Game Key Card is a digital game that you can resell and play offline. And is not new, Call Of Duty "Physical" works in the same way.
This, with games increasing in size, at least this is something that people can resell or loan.
There was a cost before so unless they drop prices below switch 1 prices (and this goes for digital too) it is a false argument. Plus with billions of these carts being made economies of scale can come in to play, that is less likely now. Even including the game with an associated sd card would be better. Ultimately they shouldn't have messed this up in the first place. A massive game could have been excusable, but in the long term this will harm 3rd party support.
Do you think that harms Call Of Duty physical sales?
So not unique to Nintendo, but everyone's acting like they are uniquely making this "mistake."
No but that is effectively a yearly throwaway game like Fifa. It may also not harm the likes of Mario or Zelda. But smaller games I would collect I no longer will. I will not buy a key card whilst travelling wheras I would pick up full carts on holiday. The fact they are having to survey users already shows there is a problem. I am not against the choice, but the introduction has clearly backfired.
In the future the physical "full" game in a disc is going to disappear completely, at least key cards are an alternative. Even day 1 patch makes the classic format almost irrelevant except for Nintendo and a few companies.
Corporates are not your friend.
The companies know their budgets better than I will, not arguing that. But it is obvious companies would try the cheaper route. I accept it, but I don't like it. Problem for them is that it appears I am not a minority - even if I am in the crowd that stuck this out before with N64 (and all that involved).
Some people think it's really sexy.
Happily. Might be a bit of a stretch going to $86 for a game, but I'd do it. If we are talking $60+$16, then it'd be a no brainer for me.
When the Switch 2 version of Call of Duty comes out in a Game Key card and a lot of people discover that has been like that for others console for a long time, this discussion is going to be a thing of the past… Outside for a few people in forums.
They are surveying users asking why they aren't buying key cards. They maybe able to power through it. I won't be supporting it. I've got machines and games from the late 70s / 80s through to modern which I can still play despite those companies going bust and shutting down. I'd like to continue doing so.
As Nintendo were stalwarts for supporting physical it is worrying watching this happen. At least I can buy 1st party games on full carts atm. Maybe there is a solution but keycards are not it imo.
We are in a transition period, is hard for some people to accept that digital only is the future, they see this format as a menace for the traditional media, is nothing new in the industry, but the Switch 2 is the new kid on the block and anything related to Nintendo is going to excale exponentially.
The ability to play on replaced / repaired consoles once the company is bust or shuts down the servers. No company or service is guaranteed to survive forever.
Thats inevitable in the future… And nothing is guaranteed to survive forever, even traditional media.
True, but I hope to be annoying people with my presence for another 40+ years and want my games to come along for the ride. My vinyls, dvds and crts are carefully curated and stored (if not still in active use).
In understand you perfectly, but digital only is the future.
I think your are mixing code in a box with game key card… Is not the same.
Key cards absolutely make sense in the case of games that wouldn't fit on a standard size cart. This isn't such a case, as the game will be about 10GB in size. Even games like Yakuza 0 and Street Fighter were hefty at 40 -50 GB, but they got key card physical releases.
No, the game key card is not tied, ie it can be given or exchanged freely. It is more like a USB Key to unlock access or something of that nature. It is better than code in a box or a digital download, there is no doubt, but long term downfalls.
If I'm understanding it correctly, it's actually not linked to your account at all
Yes for the download part but they are not linked to the account. There's a lot of confusion about this.
By most reports, 3rd party key card games are not selling well. We will know more in the next few months I would think.
