Switch 2 and the Game Key Card Controversy! Physical media continues to death spiral

Gamer79

Gamer79

Predicts the worst decade for Sony starting 2022
I hate it but got to face reality. Physical media is on it's last legs and will soon be an old relic. Dvds, cds, blu-rays, and now games have seen their last days of physical media. I was a a massive Switch 1 fan because I like owning the material and like the fact that I do not have to rely on some server controlling access to my game. Well looks like the third parties are showing what the smart ones of us already knew. The game Key cards are dominating third party releases. I know the Nintendo fans will say "but not all are physical" but lets get real and say the writing is on the wall. I guarantee you in 2 years that the Vast Majority of Games on Switch 2 will consists of these game key cards. Companies are greedy and are not going to buy those 64GB cartridges. Well looks like almost every third party outside of say Cyberpunk and another odd ball or two all choose the game key card.

 
In a couple of years those 64gb cartridges will be cheaper hopefully. Remasters will most likely be released in key cards but large new games might still come full in cartridge since they know they will sell a good number.
 
I'm fine going all-digital for games that are not fully stored on the game cart. Less game boxes for me to store and clutter up my house wtih. A minor concern of mine is that I like to have everything in my collection installed and ready to play on demand but with the cost of SD Express cards, I may have to be a bit more selective this time around on Switch 2.
 
daxgame said:
Well since keys cost less to produce I will adjust accordingly an buy only at discount
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Great idea, since eshop sales will reduce key cards to useless clutter I hope this will have a very negative impact on their value and that it accelerates their discounting.
 
To each their own, but I never understood the people pushing away physical media. I personally always thought it felt nice to feel like you actually own something. Something you can hold and call yours.

I understand preferring digital when you don't want stuff building up, etc. But in that case, digital should be cheaper than physical. But it isn't. So, in a world where physical and digital are the same price, it makes more sense to go physical to me. It almost feels like I'm getting more for my money at that point. I think that's another big reason why PC gaming became more and more of my preference over time. Sure, it forced digital a long time ago, but the pricing usually is cheaper.

This whole game card thing has just been odd because it was pretty confusing for a lot of folks right out the gate. Why not just stick to digital and physical? Why does there even have to be a middle man? Lol.
 
Not being funny but ain't you a MS bummer OP? Just let Nintendo do what they're doing.

Obviously if key cards are cheaper than the 64gb carts that's what most will opt for, just like most Xbox devs don't use 128gb blu rays.

Cry more I suppose? Switch 2 is on course to dominate.
 
It only becomes a controversy if buyers wholesale reject them, otherwise it just becomes the norm
 
I'm already full digital but my situation is rare, I have reasons to prefer all digital, but I still want physical to continue existing, I hope there's some cheap and convenient solution for publishers so they see more reasons to keep it than to get rid of it
 
But it's not on its last leg. Only because they want to kill it to make more money from digital. Until now people were buying $60 Switch 1 games in droves, even 5 years after their release. Nintendo are making record profits but still want more profits and sell 70-80$ digital games to the sheeps.

It's a similar story on PS5. Often new release of games are sold out (like Clair Obscure) or the PS5 disc drive is. They purposefully want to kill it because of their globalist agenda: "you'll own nothing and be happy"
 
Physical media has been dying for years. Much of it requires an online connection to download necessary patches and updates so most discs and cartridges were pretty much coasters anyhow.

I'm okay with digital media as long as it's DRM free it doesn't require an online connection or clients.

Of course the problem is there most games are not DRM free unless you get them on GOG.
 
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It seems to me that the game cards should be the least controversial idea ever.. the size of games is too big to fit on digital media.. this gives you a way to be able to resell your digital games..
 
Back in the NES era Nintendo made a empty cartridge that you could download into it and there you go. Why we can't do that now?
 
I have a ginormous game collection...if it were all physical I would have to have environment controlled storage units for all of it.

