain’t no biggie for me since I don’t buy much games as I used to. I’ve begun to get less & less as time went on. So I don’t have to worry about cases taking up space.Plus, I kinda wanna retire from gaming altogether & just focus buying blu-ray movies. The Switch2 will be my last console overall.EDIT: Also didn’t anyone remember how small PSP & Vita cases were? PSP game cases were about the same size as the Switch & the Vita cases were even smaller. Almost to the point of the latter being dawrfed by the two former.Also, if the leak is true, the Switch 2 logo will have Black color scheme according the picture above. Imagine if the color of the spine is also Black color like XBOX ONE box spine.Yay more plastic, less shelf space.Innovation.If they go for a bigger switch 2 case then wat does it mean for manuals then ? 🤷🏾♂️@Darkri74345 I could be wrong, but isn’t the DS/3DS cases use more or about the same amount of plastic compare to the Switch cases? They are a bit more thicker and the width is longer on the DS/3DS cases.I want larger cartridge, switch sdcard-like cartridge suck, evercade cartridge is way cooler and fun to insert to the console. But for game cases, nintendo switch cases is really good and fun to collect (evercade cases isn’t too good compared to switch cases) 😃And I want manual for every games, if evercade $20 (now $25) games can get full manual, why $60 (or $70) switch games can’t 😕I hope the case isn’t this big. Let’s wait and see though.And here I was hoping they were gonna do the opposite and make the cases more like the 3DS ones.I wish they’d make it smaller like the DS and 3DS cases just to lessen the space inside. Switch cases looks very empty inside other than the cartridge and without any manuals.The games are basically the size of an SD card, do we really need more empty space in the box. Already seems weird now, nothing but the game in a box that could hold more than 10 games as isThe current Switch game cases are almost the exact size as the Switch without joycons. It’s probably the same with Switch 2Prefer this tbh. Larger game cases have always felt comfier to me but that could be cause I grew up with the Xbox 360 lmao.Hopefully the spine is thicker so they can add the game’s logo on there again.Unlikely manuals will return unless they wanted to do so. They’re probably just upping the size to make it less confusing when buying Switch 2 or Switch 1 games.As for cartridges themselves, I don’t think they’re gonna change the physical shape this time around unlike when they added a notch for 3DS cartridges. They’re probably just gonna be the same but have more storage (64 GB or even 100 GB) and higher speeds, but I can see them do a different color like red or dark blue.Wasn’t this already proven to be a placeholder set of dimensions this retailer used for all gamesI would’ve preferred them going back to the small DS/3DS cases to be perfectly honest. And it would still differentiate itself from Switch 1 cases.Bigger cases to justify the games costing 10€ more than Switch ones I guess.Switch cases are really unnecessarily large as it is.@Darkri74345 Agreed. Why waste space? They should be aiming for smaller boxes.@PinballBuzzbro Imagine being a pc gamer in the 90’s then!Makes sense, the current Switch cases do look kinda puny compared to a certain white case and a certain green caseSpeaking of manuals, I wish the NSO games included instruction manual scans. Or QR codes that linked to official scans (like they did for the NES and SNES mini consoles).Maybe the extra space will be for game manuals??? Otherwise, the card is too small (going by the size of the slot in the presentation video) for such a big boxI do think one of the many ways for them to print money is to sell manuals from their web site for $10-15 each. Enough people would spend the money that it would be worth it.Man, I hope not. Or at least I hope they don’t make it taller, since Switch game boxes fit into standard Blu-ray shelves.I get it so that people not knowledgable about games won’t be as likely go confuse them for regular Switch cases but I hope they also make the Switch 2 logo different than just a square. It would be cool just to see something a little bit different lol@tobsesta99 Maybe something like a full red bar with the vertical Switch 2 logo like PS5, or maybe the Switch symbol on a box in one side, followed by a white tab coming out showing the Nintendo Switch 2 wordmark (and then also just the Nintendo Switch wordmark if it’s a cross-gen game).I strongly doubt that this is true. Nintendo wouldn’t be so stupid (would they?!) when Switch