Nintendo's Switch 2 Game-Key Cards
Image: Nintendo Life

We didn't spot this in the Switch 2 Direct (although, frankly, there was so much packed in there we might have missed it), but Nintendo's website has a small section and an FAQ live detailing a new purchase option for "some physical games" on Switch 2.

They're called Game-Key Cards, but don't get too excited. From what we can gather, they're essentially codes-in-a-box, although it seems that Nintendo has managed to make even those a little bit worse for lovers of physical games.

According to the description, game-key cards will unlock a download of the game when you insert the cart (which looks like a standard Switch 2 cartridge) and connect to the internet. However, as per the title, the cart itself is merely a key and doesn't hold the game data — at least not the "full game data" — yet it must be inserted in the Switch 2 cart slot if you want to play the digital game. The worst of all worlds!

Apparently, they won't be for all physical games, only "some". Here are the details from the horse's mouth:

Some physical games are available as a game-key card. Insert a game-key card to download the full game to your system. You can play the game by starting it like a standard physical game card.

Game-key cards are different from regular game cards, because they don’t contain the full game data. 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.

Please note: to download the game, you must have enough free space in your Nintendo Switch 2 system memory or microSD Express card. The amount of free space required is indicated on the game-key card packaging.

Now, perhaps there'll be a good chunk of the game on the cart, in which case it won't be much different to some physical Switch games now, which sometimes contain the bare essential data on the retail cart and come with a massive Day One patch to download which makes the game playable.

Nintendo's Switch 2 Game-Key Cards
Here's an example of a game-key card box — Image: Nintendo

Presumably, this will also give third parties licence to have a notional physical product on the shelves that actually contains a cartridge (honest, guv'!) without having to pay for pricey, large-sized S2 carts with their improved transfer speeds.

But blimey, it really feels like Nintendo's managed to take the widely disliked practice of dumping a digital download code in a physical box, but remove perhaps the only perk of owning a game digitally - you don't need to carry your physical game collection with you. Crazy.

A code in a box on a cart, then. Maybe we're missing something - we'll be speaking to Nintendo soon. Is there a use case we're not thinking about here? Let us know below.

[source en-americas-support.nintendo.com]