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NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Nintendeal appears to have been the first to notify Switch owners that certain games are disappearing from retailers, suggesting that they are out of print. Pikmin 3 Deluxe was the first big title to start disappearing with just one major retailer in the US still having it in stock. If you planned on picking up a physical copy of Pikmin 3 on Switch, I would do it now. The only place it's left in stock is Walmart, and you can buy it through the link in the box below.
One game alone isn't enough to suggest Nintendo is shifting its focus from Switch games to titles on whatever's coming next, but then the same happened to Metroid Dread. Samus's latest 2D adventure has been disappearing from store shelves as well, suggesting it too is now out of print. Much like Pikmin 3 Deluxe, there now appears to be just one place physical copies of Dread remain in stock - Best Buy, and again, you can access its store page and buy it through the link below.
The third suspect is a little less telling. Physical copies of Paper Mario: The Origami King are notoriously hard to find right now too, currently in stock on eBay but nowhere else. Less telling because that might be a case of Nintendo not wanting two Paper Mario games on shelves at the same time to prevent confusion with Thousand Year Door's remake launching in 2024. If I were Nintendo, I'd want as many copies of Origami King out there as possible with a whole new generation of players about to discover Paper Mario, but maybe that's just me.
Until Nintendo confirms one way or the other, none of the above is hard evidence a new console is coming, nor is it proof physical copies of these games have disappeared from stores never to return. It does seem likely though, and if you were thinking of adding some physical Switch games to your collection - whether they're the ones included in this article or not - now is probably the time to do it before the only place you can buy them is through resale sites for inflated prices.
Nintendo Appears To Be Winding Down Production Of Certain Switch Games
Here are the last places you can find certain Nintendo Switch games that now appear to be out of print.
www.thegamer.com