Starting with PS4 I started buying games that I didn't really care about digitally, and the ones that I wanted to keep I purchased physical and I still do that today (hey there Expedition 33 on PS5 and XSX) but I'm in my mid 40's and there is no way I could maintain a collection that was 100% physical over all my PC and console game purchases.

I will keep buying physical games but I am starting to really cut back on those. I can say that the access to digital titles for games I don't really care about has made it easy for me to save money on the physical purchase.
 
Kataploom said:
I'm already full digital but my situation is rare, I have reasons to prefer all digital, but I still want physical to continue existing, I hope there's some cheap and convenient solution for publishers so they see more reasons to keep it than to get rid of it
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I'm similar. I'm pretty much fully digital on PlayStation, Xbox and (of course) PC. I've remained physical for Switch first party, which I keep carts for so that I can play in situations like on the plane where Internet service may not be available. I've been burned by not being able to play digital games a few times. I want people to continue to have access to physical games for whatever reasons they may have.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens with physical games in the coming years. Hopefully the games industry can find some balance and it doesn't have to go the way other packaged software went.
 
kevboard said:
I really hope people won't buy these and only buy real carts with full games on them.

I sure as hell won't buy a single key cart
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I won't! I'm buying all digital!


the-simpsons-mr-burns.gif
 
Game key cards will still allow reselling and prices can be lower. So physical is still better than digital.

But sounds like it's nintendo fault at the moment, there is only 64GB card that costs publishers money and most S2 games won't need this amount of space. Maybe 8/16/32GB cheaper options will show up in the future.
 
Look at Switch 3rd party games at Best Buy dot com. A lot of codes in the box from the major publishers. Including some games that were previously carts.
 
I would have thought this was a pretty decent compromise. I love physical media but see the way things are going. At least this way you get the box and a game card of sorts.
 
I've been going through my Switch 1 collection backlog, and I guess I shouldn't be so shocked at the Game Key concept. Much of the major 3rd party Switch 1 stuff requires downloads anyway. Mortal Kombat 1 and MK 11, MLB The Show, NBA 2k, Wolfenstein, Doom, L.A. Noire, etc. It doesn't make sense putting a game on a 16 gig cart that won't play without a 40 gig download.

The smaller scope Switch 2 games like Puyo Puyo Tetris and Bravely Default definitely still irk me. But if rumors are to believed, 8 gig and 16 gig carts aren't even an option now. Speculation that Mario Kart is on a 64 gig cart, I hope that isn't true, but maybe it's just cheaper to mass produce one size instead of having options for the publishers.

Not really excusing it, just saying Nintendo fans like me already been conditioned to accept this route.
 
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MiguelItUp said:
To each their own, but I never understood the people pushing away physical media. I personally always thought it felt nice to feel like you actually own something. Something you can hold and call yours.

I understand preferring digital when you don't want stuff building up, etc. But in that case, digital should be cheaper than physical. But it isn't. So, in a world where physical and digital are the same price, it makes more sense to go physical to me. It almost feels like I'm getting more for my money at that point. I think that's another big reason why PC gaming became more and more of my preference over time. Sure, it forced digital a long time ago, but the pricing usually is cheaper.

This whole game card thing has just been odd because it was pretty confusing for a lot of folks right out the gate. Why not just stick to digital and physical? Why does there even have to be a middle man? Lol.
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There is some truth to all this but in reality how many times are you really going to get your game case and admire it etc. The only real benefit I can see from physical is the resale value etc. And a lot of collectors will not do that.

I am into my music and always have been. I started with Walkman's all those years ago. Had personal CD players and Mini Disc recorders etc. Had a massive collection of CD's etc ....etc.. Then watched with interest as MP3 players and digital downloads became available. I now have a Ansel & Kern SE300 and all my music on it at lossless CD quality and 24 bit audio wherever possible. All my album art is done to perfection as well. I have my full collection on my PC drive and backed up on two other HDD's. The fact you can have your entire collection in awesome quality all in one place... Just such a better situation than physical.
 
