For a Switch 2 game, a shop will sell you a cartridge and the Nintendo eShop will sell you the download. We took every Switch 2 game where a shop had a new copy in stock and the eShop had a price, and set the two side by side: 111 games.
The cartridge won a little over half the time
| Comparison | Games | Share of 111 |
|---|---|---|
| Cartridge cheaper than the eShop price | 61 | 55% |
| eShop cheaper than the cartridge | 50 | 45% |
| Cartridge cheaper than the eShop's usual price | 73 | 66% |
| Cartridge £5 or more cheaper | 41 | 37% |
| eShop £5 or more cheaper | 41 | 37% |
| Cartridge £10 or more cheaper | 24 | 22% |
The median gap was £2.00 in the cartridge's favour, but the two sides are lopsided: when the cartridge won, the middle saving was £7.14, and when the eShop won it was £11.86. None of the 111 pairs had the same price. 18 of the 111 games were on sale on the eShop, and the cartridge was still cheaper for 3 of them.
Where the cartridge was cheaper
| Game | Shop | Cartridge | eShop | You save |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NBA 2K26 | The Game Collection | £14.95 | £69.99 | £55.04 |
| Digimon Story Time Stranger | Hit | £44.85 | £84.99 | £40.14 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 | Hit | £64.85 | £99.99 | £35.14 |
| Survival Kids | Hit | £22.85 | £44.99 | £22.14 |
| Resident Evil Requiem | Hit | £43.85 | £64.99 | £21.14 |
Where the eShop was cheaper
| Game | Shop | Cartridge | eShop | eShop saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion | The Game Collection | £52.95 | £23.99 (sale) | £28.96 |
| Coffee Talk Tokyo | The Game Collection | £40.95 | £13.49 | £27.46 |
| Blue Prince | Hit | £47.85 | £24.99 | £22.86 |
| Wild Hearts S | The Game Collection | £35.95 | £14.84 (sale) | £21.11 |
| Outbound | Hit | £40.85 | £19.99 | £20.86 |
The cartridge shop prices in both tables were checked on the shops' own pages on 7 November 2026.
Which shop had the cheapest cartridge
| Shop | Games where it was cheapest | Cartridge cheaper than the eShop |
|---|---|---|
| Hit | 48 | 24 (50%) |
| The Game Collection | 36 | 23 (64%) |
| GAME | 27 | 14 (52%) |
What this means if you buy games
It was close to a coin toss, and the size of the gap mattered more than the winner. Big releases such as Call of Duty and Resident Evil were £20 to £40 cheaper as cartridges. Smaller games and anything on sale on the eShop were often cheaper to download. Each game's page shows the eShop price next to every shop we track, with the lowest price we've recorded. For the same question across all consoles, see Disc or download.
How we counted
For each Switch 2 game we took the cheapest new, in-stock cartridge across Hit, The Game Collection and GAME, and the Nintendo eShop price in the game's latest check. To compare like with like, we left out 19 games where a title marks a special edition or a bundle (deluxe, collector's, ultimate, definitive, bundles with a bonus item or similar). The eShop price is the store's listing for the game, which can cover more than one version of it. Pre-owned copies and pre-orders are not included. Delivery is not included. The two prices were not checked on the same day, so a sale that began or ended in between can change a single result.
Using these figures
You are welcome to quote these figures or reuse the chart. Please credit GameShelfClub and link to this page. For questions about the data, use the contact details on our about page.