Eririichi

Considering how the Curl project is getting inundated with tons of nonsensical AI bug bounty reports because some people think they can make a quick buck, I wouldn’t be surprised if whoever at Squenix that will be doing the fixing will have to wade through a ton of false flags just to find the actual issues.

@RiasGremory The way I see game key cards, you pretty much get all the downsides of both physical and digital with only a fraction of the benefits of either. You need all the storage space of a digital copy versus just the patches and DLC (and spend all the time to download a game that can literally be up to tens to hundred plus gigabytes) but unlike a digital copy, you need to have the cartridge with you to play it.

Also, it’s hard not to get the feeling that GKCs are a half step in the gradual phasing out of physical copies. There’s been plenty of speculation that the PS5 and Xbox Series are going to be the last consoles in their lines to use physical media, and with the leaks about what the future of PlayStation and Xbox holds (PlayStation having a home console plus a handheld that can play PS5 games and Xbox being a PC-console hybrid aimed at just the diehard fans), I fear that may be true. With those two gone, would it be surprising if third party publishers stop bothering to even consider game key card releases in favor of just going all digital?

Definitely think Nintendo’s lowballing their estimate. While this is the launch year for the Switch 2, thus making the comparison apples to oranges to a more typical year, the Switch typically made 75% of their system sales in the last 3 months of the year. Even assuming that it’s not as high because of the higher early demand from the first 4 months, if they can keep up with demand for the holiday season, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’ll be close to or even pass 20 million by the end of 2025, with 4 months to spare for Nintendo’s fiscal year and another 2 before the Switch 2 hits its first birthday.

@Lizuka I get the feeling that the difference can be easily attributed to when in the year the games released. Arceus was in February, whereas Z-A is in October. The holiday shopping season is right around the corner (if you don't count Amazon Prime Day and stuff like that) for Z-A, so it's easier to put it off a couple weeks to be part of the holiday shopping list unlike Arceus' 8-9 months.

Sadly, after Outlaws, I'm not surprised by this news. On the other hand, that's one less game I'll be buying on the Switch 2.

@BrokenCiv Literally it's the 2nd fastest selling game in the franchise, behind only Valhalla, whose numbers got a boost because of pandemic spending. If that's a disappointment then the people at Ubisoft are stupid for expecting GTAVI numbers for an Assassin's Creed game.

@Real_Obsi What PtM said is correct. The studio fled from Russia before the game released because of those events.

While it didn't absolutely amaze me, it was still pretty solid and thought-provoking. Will definitely double dip for the physical edition. Even if there isn't a Switch 2 upgrade, it shouldn't matter too much since the visuals wouldn't be harmed that much by the lower power of the original Switch.

I'm definitely in the 1% in regards to this. If it's across all platforms, I'm well over 100+ across both digital and physical each year, and that's not even including when itch.io occasionally does charity fundraising bundles. Ignoring digital (which is primarily only on PC), I definitely averaged over 30 physical Switch games a year (maybe like 5 digital a year(?)).

The one good thing I can say about game key cards is that they're making it easy to not spend money in Nintendo's ecosystem. Given how few actual cartridges there are, I've saved over $300 since launch (funny enough, I haven't even been paying attention to Switch 1 releases for much of this year either, though that could be because I literally liken the game key card announcement to the Xbox One reveal in terms of hype getting killed).

Pretty sure the $100 Virtual Boy stand will get scalped, especially when I think the actual Virtual Boy costs $500 on the second hand market nowadays. Sure, it's literally just one of those plastic peripheral things, but a collectible is a collectible. The $25 cardboard on the otherhand sounds nonsensical. You can make your own cardboard replacement in an afternoon. I cannot fathom how many people would buy the cardboard one.

Anyone got a list of which games are confirmed to have actual cartridges besides Nintendo's?

So apparently Star Wars Outlaws is more demanding on the Switch 2 than Cyberpunk 2077, which, if you ever watch PC part testing, is still demanding enough that it frequently gets shown in PC benchmarking. Also, isn't CP2077 also just more visually dense than Outlaws in general?

@1UP-HUSKY He's pretty much a professional reporter at this point, with an incredibly strong track record of correct leaks, and various tech outlets have reported on his leaks for years now, including mainstream outlets. He isn't just some random YouTuber pulling rumors out of his ass.

I would say, surely Hyrule Warriors would be an actual cartridge, but that that's what my main thought coming out of the Direct is just says a lot about the state of Switch 2 physical media. I'm pretty much getting all of the multi-plat games announced on either the PS5 or Xbox if they have physicals or on Steam/GOG if they don't. Any Switch 2 exclusives will languish until a deep discount sale years from now.

Honestly, it's kinda hard to not question if the estimated lost sales is realistic or so overblown that it's actually ridiculous. Like at the end of the day, no, obviously not every pirated copy equates to one lost sale, but would it be every 10 to 1 sale, 100 to 1, 1,000 to one, 10,000 to one? I think it took me roughly 2-ish years to acquire 100 Switch games. Pirating 100 would be easy. Would a pirate actually buy them all if there wasn't piracy? Apparently yes, since I saw someone seriously say that they'd be forced to buy all those games they've pirated if that was the case, but I dunno, I don't think that person there definitely counts as the norm.

I wouldn't be surprised if plenty just wouldn't be able to afford it because they're already spending their money elsewhere. And the thing is, there is so many things vying for our attention nowadays. Why would the money and attention go to the game that didn't get pirated instead of something else? I've never liked Netflix's batch drop model or Hulu's "you still get ads when you pay for it" models. However, they did have stuff that would have interested me if it wasn't for how the sites were ran. Did I pirate them? No, I already had plenty to look forward to on Crunchyroll, YouTube, and the games I nought, so I just never bothered with what Hulu and Netflix had to offer (that said, I did get access to Netflix via my sister, but even then, I struggle to get around to touching anything on it).

I think Donkey Kong Bonanza is the only game with a real physical copy, so that's the only Switch 2 game I'm getting. Possibly getting Kaname Date, edgy Pac-Man, and Tales of the Shire's Switch 1 copies depending on how I feel about each of them when they come out.

@ShonenJump121 Yeah, but for how much longer? I can still play my original Pokémon Red cartridge that I've had since 1999 if I want. That's 26 years ago and I'm pretty sure it can last many more years. Is it a guarantee that they'll still let you re-download 360 games in 2031? 2041?

@ShonenJump121 The advantage is the long term use. Sure, we might still be able to re-download games from legacy systems now, but there's no guarantee they'll keep the servers running in another couple years. Didn't Sony and Microsoft try shutting down said servers for PS3 and Xbox 360 a while back, only for backlash to stop it from happening?

@Lizuka It's your money, burn it if you want. I just know that unless game key cards fade away, I would most likely buy far less Switch 2 games than the 400+ physical Switch games I have.

I literally don't understand why they even invented game key cards when they already have the virtual game card system. It's literally the same thing but with wasted plastic and silicon.

Literally any Switch 2 game that only has a game key card "physical copy" might as well have a "buy on Steam/GOG/Epic or PlayStation/Xbox physical copy (assuming they're not also just DRM on a disc)" sign emblazoned on the box and eShop page. Only games I recall from the launch that weren't the waste of plastic and silicon that are the game key cards were MK World, Cyberpunk, and the repackages of the Switch 1 cartridges with an upgrade code included.