Summary
In an official statement, Capcom revealed that it counts the sales ofSwitch 2game-key cards as digital sales, sparking a new debate among fans who prefer buying physical copies. Game-key cartridges are a new type of physical media introduced for theSwitch 2, which do not come with the full game on them and require additional downloads in order to play.
When Nintendo revealed game-key cards in May, it quickly turned into another tussle between a major company and a certain section of gamers as the physical media versus digital debate raged on. Coincidentally, this happened around the same time when Xbox was receiving flak after it was discovered thatDoom: The Dark Agesdidn’t have the base game on disc—hinting at a growing industry trend to ditch full physical releases. In Nintendo’s case, the ensuing controversy grew to a point where Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser had to step in and confirm that physical games were still an important part of the console maker’s plans, at least for “the immediate future.” Recently, a sales stance by Capcom has reignited the debate around game-key cards.
As spotted by insider Genki,Capcom’s financial briefing documentfrom May 13 revealed that it treats physical game-key cartridges as digital copies only and combines their respective sales in its records. As soon as this stance caught the attention of the gaming community, many people saw the obvious reasoning behind the decision and acknowledged that mandatory downloads madeSwitch 2’s game-key cards identical to digital copies, in essence. However, some others noted that such a practice could skew the sales records in favor of digital media unfairly. They expressed a concern about these records then being used as a way to justify making digital copies the norm in the future. Even though only Capcom has opted to count game-key card sales as digital sales till now, coming from a major stakeholder, the practice surely holds the potential to spread over to other companies as well—which is the main reason buyers of physical media find the move problematic.
Capcom to Count Game-Key Card Sales as Digital Sales
While Capcom treating Switch 2’s game-key cartridges as digital media may appear as another worrying sign for physical games, there are still some big names making sure that players still have an option to truly own their games in the physical format. One such developer is CD Projekt Red, which packed the entirety ofCyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition’s Switch 2 portinto a 64GB cartridge. Besides that, Nintendo’s first-party titles, such asMario Kart World, have also been previously confirmed to feature fully on the card.
Undoubtedly, the shift towards a digital-only future has been in full effect in recent years, especially with the advent of disc-less consoles and the rising popularity of subscription services. Although this trend puts true ownership and game preservation in jeopardy, it bodes well for the developers from a financial perspective. Having said that, it would be interesting to see at what pointgaming giants like Nintendo fully favor the digital medium over physical releasesand how they handle the fan reaction stemming from such a move.
Nintendo Switch 2
The successor to 2017’s Nintendo Switch continues down the same path as its predecessor, providing a hybrid experience that supports both home and handheld gaming. Launching on July 31, 2025, with games like Mario Kart World, the basic Nintendo Switch 2 bundle comes with the console, Joy-Con 2, straps for the controller, a dock, an AC adapter, an HDMI cable, and a Joy-Con 2 grip.
