While Nintendo gets ready for the June 5 launch of the Switch 2, it has been kicking off pre-orders for the console as well as its games. When it comes to physical copies of third-party games, however, it looks like several of them are using the new Game-Key Cards system.
As spotted by Gematsu, third-party titles like Ys X: Proud Nordics, No Sleep for Kaname Date, Wild Hearts, and Street Fighter 6 will be released through Game-Key Cards. This means that, on inserting the card into the Switch 2, the game will still have to be downloaded.
For context, a physical release of a Switch 2 game that makes use of Game-Key Cards rather than regular game cards will have the fact clearly stated on the packaging itself. According to VGC, titles like Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion and Bravely Default: Flying Fairy will also use Game-Key Cards.
However, there are other third-party titles that seemingly have all of their data in the game card itself, not requiring any additional downloads from players. These include Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition and Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma.
“Game-key cards are different from regular game cards, because they don’t contain the full game data,” Nintendo said, explaining Game-Key Cards. “Instead, the game-key card is your ‘key’ to downloading the full game to your system via the internet. 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 fact that so many third-party releases are making use of Game-Key Cards indicates that this might be the primary method for non-Nintendo games getting physical releases moving forward. Neither Nintendo, nor publishers like Marvelous or Capcom have made any comments about the matter so far.
Nintendo had revealed details about the new Game-Key Cards system earlier this month when it had provided a full rundown on the Switch 2 and its features during a Direct. According to the company, the Game-Key Card will have to stay inserted into a Switch 2 in order to play the game even after it has been downloaded.
While this had raised some concerns over how sharing games with fellow Switch 2 players would work, Nintendo had later clarified that Game-Key Cards don’t get tied up to a single console or a Nintendo account when used. “So key cards will start up on the console or system that it is slotted into, so it’s not tied to an account or anything,” explained Nintendo’s Tetsuya Sasaki.
Despite these assurances, however, Nintendo has also not been clear about whether Game-Key Cards would still work in the future when the company decides to take its eShop servers for the Switch 2 offline. This has happened with Nintendo in the past, with servers for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS having been killed off some time ago. Along with shutting down multiplayer servers for games on these platforms, the move also essentially killed digital distribution for them, since no game can be bought or downloaded on them going forward.
