Does no one here realize that none of their first party games are key cards?

Yes, key cards suck shit sauce. Which is why my library is all first party games on the carts. Or I just pirate them on PC if I can't get a physical. Easy.

When the Xbox One was announced with always online DRM and was getting massive backlash, Sony famously responded with a short video which essentially won them the console generation:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=kWSIFh8ICaA

Then, a generation and a half later, Sony announced that they will be completely discontinuing the production of all physical games.

Here, Nintendo is using even weaker phrasing, saying there are "no plans" to ditch physical media, when, starting this console generation, they already started selling "Game Key Cards," which do not contain any game data, and the prices of storage are only getting higher due to the AI bubble.

Nintendo is just a publicly traded corporation trying to make more of a profit next quarter than they did last quarter. When push comes to shove, those profits will take priority.

Well that's a lot of corporate bullshit, especially since they released games using the game-key cards. That's still all-digital games there buddy if I have to rely on the generosity of a closed eco-system that routinely gets closed by Nintendo after the console is no longer profitable.

Bullshit, who writes this garbage?

Also: if it's physical but it requires a day one 60gb "patch" or it's a beta or even just a splash screen, then it's not physical. Too many switch games are like that

Nintendo has already abandoned physical games with it's game key card nonsense. If we still have to connect to the internet to download the game it's not a physical game.

Nintendo, known for being one of the most anti-consumer companies in the gaming world, says they won't do something anti-consumer right after they presented a product that does exactly what they claim they won't do (game keycards).

Yeah... I'm not gonna believe you.

/doubt

Yet. They'll let Sony take the heat for going first, but we know this is what all three console manufacturers want sooner or later.

It's obvious that Game Key Cards are a step towards a gradual phase-out. Cartridges are a lot more expensive to manufacture than disks, and probably getting worse due to datacenters driving up the price of flash memory. It's not a question of if they'll ditch cartridges, but when.

I expect we'll continue to see carts for the remainder of the Switch 2's lifespan, but we may see a point at which they only do GKCs for late gen titles. And then after that, the Switch 3 will be all digital.

We like sales too.

Until people arent paying attention.