Since their announcement, Switch 2 game key cards considered a lot of discussions and caused mighty opinions of both players and programmers. The last, which should be considered the controversial nintendo format, is the director of the Final Fantasy VII trilogy, Naoki Hamaguchi. He suggested that programmers choose game cards not necessarily from a cost perspective, but the performance, because the format allows them to introduce smoother games to Switch 2.
Although the Switch 2 key key cards are physical, they only contain a key that requires the user to download a real game from the Nintendo online store. As recently summed up the Morningstar Kazunori Ito analyst Bloomberg: “The key card seems to be half -baked because it combines both physical and digital versions.”
Despite the attraction of criticism from the point of view of protecting the game (see Stephen Kick CEO KabineFor example, comments) Some programmers recently spoke in favor of the key card format, the latest of the fact that the remake of Final Fantasy VII Remake Naoki Hamaguchi.
Speaking by the translator during the last interview with the German information site JP GamesHamaguchi said he understood why the Switch 2 game card format is not liked. “I really get where people come from in terms of their negativity towards this and there are good reasons,” he said. However, the discussion between programmers on this subject is “maybe slightly different than fans can expect”.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade will debut in Switch 2 January 22, 2026. However, the game will be released only on the game card and there are reasons for this.
Hamaguchi explained that the main problems for those who want to spend high -class, demanding games such as Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade on Switch 2, is narrow card memory and their slower charging speed (compared to consoles with disk -based games, such as PS5 and Xbox Series X and S). The smaller size of the card memory is something that “programmers cannot ignore (…), we have to get around it.”
However, the Switch 2 game card helps programmers to encircle these restrictions. Hamaguchi added that the game key cards can enable programmers to make a “semi-service version of the game”, using Switch 2 internal memory, which can charge games faster than if they were completely charged from the card.
On Ubisoft, Developer Star Wars Outlaws, Rob Bantin From a similar point of view, citing performance as the main reason why they go down this route: “(ordinary) Switch 2 cards simply did not give the necessary performance for the quality of which we chose.”
In defense of the Hamaguchi format, he said that he would like “Nintendo fans to understand playing cards and may accept them as part of the culture of switch games. (…) From the programmer’s perspective, it allows us to introduce a more high -class experience to change players, and I think it’s a good thing (…) (it allows) to do things that we would not do.”
It resembles the previous one Notes Nintendo of America CEO Douga Bowsrawho suggested that game key cards lend a hand publishers the third edition of larger and more ambitious Switch games 2: “The game cards are the way our publishing partners can introduce more content to the deeper and larger, more addictive content.”
Verity Towsend is a Japanese independent writer who previously served as an editor, collaborator and translator on the Automaton West website. She also wrote about Japanese culture and films for various publications.
