Is this really an issue?

The real reason is they want those boxes to stand next to Xbox and Sony games and be viewed in the same/similar light. If they are too small, they will be seen as more a kin to the portable 3DS than a home console game. This is just them playing to consumer perception on a store shelf.

Does it really matter? It's a god damn box.

Looks like someone is trying to make up for something. Haha

Boxes are perfectly fine to me, just something else for you lot to moan about. Could of said this about megadrive boxes, Amiga boxes, vita boxes, Fair play it's like a dog with a bone anything to keep bringing Nintendo Down get a f**cking life.

To fit a physical game manual in there would make sense

I still think they should be a bit smaller.. Maybe just have them in red plastic to catch the eye like best sellers..

* They need to be large enough to stand out in stores among all the other products on display.

It's also a different shape to the Wii U & 3DS games because it needed to stand out against those + PS4/XB1 games as well.

Not sure how so many people are confused.

It's a colossal waste of space and it sounds like it has nothing more to do than simply marketing

I believe Nintendo was simply trying to make this platform seem as if it is on the equal levels of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One by having the same type of material when in reality this is closer to their previous handhelds with the format being cartridges like the 3DS and all their other previous handheld I actually don't see the necessity of making the cartridges bigger other than trying to Market it as an equal competitor.

That's what i posted earlier. Imagine PS4 and X1 games and next to it, these tiny boxes that are hard to read. They must be big because it's amazing how we equate value!

It's to gain shelf space. Can you imagine if the boxes were barely bigger than the cart?

It's so it's actually visible, and so it's harder to steal...seriously make the box the size of a cartridge, then you can fit one in your pocket and walk out.

why do western journalists care about these things T_T

Considering some game developers like to include manuals (The Binding of Isaac) why make a case so small you can't fit any extras in it for game developers, and you can't even see it on a shelf? Vita games take up even less space but nobody is complaining about them. How on earth could they get away with selling a game in a case the size of a fifty cent piece? People really are thick these days...