Some good news for future Nintendo Switch 2 owners: the new game-key cards won’t be locked to the first console or account they’re used on.
Tetsuya Sasaki, general manager of Nintendo’s technology development division, confirmed to GameSpot that game-key cards “will start up on the console or system that it is slotted into, so it’s not tied to an account or anything.” This means players can freely share or resell these cards, similar to traditional game cartridges.
Game-key cards differ from standard physical cartridges. They don’t contain the full game data—instead, they act as a license key that unlocks a digital download of the game. According to Nintendo’s support page: “The game-key card is your ‘key’ to downloading the full game to your system via the internet. After it’s downloaded, you can play the game by inserting the game-key card into your system and starting it up like a standard physical game card.”
The move appears to be a practical solution to modern game sizes, which are increasingly too large to fit on the Switch 2’s 64 GB cartridges. It also caters to players who still prefer physical ownership over an all-digital model.
However, don’t expect game-key cards to be cheaper. Despite being a hybrid format that still requires a download, there’s no indication they’ll cost less than traditional cartridges. For example, Mario Kart World is already priced at $80—and that’s before any impact from new tariffs announced by the Trump administration.
Keep in mind: a stable internet connection will be required for the initial download. After that, the game can be launched as long as the game-key card is inserted.
The Nintendo Switch 2 is scheduled to launch globally on June 5.