Not All Switch 2 Cartridges Have Games on Them

Like the Nintendo Switch before it, the Switch 2 supports both physical and digital games. It offers some flexibility no matter how players enjoy to collect their games, unlike other game companies that offer digital-only versions of their consoles.

It's important to note, however, that just because you buy a physical Switch 2 game, that doesn't mean you've actually purchased the game itself. In fact, for some games, there are few differences between buying the game physically or digitally—and unless you really appreciate the box art and the cartridge itself, you shouldn't make your buying decision with the wrong idea in mind.

Switch 2 Game-Key cards

Once the Switch 2 does go on sale, and games start to release in tandem, check the game boxes carefully: On select titles, you will notice a white strip along the bottom of the cover art, notably sporting a "GAME-KEY CARD" branding.

Credit: Nintendo

Game-key cards are new to this Nintendo generation, and separate themselves from traditional physical games in one major way: They do not contain the full game on the card itself. What you're buying instead is the key to download the full game onto your console. (Hence, game-key card.)

Once you pop the game cartridge into your Switch 2, the console will present you with steps to download the full game locally. However, you'll need an internet connection for the download to actually begin, so you won't be able to play your new Switch 2 game until you've returned somewhere with a stable and relatively fast network. (Long gone are the days of buying a Nintendo cartridge and playing it then and there.)

Additionally, you'll need to make sure you have enough space on your Switch 2 for that download to take place. Nintendo says you'll see the amount of space necessary on the game box itself. This is another bummer: One of the perks of physical games on Switch is preserving the limited storage space you have to work with. True, the Switch 2 quadruples the internal storage of the Switch 1, but buy enough of these games, and you'll need to invest in some expanded storage, as well. (Remember: You cannot use your Switch 1 microSD cards here, either).

Once the game is downloaded, you'll need to keep that internet connection active in order to launch the game. After this, however, you can choose to play the game offline as well. You'll just need to ensure you're playing with the cartridge, as you would a physical game.

We don't know which games in particular will use this system yet, or how game-key cards affect pricing. (Mario Kart World, for example, is $80.)

Why is Nintendo doing this?

My first reaction to this new type of game cart is, simply, confusion. What's the point of this? If you aren't going to put the full game on the cartridge itself, why not just offer the title digitally? It's not like it's benefitting users who don't have a stable internet connection: You still need to download the title to your Switch 2 via the net. So, again, why bother with the game-key card system at all?

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser (no relation) has the company's answer. In an interview with The Verge, Bowser said the game key is basically a "digital game on a card," and offers developers the opportunity to create games that are too large to fit on a typical cartridge while still selling those games in retail stores.

That does track from a business perspective. Nintendo doesn't publish its sales stats, but according to Christopher Dring, editor-in-chief of The Game Business, the company can expect to sell 80% of the copies for any given game physically. That number sounds a bit extreme to me, but I don't doubt Nintendo still sells a lot of games in stores, even as other sectors in the gaming industry swing heavily towards digital sales. Plus, Switch 2 is much more powerful than Switch 1, so it makes sense that large AAA games would take up a lot more space than OG Switch titles.

But from a consumer point of view, none of us wins here. The main perk of buying physical games is longevity: When you buy physical media (at least, a traditional piece of physical media) it can't be taken away from you. Digital media, on the other land, is largely a license-based system: You pay for the privilege of accessing that software as long as the distributor says so. If that distributor loses the rights to that media, or decides they no longer want to offer it, you're largely out of luck.

So, when you make physical carts that are digital games, it defeats the purpose of the physical media entirely. In fact, it's just a headache, since you have the downsides of needing the cart to play the game, with the other downsides of digital media. Eventually, Nintendo will stop supporting that game. Maybe you'll be able to play it as long as it's saved to your Switch 2, but if you need to download it to another console in the future, oops: That physical game is really a digital one that simply doesn't exist anymore.

The good news is this won't be every Switch 2 game. There will still be titles you can buy that contain the entire game on the cart. But it's good to know going into this new Nintendo era: Unless you're the kind of person that require all of your purchases to be tangible, you might just be better off buying these game-key card games digitally.