Man, this is sad. In light of theSwitch 2’sdiabolical new game key cards, JRPG publisherMarvelous grabbed headlineslast week by confirming that all of its Switch 2 games are full physical releases that actually have the gamesonthe cartridge. While I appreciate Marvelous for providing clarity for pre-orderers, this is not some kind of noble act we should all be celebrating, this should be the bare minimum.
I know I should be used to this kind of thing by now. First, PC players lost physical games entirely, then studios started shipping PlayStation and Xbox discs that you couldn’t use without first downloading the game. If I wanted to download it, I would have bought it digitally.
Always five years behind the rest of the industry, Nintendo has finally caught up with the times by bringing us digital games attached to physical cartridges. It truly is the worst of both worlds.
Three Cheers For The Bare Minimum
While Sega is taking a lot of flak online for putting all of its Switch 2 launch games on game key cards, Marvelous is getting lifted up as the saviors of physical media just for doing what we should all expect it to do. CDPR joint CEO Michał Nowakowski is also seizing the opportunity tofarm gamer cloutby proudly announcing the Switch 2 version of Cyberpunk 2077 comes on the Switch 2 version of Cyberpunk 2077’s cartridge. Hero isn’t a strong enough word.
To be honest, he kind of has a right to boast. Fitting all 102 GB of Cyberpunk 2077 on a 64 GB cartridge is an impressive feat, and I’d like to think Nowakowski isn’t just begging for easy cheers; he’s calling on the rest of the industry to do better.
In Sega’s case, capacity doesn’t seem to be the issue - or at least, it’s not a limitation.Sonic X Shadow Generations, Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, Raidou: The Mystery of the Soulless Army Remastered are all coming to the Switch 2 on game key cards, and none of them are even close to maxing out a 64 GB cartridge. For the love of God, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S is only 2 GB! What is going on here?
A Phantom Of Physical
We can only speculate about the origin of the game key card, especially when the game could fit on the rumored smaller and cheaper 8 GB Switch 2 cartridge. The cynic in me says game key cards must beeven cheaperthan the smallest cartridges. and Sega (and others) are willing to ship an inferior product to save every cent possible.
But let’s give the House of Sonic the benefit of the doubt and attempt to come up with some other reasons. We know manufacturing, especially in tech, was hit hard during the pandemic and is still trying to recover. Maybe there’s just a limited amount of Switch 2 cartridges in the world, Nintendo needs to keep as many as possible for Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, and so it’s selling them to publishers at an outrageous premium, or perhaps not even offering them at all. Cyberpunk is going to sell a heck of a lot more copies than Puyo Puyo Tetris 2S, so maybe Sega just didn’t have priority on actual cartridges, and these game key cards were the only option for now.
If game key cards go away after launch, we’ll know that either there weren’t enough cartridges available for every game at launch, or that publishers got the message and knocked it off. Either way, I’ll be very happy to see cartridges with games on them again. Maybe I’m naive, but I have a feeling this problem is going to solve itself, or only apply to games that won’t sell very well anyway.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s inexcusable. I’d much prefer Sega started with a digital-only launch and release the physical versions later if it is the case that it just couldn’t get the cartridges. If it is really about cost saving, then shame on Sega, and every other company selling full-price fake cartridges. I know the all-digital future is inevitable, but as long as I can still go to a store and buy a box with a cartridge in it, I expect the game to actually be on the cartridge. Is that so much to ask? I don’t think so.
