One of many stranger particulars that got here out of final week’s large Nintendo Change 2 occasion was the existence of game-key cards. They gained’t be used for all releases, however basically they’re Change 2 cartridges that don’t really comprise a sport, however as an alternative function a “key” that’s used for “downloading the total sport to your system through the web.”
As video video games proceed to shift away from bodily releases, game-key playing cards understandably created some confusion amongst followers. I had the possibility to ask Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser why they exist, and the reply was fairly easy: retail shops.
“In essence, it’s a digital sport on a card,” he stated. “What it’s helpful for is for our publishing companions to have the ability to deliver video games to market which may be of a major measurement, and subsequently they might want too massive a cartridge for that sport. It permits them to promote these bodily video games at retail.”
That makes a certain quantity of sense, as retail shops are nonetheless a notable marketplace for Nintendo particularly. Bowser additionally famous that, in an try to make the excellence between the Change 2 and its predecessor extra clear, the corporate is “working with our retailers within the US” to create “separate sections for Nintendo Change 2, so there will probably be that time of delineation at retail.” (Change 2 circumstances additionally function a special design with quite a bit of crimson on them.)
Nonetheless, the existence of game-key playing cards will probably be a disappointment for individuals who depend on bodily video games for both accumulating or preservation functions — even when it means extra large-scale video games on the Change.