Nintendo Switch Game Share System Announced

Today’s Nintendo Direct presentation showcased some returning and new games coming to the Switch, with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and Tamodotchi Life: Living the Dream being announced to come out for the console this year into 2026. While many are excited to dive into these worlds, the news was met with some surprise when the show turned to present a new approach to the traditional gaming experience. Nintendo has announced a new way to play digital games on different devices with its Nintendo Switch Virtual Game Card. This feature will turn digital copies of games into ‘physical’ cards that can be transferred to other consoles, which seems to be a prominent concept used in the Nintendo Switch 2.

This feature has been used on the Steam Deck for transferring via local network, which is an innovative way of letting the primary player (or a friend) get the chance to play their game file on another device. For the Virtual Game Card, this concept makes it easier to play games on two different consoles by borrowing games from one device. The card can “eject” from the Nintendo Switch system and load onto another device. When it comes to lending the games to family members in the Nintendo Account group, players can lend a digital game via local wireless connection for two weeks. After this time, the game will automatically transfer back to the original console.

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The Virtual Game Card feature is a new step for Nintendo, which seems to be in preparation for the Nintendo Switch 2 console, as the system will be able to play games from the Switch. It’s exciting to see a development like this right before the Switch 2 Direct, since we get to see a glimpse into the mindset that the Nintendo team is looking at when it comes to delivering the best gaming experience possible. The game cards will be launching with the new console and will be available for the Nintendo Switch in late April, so we’ll see then just how seamless the process is.