Link: https://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-says-it-has-no-plans-to-ditch-physical-games-knows-how-much-fans-like-it/

“Historically, we’ve been very agnostic, right? We go off what the consumer prefers, and take that into account very heavily. We also have a platform that was just launched. We’re barely just over a year into NS2. It’s got both digital and physical – that capability. There’s no plans to ditch physical. We know how much the fans like it as well, so our position has been to be agnostic.”

Yet. They'll let Sony take the heat for going first, but we know this is what all three console manufacturers want sooner or later.

It's obvious that Game Key Cards are a step towards a gradual phase-out. Cartridges are a lot more expensive to manufacture than disks, and probably getting worse due to datacenters driving up the price of flash memory. It's not a question of if they'll ditch cartridges, but when.

I expect we'll continue to see carts for the remainder of the Switch 2's lifespan, but we may see a point at which they only do GKCs for late gen titles. And then after that, the Switch 3 will be all digital.

How much do you want to bet Winds and Waves are gonna be on a key card? Pokopia was one of the biggest selling Switch 2 games, though I feel like that was more a Koei Tecmo decision than TPCI.

We like sales too.

Until people arent paying attention.

Nintendo has already abandoned physical games with it's game key card nonsense. If we still have to connect to the internet to download the game it's not a physical game.

Nintendo, known for being one of the most anti-consumer companies in the gaming world, says they won't do something anti-consumer right after they presented a product that does exactly what they claim they won't do (game keycards).

Yeah... I'm not gonna believe you.

/doubt

The gamekey-card concept is interesting on its own and would be a problem if publishers would only use those.
The idea on them is to keep the price down for indie developers but still be able to sell, trade and borrow them.
It is your decision if you buy a key card or not.
I hope that indie devs use them.
I hope AAA games do NOT use them.
A good example is Cyberpunk. I got the card because I want it offline and also keep the internal storage free (60GB).
But something like silksong, shantae and ShuffleKnight would be nice as a keycard, so I could put them on a shelf.
“Why keycard and not entirely physical for indies!!?”
Cost, it all comes down to cost for indie devs who could not afford to put a 0,1-5GB game on a 64GB card.
This are indie devs and not tripple A studios.

https://nintendoeverything.com/list-of-all-nintendo-switch-2-games-with-a-game-key-card-release/

Example, Resident Evil Requiem. I would like it 100% physical.
Same with all or most Ubisoft games.
Don’t hate on Nintendo, hate on the publishers that use a solution that is designed for indies to cut cost and keep control over their games.

This!!!
I hate it.
Pokopia is only 7GB in size, so GameKey card seems feasible.
But this is GF/PokeCompany. Like they got no money to spare for a full release game card.

...IT'S ONLY 7 GB?!

They TOTALLY could've fit it on a cartridge then! Even with all the DLC!

Game keycards aren't entirely the same as the digital model, as you can actually lend them or sell them at least (for a limited amount of years of course).

They're not good, but they're definitely a step better than all others do, including Steam (excluding GoG)

Also: if it's physical but it requires a day one 60gb "patch" or it's a beta or even just a splash screen, then it's not physical. Too many switch games are like that

Poor pokemon company going bankrupt because of game card releases lol
Imagine XD

Well that's a lot of corporate bullshit, especially since they released games using the game-key cards. That's still all-digital games there buddy if I have to rely on the generosity of a closed eco-system that routinely gets closed by Nintendo after the console is no longer profitable.

A game key card is not as good as a full game on the cart, but it is better than a digital purchase. I can lend, gift, or resell a game license tied to a key card. Once I have a game installed, I can play it entirely offline and never check licencing servers.

Thank goodness for https://www.doesitplay.org/

When the Xbox One was announced with always online DRM and was getting massive backlash, Sony famously responded with a short video which essentially won them the console generation:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA

Then, a generation and a half later, Sony announced that they will be completely discontinuing the production of all physical games.

Here, Nintendo is using even weaker phrasing, saying there are "no plans" to ditch physical media, when, starting this console generation, they already started selling "Game Key Cards," which do not contain any game data, and the prices of storage are only getting higher due to the AI bubble.

Nintendo is just a publicly traded corporation trying to make more of a profit next quarter than they did last quarter. When push comes to shove, those profits will take priority.

Supposedly S2 carts only come in 64GB, no smaller, and that's allegedly the reason why smaller games don't want to eat the full manufacturing cost of that compared to a much cheaper GKC.

Who controls the key? It's not the consumer. Nintendo can revoke these things any time. It's not yours.

While you're absolutely right and I largely agree.

I think there is a couple of important points to caveat here.

1. You're right these stores get closed down, but you can still download your games from the old eshop on any of Nintendos closed stores via your purchase history.
2. You're not getting all the negatives of Sonys decision, personally I'm indifferent about game key cards, it's not a biggie to me if I need to download it before playing it. (obviously i'd prefer the option of them on the cart). I just need to be able to buy it from another shop, share with friends, swap with buddies, sell them on. I need an open market.

