It is less bad than code-in-a-box. That’s not a high bar, but it is less bad.
There are two main reasons to buy physical:
Ability to share, trade, and resell your games. These key cards still support this, whereas code-in-a-box did not. So, slightly better.
Then there’s the peace of mind that your games will still work in the distant future. I think if you ask most people who primarily buy physical, myself included, we’ll say this is the main appeal of physical games, and the big reason why key cards don’t feel acceptable.
Some day when the servers eventually go offline, these key cards will become bricks. It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when. We have no idea how long Nintendo will support them for, and they’re not going to hard commit a timetable out loud for us. But we know it can’t be forever.
But even for standard physical games, there is some uncertainty regarding their long-term future that I’m not sure people realize. When those servers eventually go online, your cartridge only has 1.0 on it, you won’t be able to get patches. That’s better than a brick, but for a lot of games that’s probably not the version you want to play.
And then the even darker concern is bit rot. No form of physical media is permanent. Every disc and every cartridge will eventually degrade. Worse yet is that for many forms of media, we don’t even know how long they’re set to last for, we only find out once some of them start to fail. Cartridges are generally better than discs, but beyond that we truly have no idea how long Switch cartridges should be expected to last.
They are significantly better than the digital code in a physical box games that they are replacing. They let you share those games with friends too.
There are no downsides. People just got outraged because they mistakenly thought that ALL Switch 2 games were on them.
It lacks the main benefit of a digital game: not needing to keep the card with you.
It lacks the main benefit of a physical game: not needing an internet connection, which also means these fake cartridges will stop working once servers shut down
It captures the vibe of having a physical card, which I appreciate, but that’s about it. Otherwise it’s worthless.
If you want a fully digital copy just buy the digital copy. Those aren’t going anywhere.
These ones are for games that were sold at retail, in a box, but just had a digital code that made it no different to buying the game digitally. They had no reason to exist. Now they do. They give these games some of the benefits of physical copies.
They don’t stop working once servers are shut down btw. 100% false. You only ever need an internet connection the first time you run the game after downloading it. Source: Nintendo directly:
An internet connection is only required when you launch the game for the first time. After this, the game can be started even without an internet connection.
There is a downside, and that’s why Switch 1 games have an option to become digital cartridges and it is not forced.
The downside resides in if a single account has multiple switches. With the current system, you have a primary switch on your account, and this switch can play any digital title whenever it wants. Any secondary switches on that account need to connect to the internet anytime they want to play a title. This leads to a flow where you may have your primary switch be a portable one (no need for internet to boot) and a secondary switch to be a dedicated at-home or docked device. Either switch can play any game you own without really planning much of anything. This will not be possible with the new system, where you will need to move digital licenses between consoles.
Additionally, you could have a friends account on your switch and you could borrow games that way, or they could sign in and play their games on your console while visiting you without having planned it before. Now, they will have to bring their own switch or otherwise preplan wanting to play a game on another console, and move that digital cartridge.
While I do think the new system is overall better, I also think its just wrong to claim there are no downsides when compared to the current system.
I’m generally in favor, provided the licenses transfer properly when you sell it, while the game remains until someone else inserts the card.
Mh, not sure how I feel about these. On one hand, as someone who mostly buys games secondhand, I appreciate they can be resold unlike actual digital releases. But what’s going to happen in 15-20 years when Nintendo pulls the plug on the Switch servers and eShop? Won’t these stop working? So at that point it’s just a piece of plastic whereas physical cartridges would still let you play games. Feel free to correct me if I’m misunderstanding how they work!
That’s about right. That said, we also don’t know how long regular Switch/Switch 2 carts are going to last. The MaskROM used in the N64/DS and earlier eras is significantly more reliable when stored for a long time than the modern NAND Flash memory as used in the 3DS/Switch+. I suspect key carts won’t have any NAND Flash inside (they don’t need gigabytes of capacity just to store a game name + icon) and might physically last longer.
Of course, key carts are all going to drop to zero value practically overnight when Nintendo eventually pulls the plug, while real carts will die one by one.
What’s stopping the key on that cart locking to the account of the first user when you download the game?
Have they said that won’t happen?
Yes
