Ex-Far Cry lead says ‘lame’ Nintendo Switch 2 Game-Key Cards lose what makes gaming ‘special’

Former Assassin's Creed and Far Cry lead Alex Hutchinson explains that Nintendo will get away with their awful Game Key Cards.

[jznrpg]

F their no game keycards

[darthv72]

...still better than a one time use code in a box.

[Neonridr]

people here forget that Sony sells Collector's Editions of games (God of War, Horizon, etc) that give you a steelbook with no disc. Just a code on a piece of paper. But because some 3rd party devs are choosing this route it's all Nintendo's fault.

[Si-Fly]

If the option was a physical cartridge or a game key card then that would be the best possible situation. However it’s looking increasingly like game key cards will totally phase out physical media and that is really disappointing. I have a huge physical Switch libary and was looking forward to doing the same for the Switch 2.

[staticall]

@Neonridr
But it was Nintendo, who introduced this game key thingy. So it's 100% their fault.

[Neonridr]

@staticall - they gave devs the option I guess, yes. But I haven't seen a single first party Nintendo game opt for this route.

[CrimsonWing69]

Ironic coming from an ex-Ubisoft lead dev.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

How so? Do you think devs have any say on how a game is distributed?

[Neonridr]

yes.. they could pay full price to put their games on a cartridge, or pay less and provide a digital code and save money.

Which do you think devs would opt for?

[CrimsonWing69]

It wasn’t about distribution… 🤦‍♂️

The irony being him criticizing what creates of the loss of making gaming feel “special.” You know, annual releases with a paint-by-number blue print, monetization, and in general just Ubisoft practices for the last decade.

Sorry that one went over your head.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

Then maybe you should do a better job of making your point instead of readers assuming what you’re trying to say.

[CrimsonWing69]

Ok, chief…

[Muigi]

Yet most games these days on Blu-ray's don’t even contain the full game or the game at all. But he wasn’t complaining when he was at Ubisoft tho.

[Christopher]

Kind of normal to not want to get fired for public complaints about your company, though.

[Muigi]

Good point haha

[Duke19]

Buying a physical box, just to open it for a glorified QR code is a shitty practice but I can absolutely see it becoming the norm sadly.

The enjoyment of owning something physically is going away, now its just a paid trial of services you never really "own".

[Neonridr]

except this is still a physical cartridge that you have to put in your console. You just have to download the entire game. But instead of it just being a code in a box (which is a one time use), you could still sell this or lend it to your friend.

It's not great no, but it's nothing like what we had with some Switch games.

[Duke19]

Fair, its better than a one time use code but it I agree with the point in the article. It still takes away from the overall experience (especially from a nostalgia perspective).

[Neonridr]

@Duke19 - I mean we have digital edition only consoles now from MS and Sony. That's ok?

Seems like this is just a physical vs digital conversation, you can't exactly single out Nintendo here as everyone seems to be doing it.

[gold_drake]

thisnis definitely gonna bite nintendo in the arse in some way.

kids mostly use the consoles and not all parents know what to do with it.

also, what if u dont or cant use wifi ? lol

[MetroidFREAK21]

Will not support a single key card

[UltimateOwnage]

I 100% agree. I’d like to know if the big corpo publishers demanded this option from Nintendo to water down physical releases and keep pushing consumers towards giving them full control over listing and delisting, pricing and resale in the digital medium. I personally will never buy even one of these lame boxed download code carts, especially when it’s a handheld / mobile platform they’re targeting with this rubbish where offline play is common.

[jimtendo1983]

Do people not realize that most xbox games are game key discs?

[garos82]

i agree and this code in the box nonsense causes me NOT to buy some games that i otherwise would.

[anast]

It's a handheld that let's you rent Mario now.

[Profchaos]

He isn't wrong I may as well just buy these digitally huge let down. One of my favourite things about the switch was carts with the full game and the plug and play nature of it.

I'll still be getting mine but I'm hoping publishers in the future hear the fans and start putting games on the carts in full again

It's better than a code in the box because it's got resell value but still not worth collecting as it's useless long term such a shame as I've still got Nintendo carts dating back to the mid 80s and they still work

[arissaseah51]

All I say, it's good

[Amplitude]

Literally the reason i have zero interest in the Switch 2.
I collected hundreds of physical games for the Switch. Even got the whole LimitedRunGames collection for the first 2 years. Love the Switch to death but if I need to be tied to a digital storefront, the only one I trust to let me keep my games forever is Steam. Steam Deck all the way this time - unless Nintendo proves me wrong and the vast majority of games are stored on the carts themselves like Mario Kart 9. Definitely waiting to see what happens though.