Nintendo Switch 2 Game Key Cards have been a major point of contention for the new handheld. With true game cartridges for the system being too slow for some titles and being expensive to manufacture, many developers have opted to put their physical games on Game Key Cards.
For the uninitiated, Game Key Cards are almost-blank cartridges that hold licenses for specific games. Essentially, you’re buying a digital game that can be downloaded, but you can also trade and resell the cartridge like a normal title without any restrictions.
Since launch, many have pushed back against the existence of Game Key Cards as they’re bad for preservation and take up space on your Nintendo Switch 2 console. However, while the online discussion has been rabid, many actual consumers appear to have little issue with the tech.
According to data from DekuDeals, around 75% of Nintendo Switch 2 gamers own one or more Game Key Card titles to their handheld. Of course, this only applies to third-party releases as, so far, Nintendo has not released a single first-party title in this format.
“According to our data, most users seem willing to purchase Game-Key Cards. Of the 1,070 Deku Deals users who have added one or more third party physical releases to their collection, 735 of them own one or more Game-Key Card titles,” the report states.
While Game Key Cards are popular, with six of the ten most-purchased physical tiles existing in that format, the number one selling third-party title is not a Game Key Card. Instead, it’s a title available entirely on the cartridge: Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition.
While sales of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade are skyrocketing right now, which could cause the game to overtake Cyberpunk, CD Projekt Red’s RPG has been held as the gold standard of Nintendo Switch 2 ports due to its stability and also the fact that it is fully available on a game cartridge without downloads.
As for the future, Nintendo is seemingly offering new storage sizes of physical cartridges that should help bring both smaller and bigger games to carts. However, the popularity of Game Key Cards for developers is not stopping anytime soon with Final Fantasy 7 Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi explaining that devs “can’t avoid” the technology.
“I understand why a lot of people don’t like this and maybe want to push back against it,” Hamaguchi said. “But from a creator’s perspective, I kind of think it gives us opportunities to put some games on Switch 2.
“There are some especially high-end, real high-quality games that require a lot of memory that we probably couldn’t put on it without this – as a physical version, without the key card.”
However, when it comes to smaller titles, some Japanese publishers have recognised the desire for true physical media. Yoshimi Yasuda, game designer on Lollipop Chainsaw RePop, explained that there’s a newfound awareness surrounding physical media.
“It feels like there’s been a renewed awareness of the role of physical editions. I’ve also learned from many RePOP players just how important it is to own a physical edition,” they said. “Since most games today go through two to three years of updates after release, I think it would be great if a new ecosystem emerged where definitive physical editions, including all updates and DLC, could be released smoothly and made easy to purchase.”
Additionally, at least in Japan, physical cartridges compete with the game are starting to outnumber Game Key Cards with new releases, although this has yet to occur for many games in the West with tiny storage size games, such as the upcoming Dragon Quest 7: Reimagined, still launching on Game Key Cards.
There’s also a worry that the ongoing rise in cost of NAND, which is starting to skyrocket as AI datacenters continue to buy up the majority of RAM and NAND storage, will end up resulting in less physical Nintendo Switch 2 cartridges as the cost of production increases.
