Nintendo’s innovative Game Key Cards, which enable game downloads without the need for physical data storage, have garnered interest from many game publishers. However, they have faced criticism from fans who prefer physical media. Recent comments from developers working on Star Wars Outlaws suggest that a technical restriction related to the Switch 2’s Game Card interface could be steering publishers away from traditional physical game launches on the new console.
In a discussion on Bluesky regarding the performance of Outlaws on the Switch 2—which is exclusively offered as a download or via Game Key Card—Rob Bantin, Audio Architect at Snowdrop, shared insights into the challenges of releasing a full physical version for the console. He noted that “Snowdrop relies heavily on disk streaming for its open world environments, and we found the Switch 2 cards simply didn’t give the performance we needed at the quality target we were going for.” He explained that if the game had been designed specifically for the Switch 2, the situation might have been different; however, the team initially built the game around the SSD capabilities of other platforms before the Switch 2 was released, leading to the decision to forgo a full physical release.
It is well-established that the new Switch 2’s eMMC cartridges are limited in speed, reportedly maxing out at 400 MB/s. In contrast, the console’s MicroSD Express cards can offer speeds around 800 MB/s or more, while the internal storage potentially reaches up to 2,100 MB/s. These discrepancies in data transfer rates are especially significant for games like Mario Kart World, where utilizing a Game Card could result in longer loading times when starting the game.
The design of Star Wars Outlaws, on the other hand, was focused on streaming data on-demand from high-speed SSDs found in competitors like the PS5 and Xbox Series S/X, with transfer speeds of around 4.8–5.5 GB/s. Bantin’s comments suggest that the team was unwilling to sacrifice quality by attempting to fit large amounts of content through the more limited bandwidth of the Switch 2’s physical cards.
Charles Tremblay, VP of Technology at CD Projekt Red, has also addressed similar concerns regarding the port of Cyberpunk 2077 for the Switch 2. In a June IGN interview, he remarked that while the data transfer speeds supported by MicroSD Express were “great,” the experience of streaming data from a Game Card was only “okay.” However, he acknowledged that the overall performance on the Switch 2 was commendable, especially when compared to the slow physical hard drives encountered on older systems.
Concerns Over Loading Speeds
Nintendo’s approach to the Switch 2 has raised eyebrows, particularly the existence of contrasting loading speeds between physical and downloadable games. On the original Switch, the read speeds for both SD cards and Game Cards were reported to peak at around 90 MB/s. In designing new cards for the Switch 2, Nintendo opted for a format that delivers slower data streaming compared to downloads available on the same system, a decision likely made to control hardware costs. Despite this, reports indicate that the financial burden associated with manufacturing the new Game Cards has led many publishers to favor the less expensive Game Key Cards.
Bantin, however, noted that the cost of the cards didn’t factor into the discussions for Star Wars: Outlaws, likely due to the moot nature of that consideration.
One possible workaround for Nintendo could be to enable players to pre-install games from Game Cards onto internal or expansion storage, a practice that Microsoft and Sony have implemented over the years. Nevertheless, such a solution could burden players who wish to avoid filling the Switch 2’s limited 256GB of internal storage or investing in costly MicroSD Express cards.
As developers become more familiar with the limitations of the Switch 2’s Game Card system, some may find ways to navigate and adapt to the slower speeds. However, as the industry moves further away from physical media, certain developers might opt for quality over compromise, eschewing traditional physical releases in favor of faster digital alternatives.
