Forget Switch 2 Game Key-Cards – “Full On-The-Cart Physical Releases” Are What People Want, Says Publisher Lost In Cult

It’s fair to say that Switch 2 Game-Key Cards haven’t gone down all that well with consumers.

While Japanese video game consultancy firm Kyos Inc insists that publishers are “thanking Nintendo” for the move following rising production costs of physical media, others are less keen on them; almost 70% of you said you wouldn’t be buying Game-Key Card releases, and many companies within the industry have said they dislike the approach.

Game-Key Cards are Nintendo’s attempt to bridge the gap between ‘code in a box’ releases and traditional game cards, where the game data is included on the card itself. Many have warned that this system is anti-consumer; when Nintendo turns off the servers in a few years, the cards become useless.

Lost in Cult’s Ryan Brown, who has already spoken to us about the subject, has taken to social media to issue a rallying call to developers—people don’t want Game-Key Card releases, so, if your studio is looking to produce a physical Switch 2 release, they should get in touch with the boutique publisher:

While Game-Key Cards have been rejected by many consumers, a recent leak gives a pretty solid reason why so many companies are embracing them; if you want to publish your game physically on Switch 2, you have to pay Nintendo for 64GB card—there are no smaller options this time around, unfortunately, as was the case with Switch 1.

Nintendo itself has said it will not be using Game-Key Cards for any of its first-party games.