A Ubisoft developer has weighed in on a discussion about the Nintendo Switch 2's controversial Game-Key Cards, highlighting an interesting reason they were used for the port of Star Wars Outlaws. Game-Key Cards are essentially physical download vouchers, containing no game data on the cartridge, but coming in a box like any other physical edition.
In a Bluesky thread speculating that Ubisoft opted to use Game-Key Cards because they're cheaper to manufacture than standard Switch 2 cartridges, Snowdrop engine audio architect Rob Bantin cleared the air, explaining that "Switch 2 cards simply didn't give the performance we needed at the quality target we were going for." Bantin notes that "Snowdrop relies heavily on disk streaming for its open world environments," and because Star Wars Outlaws was originally optimized for platforms with SSDs, an acceptable level of performance couldn't be reached without installing the game directly onto the Switch 2's internal memory.
Switch 2 Game-Key Cards are generally assumed to be used by third-party publishers for two reasons: the game's file size exceeds the 64 GB maximum of standard Switch 2 cards, or publishers are saving money by manufacturing the cheaper Game-Key Cards and forcing consumers...
