Blizzard ships Nintendo Switch 'Overwatch' physical copies without game cartridge

The ongoing debacle related to the Hong Kong protests is becoming a big headache for Blizzard Entertainment. Since last week, gamers have been boycotting its products, casters were stepping down, and some employees even staging a walkout at one point.

Now the game studio is under criticism yet again just a day before one of its most anticipated releases. It seems that gamers who were planning on buying a physical copy of Overwatch for the Nintendo Switch will not be getting a cartridge. Instead, the case will allegedly just come with a code to download the team-based shooter.

While most consumers these days opt to purchase their games online in digital form, there are some who prefer to own a tangible copy. Even though there are titles on game cartridges that still require users to download additional data, it appears to be more of personal preference. Polygon is pointing out the online-only multiplayer nature of "Overwatch," which might be a justification for being a digital-only option.

Since its original launch on May 24, 2016 for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, regular updates and additional content to this date have bumped up its storage requirements. What started out as a little over 13 GB now takes up close to 30 GB. Given that the biggest storage size of a Nintendo Switch cartridge maxes out at 32 GB.

Blizzard might have opted to go digital to make it easier to add more content in the future. However, there are gamers who are apparently not pleased with the decision. While others are complaining about the absence of a game cartridge and intending to boycott the release, the other half could be doing so for another reason. Those who are possibly not buying it are still shunning Blizzard for the recent "Hearthstone" player's suspension related to his political speech during a post-game interview.

A few days ago, Blizzard finally made a move to appease the growing number of people who are calling for action against Chung Ng Wai's ban. The company is reportedly reducing the one-year suspension to six months and giving back the withheld prize money.

Moreover, the game studio is likewise extending a similar offer to the two Taiwanese casters who were fired after the interview with Chung. Nevertheless, it looks like a lot of gamers will still skip their purchase of "Overwatch" for motivations other than a missing game cartridge.