cases are already a little oversized. I get that they need them to be big enough to make an impression on store shelves, but making Switch 2 cases occupy even more shelf space is so irrationally regressive.I honestly don’t like that. The cartridges won’t be much bigger than the Switchs so why use a bigger box?Probably just to catch the attention of the customer at retail but for the enduser their is no real benefit to make them biggerI was hoping for thinner ds style boxes. Like cds for example. Even smaller. Not an even bigger waste of space and plastic.I don’t like the idea of Switch 2 cartridge cases being bigger when the only thing inside will be the game. It would be a useless use of the case unless Nintendo goes back to making manuals for each game, as it was an essential part of video games since the era of the SNES and slowly disappearing during the mid Wii era.More waste plastic, really? It’s not the main reason I am going all download on Switch 2. But it’s in there.I’m gonna need a bigger room if true. But why? I mean, game cases for the current Switch could be half what they are and you’d still be able to store the cart. I don’t get it..@Bigmanfan What? I’m not following.I also think the “primary” color will be black. Red spines for Switch1 and black spines for Switch2. Will look really nice on the shelf.Let’s go back to the days of NES sized cartridges. Can you imagine the technology that could fit onto one of those these days if it was all microchip in there.A lot more space for third party devs to store a digital code in.Why did they put the next nintendo direct so far away 😭 April can’t come soon enough this year. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the actual launch.I think it be quite so smart marketing wise to make the Switch 2 boxes around the same size as PS5/Xbox cases. This will make Switch 2 games more visible on the store shelves and give a psychological effect on the average consumers that Switch 2 games just as “big” as the others. Also easily differenciates Switch 2 games from Switch 1 games and gives a “bigger is better” effect.@Liam_Doolan I’m not that interested in the new cases and they will more than likely take up more space. I am curious about the cartridges themselves. Is there any hope that Nintendo will be using bigger cartridges? As in more storage, not size. It would be nice if new game collections would actually all fit on the cartridge instead of having to dowload 1 or more of the games. This was already debunked elsewhere, like the gaming leaks and rumors subreddit. Its one thing to make articles about rumors, another to make articles about rumors so dated theyve been proven false for over a weeki’m more interested in the dominant colourGamecube was blackWii was white Wii U was blueSwitch was redi hope switch 2 will be purple or greenI find this hard to believe. It would be a massive step backwards in terms of sustainability, and it will cost Nintendo more and hinder retailers in terms of shelf space. The new game cartridges aren’t going to be much bigger, if at all, so there is just no logic to doing this. Switch game cases are excellent, they are small (but not too small) and extremely thin. I hope the ones are the same or very similar.Much rather it went the other way. Less plastic please!Okay seriously, why the large cases when all we’re getting is a tiny little cart? Is it just because of the box art or something?The main issue with game boxes is all the space they take up. I love them, but I’ve got like 100 Switch ones, some GameCube boxes, some DS/3DS boxes + loose cartridges. A bunch of N64 and SNES cartridges. It’s just too much space being taken up. I’m going to go all digital for Switch 2 except in some rare cases: like Pokémon games.I always thought game cases were too big here especially after the N64 era.The Japanese GBA boxes were far smaller and look great, I understand the need for the boxes to be seen, but I already thought the switch boxes we already had were plenty big enough.Seriously doubt we’ll get manuals back anytime soon if ever, but even Switch games occasionally have some pretty cool extras (Gerald’s Journal in Sonic x Shadow Generations just to make a recent example) thanks to the additional empty space so I hope we’ll keep on seeing those at least if not potentially even more frequently – by the way, I get the worries about space occupied in case they’re actually bigger while I don’t get at all the insistence on plastic when it comes to products you’re supposed to keep as that’s exactly its purpose (and if for some reason you have to get rid of them give them to someone else or recycle them)!The current Switch cases are already a ridiculous size for the cards. This would just be stupid.