Farewell physical media — some Nintendo Switch 2 games aren’t on the carts

It’s a good thing that the Nintendo Switch 2 comes with a base 256 GB of internal storage — eight times more than the original Switch’s paltry 32 GB — because some Nintendo Switch 2 games won’t come on the cartridge at all; instead, so-called “game-key cards” will simply contain a “key” which you will use to download the game via the internet, according to a support page on Nintendo’s website.

“After it’s downloaded, you can play the game by inserting the game-key card into your system and starting it up like a standard physical game card,” the page reads. Here’s how that looks on the retail packaging:

In some ways, this is a new spin on an old trick. Some Nintendo Switch games have been sold at retail, but the packaging simply included a code used to download the game to your account. To be fair, this hasn’t been as common on Switch as it has been on competitive consoles, but nevertheless, for the people still committed to purchasing physical games, it riles. This is, in fact, the same tactic that Microsoft (in)famously unveiled alongside the Xbox One; of course, that was over a decade ago and consumer sentiment has changed. We’re all Game Passing and PS Plus-ing our games, and maybe potentially feel some “ownership” over the digital goods we’re purchasing on Steam. Maybe.

But I’m one of those physical media people! First, I’m scientifically “old.” I was born in the 1970s, my first job was at a video store (ask your parents), and I still have a large collection of video games (and video games consoles ?). I understand that I am not the target demographic, in many ways. But also, until the Switch, the prospect of purchasing digital Nintendo games was foolish! If you lost your DS or 3DS on a bus — a not-unheard-of scenario for a portable game console — your digital purchases were gone. Here I am yelling about Nintendo’s shoddy online services in 2012 just before the launch of the Wii U, and again in 2017 just before the launch of the Switch.

The good news: I don’t need to write that same piece again! Nintendo has kinda figured this out. I still buy my Switch games in cartridge format, not because I’m afraid of losing the Switch and, by extension, my entire library but because it’s easier to share games with friends and family, including people in my own household. But I also genuinely worry about what happens when companies — and maybe, specifically here, Nintendo — take their own game servers offline. Can I download what I bought? How do I play older games I care about? Microsoft has been working to address the unsatisfactory vibes of digital ownership, and I often point out that my Steam library persists even as so (so, so) many of the developers and publishers behind the games in my Steam library no longer do.

So let’s call this a sign of the times. We don’t know how often Nintendo and its publishing partners will use this “game-key card” solution, and maybe in some cases it’s the right answer — surely some games will simply be too large to fit on this storage device. Switch game carts capped out at 32 GB, while the coming-to-Switch 2 Cyberpunk 2077 install clips past 50 GB … without the expansion pack. Even if it maybe makes sense, I don’t have to like it.