Plenty of new features are coming with Switch 2, but Nintendo's Virtual Game Cards will be key to the system's success.

Nintendo has confirmed that those sleek new Switch 2 game ... cartridges were simple key containers. Let's not forget that Nintendo has bent the definition of what a game card offers before ...

With Switch, Nintendo is currently offering the platform friendliest to physical game collectors, but the existence of game-key cards for Switch 2 has the holdouts from the supposedly inevitable ...

Nintendo Game-Key cards are crucial. Switch 2's 64GB cartridge may not suffice ... Others have pointed out simple complaints, like having to wait for a game to download instead of just being ...

Many third-party publishers are taking advantage of Nintendo's game-key card option for their Switch 2 titles, a fact that's causing no shortage of consternation to physical game collectors.

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 ...

Update [Thu 24th Apr 2025, 10am]: Pre-orders for Switch 2 games are starting to go live in the US and, in the case of Sega titles at least, it looks like they too will be game-key cards in the region.

But it won’t be great if Game-Key Cards won’t actually do away with Switch 2 physical releases that are only download codes in boxes. Ultimately, the marketplace will make their own ...

UPDATE: Publisher Spike Chunsoft has contacted IGN to clarify that the physical version of No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES for Nintendo Switch 2 is in fact a Game-Key Card ...

Last month, Nintendo and its third-party partners revealed that many of the "physical" games on the Switch 2 would be made available only as "Digital Key Cards." Unlike traditional physical Switch ...