Despite Nintendo’s recent reveal of Game Builder Garage, apparently, it won’t be getting any kind of physical release in Europe. In Game Builder Garage, players will learn the basics of making video games and share them with others, similar to Super Mario Maker but on a grander scale.
In some ways, Game Builder Garage can be seen as the successor to Nintendo Labo. Both are experimental products by Nintendo that are game creation tools. The difference being Nintendo Labo was targeted towards a more general audience in the same vein as the Nintendo Wii, while Game Builder Garage seems to primarily target gamers with its lessons. But with the way it's presented, it's likely that anyone can learn to make their own video games with the tools given. Despite being released three years ago, Nintendo Labo didn’t reach that high levels of success, and its website recently being taken down could be a sign that it’s being retired in favor of this new game maker.
Yet still, Game Builder Garage will for some reason not have a physical release in Europe. On Nintendo UK’s website page of the game, it’s shown to only be pre-orderable through the Nintendo eShop. Nintendo’s financial results for the March 2021 physical year also states that Game Builder Garage will be “available in downloadable format only.”
The reason for this happening is unknown, which only leaves the door open to speculation. It could be that limited physical copies were made in Europe for some reason. One possibility is due to the uncertainty of success similar to Nintendo Labo, or perhaps COVID helped contribute to the lack of physical copies. Or maybe this is just Nintendo being Nintendo and doing strange moves for no apparent reason.
At the end of the day, no reason is known for why this is the case. This is also not the first time Nintendo has limited physical copies of certain games, albeit, in this example, it’s only limited to one country. But customers can only guess why this is specifically happening with Europe. To circumvent this, players could import a physical copy from another country like the US, though the lack of physical copies in Europe could mean that physical copies in other countries would rack up in value and therefore become prime targets for scalpers. Otherwise, players in Europe will have to settle for purchasing a digital copy of Game Builder Garage on the Nintendo eShop when it releases on June 11th.
Source: Nintendo UK, Nintendo.co.jp