A report came out today that suggested the third-party titles which launched alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 have been somewhat underperforming, and physical retailers in particular have noted, to no-one's surprise, that no-one wants to buy those dumbass Game Key Cards. If someone wants to buy a physical game, they want the actual game.
Now, there are likely multiple explanations for this situation, just one of which is the Game Key Card thing. The other is the fact that many of the third-party titles for the Switch 2 launch are games that are already at least several years old — things like Cyberpunk 2077, Bravely Default and Yakuza Zero being the main examples. Granted, each of those things have new features for their Switch 2 incarnations, but they're still games that are 5+ years old, and which have been widely available on other platforms since their launch. There's only really Bravely Default that isn't super-easy to get hold of any more, and even that's no more than £20 or so for a second-hand 3DS copy.
The optimist in me would like to think that both Nintendo and the third-party publishers who have been trying to push Game Key Cards will see the under-performance of these launch titles as a wake-up call, realise they fucked up and make an effort to reverse course. In an ideal world, I would love to see all the launch titles reissued on full, proper cartridges, no downloads required.
I also know that we do not live in an ideal world. In fact, some might say we live in one of the worst timelines imaginable, and as such I do not think it particularly unreasonable to think that one of two things will actually happen: 1) Nintendo and the third parties plug their ears, go "la la la" and hope that people will just suck up Game Key Cards given no other option, or 2) Nintendo and the third parties go "welp, that didn't work" and pull out of physical releases altogether.
Of the two, I think 1) is the most likely outcome, because Nintendo themselves appear mostly committed to doing actual proper cartridges for their own games. Mario Kart World comes on one, for example, and the upcoming Donkey Kong Bananza does, too, as do the "Nintendo Switch 2 Version" rereleases of stuff like Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom and suchlike. We've also seen no indication that titles like Metroid Prime 4 will be coming on Game Key Cards.
The issue, I'm told, is that there are actually only two options for publishers to release games physically on Switch: 64GB "full" cartridges, and 1GB Game Key Cards. And the trouble with the 64GB ones is that they're expensive, so even if a game could easily fit on one of them — like Bravely Default — a lot of publishers are baulking at both the extra cost to them, and the consequent business need to pass that cost onto consumers via higher prices. We're already seeing some resistance to things like Mario Kart World costing £75 — quite right, too — and so it's understandable that publishers would hesitate to go down a path that would require them to charge a high price in order to make their money back. To the Game Key Cards' credit, any games released in this way are a bit cheaper — but you're still talking at least £30-35 for most.
No-one has really said exactly why the 64GB cards for Switch 2 are so expensive, but it's presumably to do with them being based on the high-speed access that SD Card Express offers. A 256GB SD Card Express is a lot more expensive than a regular old SD Card of the same capacity, and if the Switch 2 carts are based on the same tech — which one would assume they are, otherwise why would the system require SD Card Express for digital downloads? — then that means that faster flash memory is pricier in general.
There's also the capacity question: 64GB is probably not enough for some modern games, since file sizes for triple-A titles have been ballooning over the 100GB mark for quite some time now. That said, if Cyberpunk 2077 can fit on a 64GB card, I feel like most other things probably can, too. And if not, well, game developers should rediscover the incredible art of compression. The games industry in general used to be really good at that — look at the amazing stuff you could fit on a single floppy disk in the 16-bit era! — but it feels like it just hasn't been a priority for developers in more recent years. After all, if the capacity is there, might as well use it, right…? Maybe it's time to get out of that mindset.
There's not really an easy solution then, though I suspect people would be at least a bit more open to paying a little more for their games if they knew they were absolutely, definitely getting the full game, complete on cartridge. Of course, these days there are things like patches, content updates and DLC to consider also, with many physical releases from the previous generation already being of questionable archival value as a result, one might say this is something of a losing battle.
Not all hope is completely lost, however; several of the limited-print companies such as Strictly Limited Games and Lost In Cult have committed to releasing their stuff on full Switch 2 cartridges, and I have little doubt that others will follow. Given that a significant portion of my Switch 1 library consists of titles from publishers like this, that makes me feel a little better. It is, however, disappointing to see companies like NIS America announcing things like new entries in the Trails series as being on Game Key Cards. Given that there's a strong crossover between those who enjoy niche-interest stuff like Japanese role-playing games and those who buy a lot of physical games — as my own shelves will attest — this feels like an intensely foolish thing to do.
It's early days, so I'm not ready to write physical gaming's obituary just yet. But I hope the data we've seen today actually causes some people to sit up, take notice and ponder if they might not be just a little better off doing things slightly differently.
Want to read my thoughts on various video games, visual novels and other popular culture things? Stop by MoeGamer.net, my site for all things fun where I am generally a lot more cheerful. And if you fancy watching some vids on classic games, drop by my YouTube channel.
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