Nintendo Is Collecting Opinions On Controversial Game-Key Cards In A New Survey
Players can speak out on the most divisive Switch 2 feature.
The introduction of the Nintendo Switch 2 brought players more powerful hardware, a better eShop, and a slew of new games, but one change introduced with the new console has been almost universally criticized. Starting with the Switch 2, some physical editions of games don’t come with cartridges at all, but rather “game-key cards,” which resemble cartridges but in fact only represent and unlock a digital version of the game. Players have mostly been unhappy with the new option, and now, they have a chance to tell Nintendo exactly what they think about it, good or bad.
Nintendo introduced a survey on game-key cards early in August, and it was quickly spotted and shared on social media. The survey isn’t solely focused on game-key cards, instead asking respondents about how likely they are to purchase games in different formats, such as direct downloads, cartridges, or digital copies bought from retailers. For each option, players can indicate how likely they are to make a purchase for themselves or as a gift for others. The survey also asks why players prefer their selected options. It’s the second time Nintendo has asked players about the controversial key cards, following a similar survey sent to players in Japan.
Game-key cards are one of the most controversial parts of Nintendo’s Switch 2 launch.
It’s not clear if the survey is a response to the widespread criticism of game-key cards, but all that negative feedback can’t have escaped Nintendo’s notice. As soon as they were announced, game-key cards drew waves of criticism, and some of the most common reasons players have expressed for disliking them appear as options in the survey.
Some players might not mind game-key cards, but the criticisms of them are hard to ignore. While the cards are cheaper to produce, they still carry all the drawbacks of both physical and digital games, without most of the benefits. Like a cartridge, you need to either visit a store or order a game-key card online and wait for it to ship, negating the convenience of a digital download. But you can also lose the card just like you could with a physical game.
Anticipated games like Bravely Default Flying Fairy HD Remaster have used game-key cards instead of cartridges.
Still, at the same time, you have to connect to the internet to download and validate the game your key card is associated with, unlike a cartridge, which doesn’t require an internet connection at all. In many players’ eyes, it marries the worst of both worlds, despite the fact that game-key cards can be resold and shared more easily than digital downloads.
While it’s not mentioned in Nintendo’s survey, game-key cards also pose a problem for preservation, which is already a huge issue for games. Purchasing a physical cartridge for a game means you simply have access to it as long as you’ve got the cartridge. Without internet access, you would lose the ability to update your game, but you still have some version of it that’s always accessible. As we’ve seen over and over again, digital games can simply disappear, due to licensing rights, publishers not wanting to maintain servers, or storefronts themselves being forced to remove games by their payment processors. Any game that needs to be downloaded or played online is in danger of disappearing. Cartridges offer some protection against that. Game-key cards don’t.
Whether or not the survey will have any effect is yet to be seen. Nintendo has faced plenty of criticism over the years for issues ranging from being behind the times on online services to high game prices to its general lack of transparency, and the company hasn’t shown much interest in addressing them. Still, it does seem like a sign that Nintendo is at least aware that players are unhappy, and it may be responding to that criticism more directly. For a company like Nintendo, even that is a rare sight.
