Switching owners 2 can borrow, resell and use Nintendo game key cards

After the revelation of Nintendo new game key cards during Nintendo Switch 2 event Last week, we finally get more details about the reasons why they exist and how they can be used. Although they do not contain a physical copy of a game, Tetsuya Sasaki de Nintendo explained Game games These game key cards are not permanently linked to a specific Nintendo account. Games can be inserted and played on any Switch 2 console, which allows them to be borrowed, rented and even sold.

“Thus, key cards will start on the console or the system in which it is interrupted, it is therefore not linked to an account or anything,” said Sasaki.

This behavior is different from the Switch games that Nintendo is currently selling in retail locations, which include a download code instead of a physical cartridge. These codes can only be used once and are connected to a specific Nintendo account, which prevents them from wake up at a later date.

The game key cards automatically trigger a game download when inserted in a Switch 2 console. Once the game is downloaded and installed, an internet connection “… is only required when you launch the game for the first time”, ” According to an assistance page on the Nintendo website. After this initial launch, checking the game can be played without internet connection, as long as the game’s key cartridge is always inserted into the console.

The game key cards are an unusual format that merges digital game downloads and physical cartridges without completely resolving the disadvantages of one or the other format. Internet access is always necessary to download the games, and you always need cartridges to play them. But as president of Nintendo of America Doug Bowser explained to The penisThe game key cards mainly benefit publishers, allowing them to sell physical game copies in retail locations that can exceed the capacity of 64 GB of regular switching game cartridges.