The Nintendo Switch 2 has been largely beloved since its launch earlier this year, but the console does have one constant controversy: Game Key Cards.
Due to Nintendo only offering a 64GB option for a physical cartridge and the fact that Switch 2 carts are slower than both the console’s internal storage and MicroSD Express storage, many devs have been forced to put large, demanding titles on the controversial formal. (Of course, some other games are simply cost-cutting.)
One vocal defender of the Game Key Card situation has been Final Fantasy 7 Remake Trilogy director Naoki Hamguchi who is currently working on Switch 2 ports of the first two games, and the eagerly-awaited brand-new finale.
In a new interview with GamesRadar, Hamguchi claimed that developers and consumers “can’t avoid” Game Key Cards simply due to the trend towards digital media. While Nintendo hardware specifically is significantly more popular for physical media compared to its contemporaries, the platform is still going towards that digital trend.
“I think it’s, in some ways, part of a larger trend that we can’t avoid,” the Final Fantasy 7 Remake director said, adding “the customers on Switch 2 very much value what’s good about physical media. So, for that platform in particular, it’s going to be an even slower change.”
Hamaguchi claimed “the trend is going towards digital”, which is certainly true, but that Game Key Cards are an understandably unique and weird offering that bridges physical and digital in a new way.
“I understand why a lot of people don’t like this and maybe want to push back against it,” he 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.”
The biggest issue with Game Key Cards isn’t the games that couldn’t be released without them, but the games that release on them that don’t have to be. Titles like the recent Bravely Default remaster could fit snuggly onto a traditional cartridge, but publisher cost-cutting means that fans now don’t even have the option.
A game like Final Fantasy 7 Remke Intergrade, a title which is over 100GB on every other platform, makes sense for Game Key Card. In fact, it’s likely why the option was created in the first place, but when the option for a traditional cartridge works and makes sense, that’s when fans get really annoyed.
