Nintendo Says Physical Games Are Still "A Key Part Of Our Business" Following Backlash Over Switch 2's Game-Key Cards

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Joshua Robertson

Published May 16, 2025

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Summary

Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser has addressed concerns over the abundance of developers and publishers using game-key cards.
Bowser claims that proper physical games are still "a key part of our business", and that Nintendo plans to support them for "the immediate future".
He goes on to explain that game-key cards are there to support as many third-party developers as possible, and help them bring "deeper and larger, more immersive content" to the Switch 2.

Nintendo has probably seen a bit more pushback over the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Nintendo Switch 2 than it was expecting, as they've managed to upset fans in a number of ways ever since we got the big system reveal earlier this year. Mario Kart World🐻 kicked off ang꧅er over video game pricing, while the console itself was also seen as too expensive, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and it could get even worse.

Another of the Nintendo Switch 2's big controversies is regarding game-key cards, which are ♓essentially codes on cartridges that you use to download the full game. It's a measure for Nintendo to get games onto the Switch 2 that may have larger file sizes than the maximum 64GB cartridges will allow, but obviously raises concerns over vide🎉o game preservation.

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Nintendo's music stream𓄧ing app ♍is good, not in spite of its limitations, but because of them.

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网:As seen with Doom: The Dark Ages, people that like to buy games physically don't like the idea of buying glorified download keys, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and the recent Arc System Works hack reportedly revealed that Nintendo is only♓ offering third-party developers expensive 64GB cartridges. Rather than eat those costs, many are going for digital-only or ✃game-key card releases instead.

Nintendo Responds To Backlash Over Game-Key Cards

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There were worries that this method could eventually see a sharp decline in proper physical games for the Nintendo Switch 2, but CEO Doug Bowser has now addressed concerns over the syst🏅em's support for 🌌physical games .

When asked whether game-key cards are the future for Nintendo, Bowser claims 💧that proper physical games are still "a key part of our business", and that Nintendo plans to su🍬pport them for "the immediate future".

"In the immediate future, physical games are still a key part of our business," says Bowser. "And we value our relationships in particular with our retailers, and want to make sure we have products available for them to sell to their consumers. When you look at G♒ame-Key Cards, for us, our goal with Nintendo Switch 2 – similar to what we were able to accomplish on Nintendo Switch – is to have the broadest and deepest library of content we possibly can."

He then goes on to explain that game-key cards allow third-party developers and publishers to bring "deeper and larger, more immersive content" to the Nintendo Switch 2. So, it sounds like physical games are still part of Nintendo's future for now, but it will be down to deꦬvelopers themselves to choose whether to make an effort to fit their games on a cartridge.