Actually, it's who controls the server, not the key. The reason they're called game key cards if because they're literally a key. You own the key.

The issue is, they own the servers, and again, once those are down, you can't download the game anymore. The card is just used to download the game tho, and verify that digital copy is valid with your key, so whoever lasts uses it once they go down are the final owners of the digital game. Unlike a physical game, where it doesn't matter if the company itself goes bankrupt.

Like I said, they're a step up in that they're this weird hybrid of the standard digital game front and a physical item you can at least lend and sell for some time. But they're not as good as a physical copy or a drm free digital copy.

Gkc's have the worst of both worlds in a single piece of plastic.
The only good thing of them is that they partly share the freedom of a physical media while the key is valid.

The key can be revoked anytime. The servers can be closed anytime. And on top of that, you still have to put it in your console to play the game, taking space and making you switch cards on every game you play.

You will still eventually run out of ability to download it. Key cards will eventually kill the used market. You can still buy OG NES carts and play them. SNES, N64, GC, Wii, WiiU. I can trust buying a game on any those from a retro game store will allow me to play the game. The switch starts to get questionable as many of those games have updates so while you can play it, it won’t be the final version. The switch 2 retro market will die the day Nintendo decides that it does.

Could Nintendo not just decide who can or can't take advantage of it and abuse the system they created?

Bullshit, who writes this garbage?

Does no one here realize that none of their first party games are key cards?

Yes, key cards suck shit sauce. Which is why my library is all first party games on the carts. Or I just pirate them on PC if I can't get a physical. Easy.

I hate key cards and really don't like digital games if I can avoid them. Which is why I also know that all first party games still fully come on the carts. I'm not seeing anyone mentioning that. You do not need internet at all to play Kart World or DK Bananza. Same will be true for Ocarina.

Third party games, which I wouldn't ever buy on Switch anyway, have the choice of a key card, yes.

I can see them doing a Switch 2 lite eventually that only does digital games.

I don't think the key can be revoked, because the card is the key.

The main issue is the same as a digital game - the servers going down.

Though having to put it in to play is also annoying.

What I'd really like Nintendo to do is make space on the game cards for updates. I'm not exactly sure how it would work but it would definitely be a unique feature.

Also ban dlc but that's never going to happen

If a game requires a huge patch to run then the physical version should be delayed until the game is considered complete without the need of major patches.

I would love an online store that allowed users to order physical versions of any game and that game will be made with all the updates up to the day it was ordered.

I agree that's great. There's ONE game though..........

Pokopia. It's a spin-off, sure, but it's as quintessential as a nintendo game can be. It should be a physical release without the game keycard bull

That's ok, they'll still be boycotted for other reasons

make space on the game cards for updates

Using SD cards as media would work.

While an actual physical card is preferable, the option for a keycard is at least better than the shit that Playstation is trying to pull at least. You could at least trade or sell the keycard.

The key can absolutely be revoked. It's enough to tell the server that said key is not allowed to download the game anymore and you're done. It is extremely easy to do since every key is unique.

And if you think it's not possible, wait until someone dumps one of them on the internet and someone else finds a way to copy it on a new cart to duplicate it. You'll see how fast nintendo revokes the key.

Got curious and apparently out of the 54 games they tested, a majority work perfectly fine without any patch or download.

Nintendo, so-called "keycards" don't count.

It literally already has abandoned physical games. As per usual Nintendo full of shit.

Ok, fair, but then you could say the same about consoles / PCs themselves.

In fact, what we are arguing is that a gkc has the same downsides as a digital store (like pc's and consoles), including the possibility of the key being revoked.

Tbf, no first party games use keycards.

It bugs me that keycards work better then real carts. There was some star wars game that pointed out any game installed on the builtin drive could get way better load times/ texture streaming vs, the real carts with the games on them.

For sure

Sure, but it's still not a first party game since it's developed by Koei Tecmo so their point stands.

It's not really surprising that built-in drives are faster than external ones. There's a reason the PS5 installs physical games in the internal SSD. Obviously, switch cartridges are much faster than Blu-rays, but they are still constrained.

It's just unfortunate that you can't install physical games onto the internal SSD on the switch. Maybe developers could use a trick of a patch that installs performance-critical parts on internal storage?

Well yeah. They lose money with expensive flash so they use the cheapest they can find. The console's built in storage can be much faster.

Nintendo knows how to not rock the boat.

Yeah, you're right. I'm aware. I'm just saying that even if it was contracted out to a different studio, anything "Pokémon" should count the same as their "first party" rule when it comes to game keycards.

I'd expect the same if they outsourced a Zelda game like with Cadence of Hyrule

Edit;
I think I came across as unclear and as if I avoided the point. Sorry.
The original post is correct, as are you for pointing it out.
I don't disagree with either of you. I disagree with Nintendo. It shouldn't just be first party games. It should also be Nintendo exclusives or at least Nintendo IP, I think.

Ideally no games are key cards, but if they MUST BE, then I don't think it'd be unreasonable to cast a slightly wider net than strictly first party. Pokopia could easily have been included