@Markatron84 So true, especially when 99% of them come with nothing in them other than the cartridge.@Thomystic $15 for a manual is very collector pricing! Maybe $5 for a good manual.But very early in the 3DS’ life, they were reducing manuals to be just a fold out sheet with control information and nothing else.(or one of the Monster Hunter games I got where the “instructional manual” was a lie and contained only legal info)I don’t get it though, if all there was is a small cartridge inside, why make the case bigger? This is not like a GameCube to Wii situation where one had a smaller disc and the other had a bigger one. My guess is they just changing it to distinguish which one is for Switch and which one is for Switch 2 perhaps.When you factor in just how teeny tiny a Switch cart is, the game cases themselves might as well be the same size as a slim cassette tape for crying out loud. Wasted money on excess plastic, which also takes up more unneeded shelf space.They should be smaller, and always have inside out artwork when you pop them open, instead of an all-white legal text agreement-fest. Plus, they should plunk the entire box art ‘art work’ on the game cart sticker like they did with original Game Boy games. Seeing just a logo, in most cases, feels way less substantial. Smaller doesn’t always mean better either.Game Boy cart >
https://i.etsystatic.com/28295695/r/il/d79fcb/3247095750/il_fullxfull.3247095750_n3d8.jpgSwitch cart >
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/X9EAAOSwF61nedob/s-l1600.jpgUnless game manuals are coming back this is a total waste of plasticmight as well make everything bigger with next gen the console itself, the game cases and game filesI really want cute little cases like the JP GameCube ones or the DS equivalents. Really don’t need anything larger than that for such small carts.Smaller cases than Switch1 would not stand out in the retail shelf. Same size would confuse the customer (Wii-WiiU learnings).So bigger size is a waste of plastic but the most logical choice.I love physical, but downloads actually are the more sustainable choice.Waste.. imo they should look to reduce the size. I miss the old square shaped loveliness of the DS and Gameboy era@DeciderVT the GameCube Japanese cases were perfect I loved themSwitch cases are already too big for the cart.. any bigger and it’ll look, feel and be all round ridiculous. Also what a waste of plastic and costA yes just what I wanted more emptiness…I mean the case is already pretty huge considering the actual size of the cartridge.@silberbauer15 Very interesting thought! I hadn’t considered that topic myself yet. Purple or green would indeed be amazing!Unfortunately I fear we’re getting a plain color this time though… They seem to be straying further from the playful side of things and trying to look more slick and modern…I can understand them wanting to make sure people don’t mix the Switch 2 games with Switch games, so this makes a lot of sense.@Serpenterror @KoopaTheGamer Nintendo Switch 2 logo is not enough to tell the difference? Lol. Why then PlayStation and XBOX games have boxes of the ± same size?Larger cases are good for packing in Launch Edition / Deluxe swag though. Other than that, yeah typically lot of empty real estate.Seems like I’m in the minority here but I welcome a larger case. The cases for the Switch are way too small IMHO. Hard to see and hard to fumble with given the size of my hands/fingers. I’m an average sized man but feel like Shaquille O’Neil handling a Dixie cup every time I open/close a Switch case. The games are even worse but that’s not the subject….. And I’m no Switch hater by any stretch of the imagination. I game essentially exclusively on it with the exception of my retro consoles.@Vyacheslav333 Never underestimate parents buying games for their kids without knowledge about what they’re buying. Have a different logo, different coloured case and make it slightly bigger or smaller to make it truely stand out.The cases should be half the size, they don’t put anything in them anywayNo point making it bigger than switch size.. would be better to downsize if they need to change the size.As if the plastic-to-cartridge ratio for Switch games wasn’t absurd enough. At least put in manuals or art cards to make the difference less pronounced.I’d rather they be the same size with a different colour spine to keep things more uniform and easy to add on to my current collection, though I guess it’s another way of differentiating Switch and Switch 2 which they naturally want to make as clear as possible.Doesn’t matter to me as long as they exist!! Physical media forever!!Switch game case sizes are like item number 1,024,123,091,230,106,239 on the priority list of things hurting the planet. So I’m not gonna factor that into how I feel about this.Bring back cardboard game cases, more environmentally friendlyThis would be a good way to differentiate games between the two consoles for all the casual buyers out there.This is stupid. If anything they should be smaller. Japanese 3DS box size would be perfect! It’s not like there’s going to be an instruction manual.