It’s been a year since the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, and many games have been released during that time. This includes a long list of games that are only released in Game Key Card format. Some people hate it, some people love it, some people still have no idea what it is. So here’s a little guide for you to reference.
A few years ago, Nintendo kind of became the premier destination for physical games. Every physical Switch game had a full game on the cartridge while Playstation and Xbox began resorting to digital consoles. But last year, Nintendo decided to go the route of hybrid cartridges with Game Key Cards. It’s a physical cartridge that you pop into the Switch 2, and it doesn’t do anything. You still have to download the game data from the eshop to the console in order to play the game. Here’s a list of every Nintendo Switch 2 game that uses a Game Key Card.
If you delete the data, the game won’t run, even if the cartridge is in the console. It works the other way too, the game won’t run if you have the game downloaded but the cartridge isn’t in the console. This does get a lot of hate, but it’s basically the same as the old PS4 games where you still have to install the game after putting the disc in for the first time. Then even though it’s installed, you can’t play the game without inserting the disc.
Some people say that it’s like a failsafe. It’s a digital game that you can still trade off to someone else since it still has a physical compartment. But that’s kind of redundant since you still need a physical cartridge. But why does Nintendo do it?
Well, a dedicated Switch 2 cartridge can hold up to 64GB of data versus the 32GB that the original switch cartridges can hold. This means that Switch 2 Edition games can be bigger and more powerful than its predecessor. But it also costs more. Maybe a game only needs 10GB and it makes no sense to pay for a 64GB cartridge. If the publisher has to pay more for a bunch of unused space, they will either lose a lot of money by eating the cost, or increase the price to cover the cost. Both of these options don’t really make sense if the game doesn’t need all that space.
Game Key Cards don’t actually have any data aside for the required stuff that makes it work. So it makes sense for a game like BRAVELY DEFAULT FLYING FAIRY HD Remaster to use a Game Key Card because the game is less than 10GB. The game costs $40, and we’ll never truly know how much more it would have cost, but paying for a 64GB cartridge likely would have increased the price of the game. In comparison, Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is completely on the cartridge. That game uses a little more than 60GB, so they aren’t paying extra for a bunch of wasted space.
But it’s also true that many publishers have been going the Game Key Card route even if they don’t have to, just so they can save a little money. There are plenty of bigger games that would work well on a full cartridge that still get a Game Key Card.