We really need some clarification on what the cart sizes available are. At first I was hearing that only 8gb and 64gb were available, so a lot of games in between went were going with game key card because 8gb wasn't enough, and 64gb was too much. Then I started hearing that ONLY 64gb carts were available, and they're $16 each to produce. Nintendo really need to clarify wtf is going on with carts, and if it is true that only these sizes are available, they need to offer more options available for publishers.

Regardless....give me the damn game on a cart. I don't care if you have to charge more for it because of production costs. Just give me the damn option.

It would be nice if at the very least, they sold 2 versions of a game. One that's a game key card, and one with the game on the cart that costs more...maybe only available through a website or something, I dunno. Storage available on Switch 2 is not big enough for all this download requirement bull shit.

As is pointed out in the video clip, one of the things people love about the Switch is it's plug and play functionality. A device where you just pop the game in, and it's ready to go was the beauty of Switch compared to other platforms these days. These game key cards take that away, and basically force you into being near an internet connection for a while before you can even use the game you buy.
 
Well, I'll be honest.

I pirated Sonic X Shadow, because I wanted to wait to buy the Switch 2 version. Because I figured good performance + portability = best version.

Now that I see it is on a keycard, I will just buy it on Steam. A month out from Switch 2 version. Oh well. This is something that will significantly affect my buying of Switch 2 third party games. They will hardly exist on my system, until/unless I mod the thing. This is really a huge disappointment.
 
Mozza said:
There is some truth to all this but in reality how many times are you really going to get your game case and admire it etc. The only real benefit I can see from physical is the resale value etc. And a lot of collectors will not do that.

I am into my music and always have been. I started with Walkman's all those years ago. Had personal CD players and Mini Disc recorders etc. Had a massive collection of CD's etc ....etc.. Then watched with interest as MP3 players and digital downloads became available. I now have a Ansel & Kern SE300 and all my music on it at lossless CD quality and 24 bit audio wherever possible. All my album art is done to perfection as well. I have my full collection on my PC drive and backed up on two other HDD's. The fact you can have your entire collection in awesome quality all in one place... Just such a better situation than physical.
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I mean, it all really depends on the person, you know?

I'm huge into music myself. I had SO many CDs since I was a kid, but as a kid I didn't make the most money at my jobs, so with albums I grew out of I'd just sell the CD for cash. At some point I did that with all of my CDs to lighten the load so to speak. But then I started rebuying the albums that really mean a lot to me on vinyl so I can own a physical copy. So I get what you're saying, but it's still really just personal preference. I just think having the option is awesome, for those that want it, and those that don't. Forcefully going one way or the other just doesn't feel great to me.
 
Switch did great numbers in physical sales because a lot of people bought Nintendo first games physically. Third party games didn't sell big numbers physically on Switch 1. Meaning as long as Nintendo first party games are readily available physically, not much will change, physical sales will continue to trend downwards but there is nothing stopping Nintendo first party games to continue to sell a lot of physical copies for years to come.
 
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MiguelItUp said:
I mean, it all really depends on the person, you know?

I'm huge into music myself. I had SO many CDs since I was a kid, but as a kid I didn't make the most money at my jobs, so with albums I grew out of I'd just sell the CD for cash. At some point I did that with all of my CDs to lighten the load so to speak. But then I started rebuying the albums that really mean a lot to me on vinyl so I can own a physical copy. So I get what you're saying, but it's still really just personal preference. I just think having the option is awesome, for those that want it, and those that don't. Forcefully going one way or the other just doesn't feel great to me.
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It's just reality I am afraid. Companies will only offer physical as long as it's viable commercially. We do not have to like it though.
 
Mozza said:
It's just reality I am afraid. Companies will only offer physical as long as it's viable commercially. We do not have to like it though.
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Yeah, it's been obvious for a long time. But it's nice when companies still offer physical. Be it first party, third party, etc.