@Darkri74345 That would have been cool. I loved that size a lot. It’s sooo Nintendo too.I get the desire to make the cases more uniform with PS5 and Xbox cases, but there’s no other reason to make them this big.Why can’t they be 3DS Sized cases?Switch Cases are already too big for the miniscule cart inside!@Gjones22 Still non-existent@Anti-Matter Only the case dimensions leaked, not colour or logo.Black is boring They should do Purple again or Gold!@IceEarthGuard They could make Switch 2 (ugh) cases similar in height to 3DS ones, just make them the same thickness/depth but also remove some length!They should go back to the 3DS size. No need to increase the amount of space it takes up or plastic it takes to make them. The goal should be reducing impact, not increasing it.Make the cases translucent black or do something else to make them stand out/differentiate from OG Switch cases.Nowadays, they fit precisely, with Switch 2, Ikea designers need to get a cup of coffee and re-think stuff I REALLY hope these are placeholder dimensions and not indicative of the final product. If anything, the cases need to be smaller. Most games don’t have inserts these days – the few I have that do are either Nihon Falcom games or limited editions – so a lot of the inside is wasted space since Switch carts are tiny.That’s just odd. They should either be the same size, or cut in half to be square. That’s the perfect size for the case, like CD case size and thickness. Going bigger is strange. Hopefully this is wrong.Yup. Very likely so that thick people don’t buy a Switch 2 game to use in a Switch 1.I’d prefer the Switch 2 cartridge box to be smaller than the Switch 1 box though.@Automated_Unit_4937 Yeah, I was thinking the same.Please be smaller than Switch cases…I’ve certainly liked that Switch cases take up so much less shelf space than my other games, thanks to the smaller cases used compared to other consoles.Will be a bit of a bummer if the Switch 2 games remove that benefit, but I do understand the reasoning. They most likely want to clearly differentiate that the Switch 2 is a new console, not an incremental upgrade. And, a bigger case would be an easy way to do that, also possibly drawing more attention to the release year Switch 2 games compared to the Switch 1 games that will be sitting next to them, to get the ball rolling.I wish they would innovate some sustainable approach to this. It also feels like the main reason they are doing it is probably just to differentiate from Switch 1 game boxes. Sure. But couldn’t they have just gone smaller or something?I had a thought that was/is probably not true, but they never actually told us there would be Switch 2 cartridges, did they? That comparison photo they showed only used a Switch 1 game for both. And it just mentions Switch 2 “titles.” What if the cartridge slot is just for backwards compatibility?? I mean, they would have an absolute PR-pocalypse on their hands if they, say, went all digital. Plus, I’m not sure they’ll give us enough space for all that. But it did cross my mind when I was looking over the reveal media again.@Automated_Unit_4937 Oh, neat! Though completely pointless. Haha.so if the rumours are to be believed, the physical cases will unnecessarily waste even more plastic than they already did. i suppose that could reflect the switch 2 itself feeling particularly unnecessary right now@Dazman no don’t do it! stay physical just get more space This just sounds like a dumb idea if true. Should have kept the same size or try a new idea altogether like perhaps going horizontal like N-gage cases. I guess they had to make the games stand out some how since the console basically looks the same as the original.I wonder if black/dark grey is going to be the color theme for the Switch 2 based on the joy cons in the reveal trailer and this concept art. Will the game case spines be black in color as well?Recap of previous console