Topic: Switch 1 cartridge installs for Switch 2 confirmed?

Although today's video was in regards to sharing digital purchases with others.

I think it hints at allowing us to install our OG Switch 1 cartridges into Switch 2 memory to take advantage of the improved load times.

Thoughts?

It's possible but I don't think it hints at anything. Cartridges could simply use the same SD Express technology as the micro SDs Switch 2 will use.

@JaxonH

I just assume read speeds for Switch 1 cartridges running on Switch 2 would be capped at 105MB/s unless we're given the option to install. Boosting read speeds to 800MB/s, or thereabouts.

As of yet, we don't know if Switch 2 physical game cards will even exist, there's a possibility that the game card slot on Switch 2 is specifically just for Switch 1 physicals, though I hope that won't be the case.

We'll know more once the Switch 2 presentation drops next week, but my speculation is that digital Switch 1 games would just have access to faster loading times and performance regardless, and the "Virtual Game Cards" still need to be installed to the system's internal NAND or the microSD card regardless.

What "Virtual Game Cards" really amount to is just a change in how digital licenses work, as the trailer demonstrated multiple virtual game cards inserted simultaneously, indistinguishable from your actual physical game card on your home menu apparently.
Once the firmware drops and modders get their hands dirty, we'll find out how this really works under the hood, but it probably will change very little how the system just checks that you have a license to launch the content. License checks for installed software titles, updates, and DLCs, are all things that need to be handled when modded Switch systems are used to dump games for things like emulators and installing to emuNAND, you see.

On the subject of licenses, there's multiple kinds as the Switch is concerned.
The most obvious are just having a physical game card inserted, or just buying a digital game.
The others are things like access to titles and DLCs granted through a Nintendo Switch Online membership, and access granted through a time-limited Game Trial, which is temporary access to the full version of the game. As a matter of fact, the lending service of "Virtual Game Cards" with its 14 day time limit is likely re-using that same timer mechanism in some way, though lending means the owner of the "Virtual Game Card" is unable to play it until that license is returned to them.

With this whole lending service on the way, expect to see a sudden massive increase in Nintendo Family sharing, with online friends adding each other to their families and lending out digital games; possibly with money exchanging hands.

If the bus speeds for Switch 1 cartridges can't improve when inserted into a Switch 2, yeah they become limited, but your physical Switch 1 game cards don't suddenly become Virtual Game Cards.

One possible solution may be that they'll offer to download the full version of the Switch 1 game to your Switch 2 system, but only allow you to play that data with the game card inserted. There's a chance that this downloads might become mandatory if they're going to enforce updates, though updates are separate from titles on the system internals. Hopefully not, and it remains possible to just plug in any physical game and just play it without an internet connection.

This could piggyback on whatever Switch 1 upgrade system they will likely have in place, like the rumoured version of Breath of the Wild that runs at 4K 60 FPS.
These upgrades might be free, or for a fee, but even if you don't pay for the full upgrade they'll probably still give you the option to launch the Switch 1 version as-is.

@RupeeClock

I didn't have the belief that our Switch 1 cartridges would become VG Cards.

Merely that the video suggests that Nintendo will have more say about our physical collections next week.

@Magician
I recall something about Josh Fairhurst going to Nintendo's New York store a few months ago, maybe on business as the CEO of a physical publishing business.
He has a stake in the physical future of Switch 2 after all, and it might've been Nintendo reaching out to him to inform him of what's upcoming, but I can't remember where I might've heard this.
Rumours and speculations are moot right now, we have a fixed reveal date for the important news.

In the main news article I mentioned about how this restricts launching your digital g....
I had some further thoughts about how this works and if it can be abused, or what headaches there may be.
Firstly, this is lending the "Virtual Game Card", which may not include DLC that belongs to the Nintendo account that purchased the digital game. Which is to say, if you share your Virtual Game Card for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, your access to the Booster Course Pass DLC may not be lent out alongside it.
Secondly, if the lending mechanism has a way for the lender to take the game back whenever they want, this could be abused so that the borrowing user just goes offline and continues to have 14 day access to their borrowed digital game, whilst the VGC owner can play it as normal. Nintendo will have likely anticipated this and put in restrictions to prevent this scenario, like not allowing the lender to take the game back any time, or the taking back being subject to an online check for all involved systems and family member accounts.

I'd assume that it'll work exactly like lending the physical card out would, so no, they won't get access to online or DLC unless they've purchased them elsewhere because just lending the card wouldn't do that.

Similarly, taking the game back early will probably require both consoles to be online, analogous to the fact that you don't get your loaned physical cart back until it's been ejected. That could be annoying but the worst case is that you'd get it back in a couple of weeks, which is still better than it has sometimes gone for me with loaned out physical media.

@RupeeClock
Guarantee borrowed games will automatically have a 14 day timer for access to be revoked, offline or online, while returning a game will use the same process as lending.

There are additional contacts in the Switch 2 cartridge reader so I think we can very, very safely assume that Switch 2 has physical game cards and that they will be similar in size to Switch games given they use the same slot