There are so many stupid takes in this thread, starting with this one:
Weighing up the logistical and economic benefits versus the preservation and usability, the only logical response to key cards is: GO FUCK YOURSELVES YOU GREEDY CUNTS. Love Nintendo fan
These are
products we are talking about. Economics and logistics are exactly the two things Nintendo, and literally
every single company takes into account. If you have an issue with that, take it up with the entire concept of capitalism.
Key cards are (sadly) a benefit to consumers.
If you want to know why, please read on.
I've worked in publishing for all four major platforms, and produced physical games for Switch, PS4/5, and Xbox. Here is the reality: game cards are far more expensive to manufacture than discs, and thus order minimums are harder to hit, and margins are slimmer for Switch games. It simply comes down to the form factor.
During the Switch 1 era, there were only two choices if we wanted to release a "physical" game. We could either risk producing game cards at a high quantity and slim margins, or we could produce empty boxes with download codes. For some of our games, many of which were unknown indie titles, we saw time and time again that the higher quantity minimums were not viable. We often even took chances, and ended up losing money and being stuck with inventory. Sometimes things would pay off, but other times they wouldn't. Companies like Limited Run deal with this all the time, which is why they're so selective about the games they manufacture.
If we went with download codes inside a box (or even just digital sales), that prohibits any form of resale or traditional lending of that game for the consumer. It's simply bound to your account, and that's that.
With key cards, we at least have a middle ground. You're able to resell a key card. You're able to lend out a key card. For all intents and purposes, so long as you have an internet connection and the servers remain in tact (which admittedly is a concern, but the same concern exists for all digital purchases or games that require any form of download to start), you have a physical copy of said game.
It is an ADDITIONAL OPTION for consumers, and one that is better than download codes.
The reality is that without key cards, there will be many games that simply will not see any form of physical release. Games that won't have a chance to live on a shelf, or won't be able to be resold.
Because Switch 2 games have a higher minimum storage, they are already more expensive to produce than Switch 1 games. That's the reality, and it's a necessity to have modern games in a portable form factor. So the problem is even harder to deal with for any smaller publisher that wants to release a product physically, but can't commit to absurdly high minimums, or razor thing margins.
I'm not saying it's a perfect solution. But short of expecting Nintendo to just eat the costs on lower quantity physical manufacturing (which is absurd to think any company would do so), I can't think of a better solution.
The alternative to the existence of key cards is that either A. We have fewer physical games, or B. We have far more boxed download code papers.
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Okay, now let me address the gigantic downside to key cards:
They can be abused.
As I mentioned already, key cards are a great alternative for a game that simply otherwise would not have a physical release. But, to my current knowledge, there is nothing stopping a big publisher (say Ubisoft) from releasing their next AAA game on a key card instead of a real game card in order to save money per unit. This ends up being the greed of publishers that decide to not release what is clearly a large enough game on a real game card, and I fully believe we should take issue with that practice.
My personal solution to that would be for Nintendo to implement an
order maximum on key cards, something that I don't think has ever existed before. Let's say a publisher wants to order more than 100,000 units of a game less than 64gb, they should be required to manufacture that game on a game card. Nintendo controls all manufacturing of Switch cards, so this is absolutely something they could implement.
I haven't produced any Switch 2 games yet, so I don't actually know the stipulations, requirements, and restrictions on production, but I would hope that Nintendo has implemented some way to prevent publishers from abusing the key card system.
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