Final Fantasy VII Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi has spoken openly about the controversial Nintendo Switch 2 Game-Key Cards. While he admits that there are positives and negatives regarding the Game-Key Cards he says that generally they aren’t about reducing cost, but are instead used to quickly load data assets in games which the cartridge cannot do. Here’s what he said:
“I have heard the reaction that the various Nintendo gamers have towards the Game-Key Card,” he said via an interpreter. “I understand where they’re coming from, definitely. I can see the things that they are maybe annoyed with, maybe why they don’t like it, and I get that, I really do. But certainly, among developers, the discussion about the Game-Key Card format is perhaps a bit different to what the fans maybe expect.
“It’s always, I think, looked at in terms of the memory restrictions. And that is an issue, that’s not something we can ignore, the fact that the standard cartridge has a smaller memory, and we have to work around that.
“But I think perhaps the biggest issue for developers, certainly for people like us who make high-end HD games, is the loading speed, because you compare that to the solid-state drive and the speed you can get from loading from that, it’s going to be inferior to that. It just has to be, that’s the way the media works, physically.
“So that’s the bigger issue, really, in terms of making games, making high-end games for the Switch 2, and what it allows, obviously, by doing a semi-download version of the game, you can then use the SSD and rely on that for that smoother loading. So that’s perhaps the bigger issue in terms of a developer.”
“This is just my personal thoughts about this, but I’d kind of like, if possible, maybe Nintendo fans to understand the Game-Key cards and maybe come to accept them as part of the culture of gaming on Switch, because it allows more opportunities.
“It’s an option – it’s not that everyone has to use it – but it’s another option to deliver the games to fans, and I think we could lose out on opportunities – there may be people, if we didn’t have that option, who wouldn’t get to play the game. So from a developer’s perspective, it allows us to bring more high-end experiences to Switch players, and I think that’s a good thing.
“I really get where people are coming from in terms of their negativity towards it, and there are good reasons and debates to have there. But if people come to accept it more, I think there are advantages too, and from a developer’s perspective, it does let us do things that maybe we wouldn’t otherwise.”
Great explanation from this guy, especially the part where he says that some games wouldn’t be possible in any physical form without key cards due to the limitations of the media. It won’t mean a thing to the people who are just “I want true physical and everything else is bad” but those people are just howling at the moon anyway and this was as clear as it can be stated from someone who actually knows what they’re talking about.
Switch literally has faster sd support what are you talking about, the technology is literally inside your storage
This is one of those instances where cartridges are a disadvantage yet again, repeating the N64 days. It’s either: you download the game from the eShop, or you download it from the game key-card, which still means you have to wait until it downloads 88GBs.
Why not make it an instal? Still physical but doesn’t require internet. Wich i think would be better for a mobile device
I’ll need someone to correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that the Switch or Switch 2 has the ability to install media from a cartridge on a hardware level. I don’t think the console was built in a way that supports game installations from a cartridge.
You’d still also have to compress the game quite a bit to 64GB from 90GB or whatever it’s at to fit into the biggest cartridge available.
The 64 GB cards were created specifically for Nintendo. Express cards generally come in higher sizes, so a 128 card would be no issue and probably not any more expensive for the manufacturer than 64 GB. That’s why we don’t have sizes smaller than 64 yet. If it’s just installing the game, standard Switch tech could be used as well.
You could be right about that. However, not all games have cartridge installations. Take digital games for example that doesn’t required you to get a cartridge to play the game.
Thats right sonic..because they are digital. You dont have to mansplain it.
Of course I’m right. I’m just stating the obvious honestly.
I’d be acceptable of that
If this is true, wouldn’t Nintendo also use key cards for its first-party games? And has Digital Foundry or anyone else noticed longer loading times for the same game when it’s off a cartridge vs. downloaded?
In addition, is read speed faster off a blu-ray disc than off a Nintendo Switch cartridge? I know for a fact that the opposite was true back in the N64/PS1 days, when load times were way worse on PS1 than N64, but blu-rays are not CDs, so maybe that is reversed now. I genuinely don’t know.
Read-speed from a disc or cart will always be slower than Solid State memory. The Express MSD cards that the switch 2 uses have a really high read/write rate theoretical read rate of 950MB/store but usually averages about 800MB/s, where disc read rate on ps5 is almost nonexistent, because all games are loaded directly to the internal SSD and that reads at about 5500MB/store. I’m not sure why nintendo wouldn’t just use key cards for their’s as well, but it may have to do with some internal machinations at nintendo that aren’t as related to read speed as they are to hubris and proprietary whatnots.
*MB/s
For the moment, Nintendo has not yet released any games heavier than the 64 GB limit of the cards… this is not the case for other publishers, when we see FF VII and its 88 GB… a gamekey card is inevitable.
Im pretty sure that the person interviewed in this article is literally speaking to WHY they ARE using GKC’s for FF7RI. I think they are just fine and don’t care either way. At least the key cards gives you something like a physical copy. The argument isn’t for me, because it isn’t that big of a deal to me.
That guy show some great explanation for it.
Whatever the case, if it’s over 20GB and it’s not on a cartridge I will not be buying it.
They are saying this because they want physical media gone. Dont be fools.
Easy fix. Stop buying game key cards. And they will go away entirely.
Double standards and childish damage control.