With the release of the Switch 2, Nintendo also introduced game key-cards. These glorified download codes replaced some physical key cartridges, sparking concerns from fans about game preservation and media ownership.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi recently commented on these game key-cards, offering a developer's perspective on this unpopular change from Nintendo.
In an interview with JPGames (translated by Automaton), Hamaguchi revealed that while the 64GB capacity on physical cards is an annoyance, the real advantage of game key cards is loading speed.
"[The loading speed of physical cartridges] is going to be inferior, it just has to be, that's the way media works, physically," Hamaguchi says.
In contrast, game key-cards utilise the Switch 2's SSD, allowing much faster loading speeds than are possible with physical media.
Hamaguchi is sympathetic towards players who enjoy physical media, but he hopes that players will come to accept game key-cards in time, because of the advantages they offer developers.
A lot of Nintendo Switch 2 physical releases are on game key-cards, with a couple of exceptions that contain the entire game on a physical cartridge. Cyberpunk 2077, Hades 2 and Donkey Kong Bananza are among...
