Many third-party studios are offering their titles as Game Key Cards on the new Switch 2 console, and according to Capcom, it considers this format to be a digital sale.
During a Q&A session following its most-recent financial results meeting (via NintendoLife), Capcom had a succinct answer to a question about these Nintendo cartridges, as it simply replied that Game Key Cards "are recorded as digital sales" by them. That's Capcom's classification for the storage medium, but it's not known if other publishers and studios share this opinion.
The general mood over Game Key Cards has also been less than enthusiastic, as game preservationists have cited concerns around the format. Game Key Cards are essentially authentication keys for games, as users will still need to download the full game to their Switch 2 console when it's inserted. These cartridges aren't locked to a system, so if you decide to sell your game, it still holds resale value. Most third-party games on the Switch 2 are sold as Game Key Cards--likely due to the Switch 2 cartridge only offering 64GB of storage capacity--and only a handful of developers offer the full game on a cartridge alongside Nintendo's own first-party releases.
Capcom's Street Fighter 6: Year 1-2 Fighters Edition on Switch 2 makes things a little more confusing, as while the full base game is on the cartridge, all of the extra content needs to be downloaded from the Nintendo eShop. This was presumably done to cut down on costs--a version of Street Fighter 6 without any DLC is also available for physical purchase--but it does muddy the resale waters a bit for anyone looking to sell that cartridge in the future. In response to the debate around Game Key Cards, Limited Run Games confirmed that it will have all of its numbered releases include the full game on the cartridge.
Meanwhile, Nintendo's Switch 2 is off to a massive start around the world, as the company says that 3.5 million units were sold in just the first four days of launch.
Source
During a Q&A session following its most-recent financial results meeting (via NintendoLife), Capcom had a succinct answer to a question about these Nintendo cartridges, as it simply replied that Game Key Cards "are recorded as digital sales" by them. That's Capcom's classification for the storage medium, but it's not known if other publishers and studios share this opinion.
The general mood over Game Key Cards has also been less than enthusiastic, as game preservationists have cited concerns around the format. Game Key Cards are essentially authentication keys for games, as users will still need to download the full game to their Switch 2 console when it's inserted. These cartridges aren't locked to a system, so if you decide to sell your game, it still holds resale value. Most third-party games on the Switch 2 are sold as Game Key Cards--likely due to the Switch 2 cartridge only offering 64GB of storage capacity--and only a handful of developers offer the full game on a cartridge alongside Nintendo's own first-party releases.
Capcom's Street Fighter 6: Year 1-2 Fighters Edition on Switch 2 makes things a little more confusing, as while the full base game is on the cartridge, all of the extra content needs to be downloaded from the Nintendo eShop. This was presumably done to cut down on costs--a version of Street Fighter 6 without any DLC is also available for physical purchase--but it does muddy the resale waters a bit for anyone looking to sell that cartridge in the future. In response to the debate around Game Key Cards, Limited Run Games confirmed that it will have all of its numbered releases include the full game on the cartridge.
Meanwhile, Nintendo's Switch 2 is off to a massive start around the world, as the company says that 3.5 million units were sold in just the first four days of launch.
Source