Nintendo Switch 2 Report Offers New Hope for Physical Games on the System

When Nintendo Switch 2 launches next month, the system’s early library will boast several third-party games, including titles like Hogwarts Legacy, Sonic x Shadow Generations, and Street Fighter 6. In most of these cases, publishers are utilizing “Game-Key Cards,” which are cartridges that do not include the game on them, and instead act as a download key that allows the game to be played on the system. Nintendo fans have already shown contempt for these releases, and there’s a lot of concern that the system won’t see many true physical games from third-party publishers.

Thankfully, there does seem to be some hope for physical game collectors. In a new interview with Nintendo Life, Limited Run Games founder Josh Fairhurst has said that the company has “no plans to support the Game-Key Card format on titles where we are the manufacturer and publisher.” Basically, the company is going to continue focusing on physical releases as it always has. That won’t be the case in situations where LRG is handling just the collector’s edition of a game, such as the upcoming Raidou Remastered. Since LRG is basically buying those standard editions from partners and distributors, they won’t have any involvement in the decision making process about physical editions.

Interestingly, Fairhurst suggested that Limited Run Games could end up offering “true” physical releases for games that are only getting Game-Key Card versions. This is actually something that the company was trying to do with games that had digital codes in the box in the Switch era, but the LRG founder says that it’s been “a surprisingly difficult pitch.” So far, publishers have shared concerns that it could end up having a negative impact on “pre-existing retail stock,” which is why it hasn’t happened yet. However, Fairhurst says that he’s “sure some partners will bite.” Who those partners will be remains to be seen, but it’s worth noting that LRG seems to have a close working relationship with Sega.

It will be interesting to see what comes of all this. The Switch 2 version of Cyberpunk 2077 has seen a lot of interest ahead of launch, based largely on the fact that CD Projekt Red is releasing the full game and DLC on the cartridge. If the game ends up outselling many other third-party games on Switch 2, it could show publishers that there’s a clear interest in genuine physical games being made available on the platform. It’s worth noting that Nintendo’s own physical games will not utilize Game-Key Cards, including Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.

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The future of physical game releases has been a hot topic of conversation for several years now. The fact of the matter is that both physical and digital games have their benefits. However, the key appeal of physical games for collectors is that cartridges and discs can be played into the future. There’s a very large market for retro games right now precisely because those games can still be played decades after their original release. Whether or not we’ll be able to say the same about today’s games remains to be seen.

Do you care about physical game releases? Are you more likely to buy “true” physical releases versus those on Game-Key Cards? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!