While players on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S ditched physical games in favor of digital downloads in droves, Switch fans had been holding the line. But that might change with the Switch 2, thanks to physical edition price hikes and controversial game-key cards that don’t include the full game out of the box. That now seems to include the Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition port for Switch 2.
As spotted by Wario64, the Play-Asia store listing for the physical copy of the 2022 open-world RPG includes “Game Key Cart” in the title description. As revealed by Nintendo this week, that denotes a specific type of Switch 2 game cartridge that doesn’t include the full game installed on it. Instead, owners need to go online and download it, including first-party releases like Super Mario Party Jamboree for Switch 2 (which comes with new modes, including Bowser Live).
What they are essentially buying is a key that bypasses the DRM. They can only play the game while the cartridge is inserted, but it can be re-sold and shared like a physical game otherwise would be. For some, that’s a nice compromise and better than nothing. For others, it’s the worst of both worlds: less convenient than digital and less permanent than physical. The issue has been compounded by an apparent $10 up-charge for physical versions of some Nintendo games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza in Europe, with the digital version being 15 percent cheaper there.
It’s a new pain point for Nintendo fans who prefer to collect their games physically, and Elden Ring isn’t alone. Street Fighter 6 and Bravely Default: Flying Fairy HD Remaster also require further downloads. The latter, a port of a JRPG from the 3DS, is particularly confounding given it’s only 11GB and could presumably fit on a reasonably sized SD card. But there are exceptions. Over 60GB of Cyberpunk 2077, including 2023’s Phantom Liberty expansion, will be on the Switch 2 cartridge without needing any downloads. It’ll cost $70, but that’s a price physical collectors are willing to pay.
While many publishers and platforms have moved toward almost a 90 percent split between physical and digital game sales that favors the latter, the Switch has remained an outlier. The split between physical and digital on Nintendo’s platform was still around 50 percent in the U.S. last fall, with that number favoring physical even more in the holiday months. The market for physical games is shrinking but still a big deal in terms of total dollars, especially for Nintendo fans.
That might change more rapidly than some thought in the Switch 2 era. Nintendo seems keen to aggressively move more players to digital copies between its new virtual game sharing program and the $500 Switch 2 bundle that essentially knocks $40 off the price of Mario Kart World relative to its physical version. Physical games requiring massive day-one patches to run or being locked behind always-online server connections is nothing new, but those situations were less prevalent on Switch. With more of the biggest blockbusters coming to Switch 2, physical game collecting seems set to lose more of its luster there as well.
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