color themes:GC – PurpleWii – Very Light BlueWii U – Blue (slightly darker than Wii)Switch 1 – RedSwitch 2 – Dark Grey with Red highlights???while this is obviously a bad move for everyone involved, the thickness is the most important measurement for game cases. theyd better not get noticeably thicker, i threw out a bunch of ds/3ds cases bc theyre just way too thick and take up a lot more space than switch cases. physical games lose their appeal more and more as time goes on, a €100+ sd card can feel like its worth the saved shelf space nowadays. the novelty of looking at the boxart kind of dies out when the only visible part is the spine, so bigger cases just dont make sense@KingMike $15 is what Etsy creators successfully charge for high quality manuals, so I put that as a limit. On the one hand, Nintendo has the economies of scale for them to be $10. On the other hand, console generations lasting longer means MSRPs have to predict the inflation over a longer period to avoid an embarrassing mid-gen price hike.But what’s the point of being bigger if there isn’t anything more than a small game card? Unless….The sake bigger being better I guess…why go bigger? They should be as big as Vita or 3DS cases since it’s just an empty box with a small cart inside.I would much rather they stick with the smaller Switch case sizes instead of using more-standard DVD/Bluray cases like everyone else… or maybe even smaller like the 3DS/DS cases, it’s not like the games are any bigger insideAs others have said, they should reduce the amount of plastic used. I think the size of a deck of cards, but thinner. Still large enough to not easily get lost. And large enough for some box art.EDIT: Though, I do wonder if the larger cases make them harder to steal.@WhiteTrashGuy And then thicker spines to add the game’s logo on the spine.Even if that doesn’t become the official cover art for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, that’s a great cover nonetheless.The Switch 3’s game cases means they’ll be even bigger!Wow so now you’re relaying rumors about boxes… Well done, you guys are the bestI hope the cases are a bit different than the switch 1. Because it can be confusing for newcomers.To look different from the others sure but 3DS was thinner and different then DS.I compared my Vita, 3DS, Switch and PS3 Blu ray sizes and yeah.To me this seemss very much a rumour. The artwork to be bigger sure but otherwise even besides a rather believable and generic logo in the top left. I do feel why would they make bigger cases?To stand out on shelves sure, bigger inserts I mean Devs had small controls slips (Hot Pursuit 2010 remaster) or artbooks (Wlidermyrh, Clive n Wrench ,etc.) or OST and season pass slips fit that size like got for Disgaea OSTs or Ubisoft season pass slips for Mario Rabbids.Even the Prince of Persia PS4/Switch versions I have mentioning pre order skins or otherwise paper, those sizes were interesting as I own both and the info fits to size still.I can see reasons but I also don’t with this rumour.This would be Blu ray case big. Vita is the tiniest format cases and thicker plastic then Switch spines. Switch is more PSP size but PSP are thicker and taller.Switch stood out besides PSP but otherwise Nintendo hadn’t done a design like that and nothing PSP like of case had been there so it dit Switch fine compared to the PS/Xbox cases. I doubt but would be surprised if we see DS/3DS style sizes in that plastic look of Switch 1.The booklets I question of more space or not. DS/3DS cases maybe for more because it was like a DS/3DS opening like the sideways type approach.Switch differs.But for the Switch 2 hmm. Would they go back to a DS/3DS size and have larger paperwork spaces? I wonder.Cardboard or cases they always had horizontal then vertical boxes that were that way it was only disk systems they did the DVD style case with tweaks.So if it were a more horizontal design again it would be interesting.Hate to be a cynic, but I can see many different companies pushing unnecessarily large packaging on us only to wag their finger at us for being environmentally unfriendly for wanting physical media 😒Personally all I need to go digital is the option to collect box art-equivalent art prints for every game, either with thick cardboard or enhanced matte art. I love collecting the box art as illustrative mementos to decorate my shelves.Thankfully, I use the ecological choice: Digital. If Nintendo releases a digital Switch 2, I’m getting itPlease, let the bigger case means a manual booklet inside!!!!! 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