Nintendo May Soon Have a Solution to the Game Key Card Controversy

Nintendo has reportedly started offering developers and publishers two new game cartridge sizes for the Switch 2. Since both are said to have smaller capacities than the only other option currently available, their introduction could help address one of the biggest Switch 2 annoyances among fans: Game-Key Cards dominating physical releases.

Nintendo originally announced Switch 2 Game-Key Cards in April 2025, two months ahead of its latest console hitting the market. Positioned as an alternative to traditional cartridges, the cards function as physical licenses but do not contain any game data, thus requiring users to download an entire game before they can play it. This approach makes it possible to resell or otherwise share them like any other physical title. Switch 2 Game Key cards have faced significant fan criticism for masquerading as a physical releases while lacking the functionality of traditional cartridges. They are seen by some as another step toward an all-digital future that remains a controversial idea among a vocal segment of consumers.

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First-Party Nintendo Games Safe from Switch 2 Game Key-Cards

Games developed by Nintendo for Switch 2 will not utilize Game Key-Cards, though the option is still available for third-party games.

Smaller Switch 2 Game Cartridges Are Reportedly Coming

Since launching its latest console, Nintendo has reportedly offered only a single Switch 2 cartridge size with a 64GB capacity. That’s understood to be the maximum currently supported by the console’s operating system, as previously revealed by CD Projekt Red. A new rumor now states the company has begun offering smaller cartridge sizes to publishers. The claim was first reported by YouTuber Physical Paradise, who cited two unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

New Switch 2 Cartridge Options Said to Include 16GB and 32GB Sizes

A subsequent December 17 report by physical game preservation website Does It Play supported Physical Paradise’s claim, not only reiterating it but also adding that the new cartridge options are reportedly 16GB and 32GB in size. These configurations could address a key concern among publishers: the Switch 2’s sole 64GB cartridge being an overkill solution for many physical releases. While some titles, such as Cyberpunk 2077, take full advantage of the space, many others require far less, making the high-capacity option a potentially hard-to-justify cost. Previous reports indicate Nintendo charges publishers around $16 per a single 64GB cartridge, in addition to standard royalties per sale. This sizable expense may be driving more publishers to adopt Switch 2 Game-Key Cards as a lower-cost alternative for physical releases, despite continued fan backlash.

Switch 2 Cartridge Supplier Already Hinted at More Capacity Options This Summer

The possibility of additional cartridge sizes for the Switch 2 was first raised in an August 2025 report by Macronix, a non-volatile memory (NVM) product manufacturer believed to be producing some or all of Nintendo’s current-gen cartridges. At the time, the Taiwanese company stated it was working on mass-producing Switch game cartridges to support “varying capacity requirements.” While the statement did not specifically mention the Switch 2, the fact that Nintendo already offers a range of cartridge sizes for the original Switch—ranging from 1GB to 32GB—suggests Macronix was referring to similar plans for the newer console.

Possible Nintendo Switch 2 Cartridge Options for 2026

Some Devs Are Expected to Keep Choosing Switch 2 Game-Key Cards Regardless of Cartridge Options

Although the introduction of lower-capacity cartridges may encourage some publishers to move away from Game-Key Cards for physical releases, the format is unlikely to disappear entirely. Several Switch 2 developers have publicly defended Game-Key Cards in the past, arguing that traditional cartridges lack the data transfer speeds needed to match the performance of games installed on the console’s UFS 3.1 internal memory, which supports sequential read and write speeds of up to 2,100 MB/s and 1,200 MB/s, respectively. In comparison, Switch 2 cartridges reportedly reach read speeds of around 400 MB/s, approximately five times slower. While the console’s microSD Express format is slower than its internal memory, it is still estimated to outperform Switch 2 cartridges by a significant margin, with peak sequential read and write speeds of around 900 MB/s and 700 MB/s, respectively.

Estimated Theoretical Peak Memory Speeds of Nintendo Switch 2 Game Formats

Sources: Bloomberg, NotebookCheck