I would personally have less of an issue with digital vs packaging if the pricing changed. They should've never been the same price. Especially when digital cuts out a lot of what goes into making physical product.

But, much like all things, people should have options. Taking options away is never a good thing.
 
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Even with game key cart/disc:
-You still own the game
-not tied to any account
-Can play offline after installing/patching
-Can sell
-Can buy WAY cheaper. Rise of ronin I just bought for 40$ brand new for ps5 while it's 90$ on psn.

Really... the game being just an activation on disc doesn't change much. It just removes the option to play 1.0 version for curiosity or futureproofing in case of ww3.
It's not ideal but it's CLOSE TO ideal normal physical release.
All of the things I wrote above cannot be done with a digital console games (some can be with steam games).
 
I am not planning to get Switch 2 right away, but I will eventually get it. Going to pick up games used/on discount and while not ideal, at least the game cards allow resale and easy sharing.
 
I think most gamers don't have a problem downloading/streaming movies or music. What is it about digital games that freaks everyone out vs other forms of media?

I'm not advocating for the death of physical media, I like having a choice…but rather interested in why games in general are thought about differently vs other forms of media.
 
rofif said:
Even with game key cart/disc:
-You still own the game
-not tied to any account
-Can play offline after installing/patching
-Can sell
-Can buy WAY cheaper. Rise of ronin I just bought for 40$ brand new for ps5 while it's 90$ on psn.

Really... the game being just an activation on disc doesn't change much. It just removes the option to play 1.0 version for curiosity or futureproofing in case of ww3.
It's not ideal but it's CLOSE TO ideal normal physical release.
All of the things I wrote above cannot be done with a digital console games (some can be with steam games).
Click to expand...
Same here, some releases I get day one, but a lot of releases I buy 3-4 months later and they are much cheaper, while at the same time they costs full price still on PSN/eShop. Plus, I buy from Amazon Japan a lot so I get my physical releases that have no physical releases anywhere else.
 
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Knowing Suikoden 1&2 are a key card only has pushed me into a Switch physical version purchase. Sales -1, Switch 2!
 
This is like still waiting on the newspaper. But, instead of articles being on the paper, it's just a bunch of QR codes and you still have to scan them on your phone and read the article there.

At some point, you have to ask why you're still doing this.
 
Sooner said:
This is like still waiting on the newspaper. But, instead of articles being on the paper, it's just a bunch of QR codes and you still have to scan them on your phone and read the article there.

At some point, you have to ask why you're still doing this.
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That's so retarded, I will quote myself so maybe you will read it and reactivate your brain.
Key discs/carts are still infinitely better than digital purchases

Even with game key cart/disc:
-You still own the game
-not tied to any account
-Can play offline after installing/patching
-Can sell
-Can buy WAY cheaper. Rise of ronin I just bought for 40$ brand new for ps5 while it's 90$ on psn.

Really... the game being just an activation on disc doesn't change much. It just removes the option to play 1.0 version for curiosity or futureproofing in case of ww3.
It's not ideal but it's CLOSE TO ideal normal physical release.
All of the things I wrote above cannot be done with a digital console games (some can be with steam games).
Click to expand...
 
rofif said:
That's so retarded, I will quote myself so maybe you will read it and reactivate your brain.
Key discs/carts are still infinitely better than digital purchases
Click to expand...
Good luck using that key cartridge in the Switch 3 that doesn't have a card reader.
 
Sooner said:
Good luck using that key cartridge in the Switch 3 that doesn't have a card reader.
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ok? That's 1 drawback. and that's maybe. and that's assuming that digitally your library will be backwards compatible too.
Not like your switch 2 is going anywhere to play games for switch 2
 
At least they're not tied to an account and can be borrowed or sold. Way more preferable than a box with a key code like some Switch "physical" games.
 
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I mean this seems like the best compromise on the spectrum of just codes on a piece of paper vs full data game card

You still essentially get all the tangible physical aspects + resellability.
 
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