Industry Leaders Say Nintendo Switch 2 Game-Key Cards Are “Disheartening” And “Inevitable”

In less than a few weeks, the Nintendo Switch 2 will officially be available. Since the announcement & dedicated Nintendo Direct in April, the overflow of new information on the system has continued to roll out. Probably the biggest concern is preservation moving forward. It was revealed that new Game-Key Cards will be introduced which welcomes larger games to the platform. The caveat: it’s not the full game on the cartridge.

Nintendo has clarified that there will be 64 GB cartridges as well, but many publishers have opted-in for the Game-Key Card with titles like Yakuza 0: Definitive Edition & Split Fiction. But, that does not apply to all versions coming. Of course, Nintendo titles will be completely on the cartridge. On the matter of its ‘Switch 2 Edition’ legacy games, there will be no download code in the box upon opening.

Discussing the future of game preservation with gamesindustry.biz, industry leaders representing Nightdive Studios & The Strong Museum shared insight on the matter. Ultimately it is said that it was a disappointment to witness Nintendo entertain these practices for games, but was expected seeing the direction of the industry.

“Seeing Nintendo do this is a little disheartening. You would hope that a company that big, that has such a storied history, would take preservation a little more seriously,” Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick shares. “Nintendo was, in some ways, the slowest of the major console producers to be going there,” Paul Dyson, director of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games adds.

Co-founder of the Videogame Heritage Society James Newman does add that Game-Key Cards might not be a radical shift in how games are handled despite Nintendo introducing the alternative. “Even when a cartridge does contain data on day one of release, games are so often patched, updated and expanded through downloads that the cart very often loses its connection to the game, and functions more like a physical copy protection dongle for a digital object.” 

What is your input on the direction now with Nintendo also involved in this approach?

Source: gamesindustry.biz