0:03 Wow. So, there has been a lot of
0:06 developments on game key cards really
0:09 over the last few weeks when it comes to
0:11 the Nintendo Switch 2. Now, with game
0:14 key cards, I feel like it's safe to say
0:16 that in my opinion, those are probably
0:19 the most controversial thing about the
0:22 Nintendo Switch 2. And it's honestly a
0:24 very fair thing to hate on. But I feel
0:26 like a lot of the times when people hate
0:29 on game key cards, they don't know the
0:31 whole story. And you know, the big thing
0:33 that I have been pushing in these videos
0:36 is the fact that developers have only
0:39 been given two options. 64 GB cartridge
0:41 or a game key card. And that is what
0:44 ultimately has led us to getting so many
0:46 game key cards. Now, there's been more
0:50 of a groundbreaking development to where
0:52 game key cards might actually need to be
0:54 a requirement when it comes to some of
0:57 these Nintendo Switch 2 games. And I
0:58 wanted to talk about the comments that
1:01 the developers made and what we should
1:03 expect when it comes to future Game Key
1:05 card releases. Because we've talked
1:07 about on this channel how the company
1:09 that makes the cartridges for the Switch
1:12 2 has said in an investor's meeting that
1:13 they're looking to make smaller
1:16 cartridges that aren't 64 GB to help
1:19 these third party developers, which now
1:21 even if they do that with some of these
1:23 developer comments, it seems like we
1:25 could still have a game key card issue.
1:26 So, I want to talk about it all into
1:29 this video. Let's jump straight into it.
1:31 All right, let's talk about one of the
1:33 most recent Switch 2 releases, and that
1:36 was Star Wars Outlaws. This game got a
1:38 lot of praise for the Nintendo Switch 2.
1:40 However, there was a lot of hate for it
1:43 for the fact that it was a game key
1:45 card, and a lot of people tweeted at
1:47 Ubisoft trying to figure out, hey, why
1:49 is this a game key card? Da da da da.
1:52 Everyone was really going in. And then
1:54 one of the developers actually commented
1:57 on it on Blue Sky and they gave a whole
2:00 statement of why Star Wars Outlaws
2:03 actually needed to be a game key card.
2:05 And I wanted to go over what they said
2:08 and I quote, "Snow Drop relies heavily
2:10 on disc streaming for its openw world
2:13 environments. And we found that with the
2:15 Switch to cards simply didn't give the
2:17 performance we needed at the quality
2:20 target we were going for. I don't recall
2:22 the cost of the cards ever entering the
2:25 discussion, probably because it was a
2:27 moot. Now, this is part of a whole
2:29 thread where people were speculating why
2:32 Star Wars Outlaws was a game key card.
2:35 And in this discussion, the cost of the
2:38 64 GB cartridge was talked about, and
2:40 that's confirmed to not actually be the
2:43 case of why it was a game key card.
2:46 Snowdrop is a Ubisoft engine that is
2:49 heavily used in all of their upcoming
2:51 openw world experiences. And this
2:54 developer is saying that the regular
2:58 Switch 2 64 GB cartridge is not able to
3:00 hold that and that with the game key
3:02 card it actually possesses faster
3:05 technology with SSD. So if you put it
3:08 into that perspective, I do think that
3:11 does make a little bit of sense. Now,
3:13 there are important comments that the
3:15 developer says right after making this
3:18 post because people were worried that
3:20 this could mean everything is going to
3:21 be a game key card when it comes to
3:24 these big third-party experiences,
3:26 particularly in the openw world scene.
3:28 The Ubisoft developer talks about the
3:31 fact, well, let me just quote this post.
3:33 I think if we designed a game for the
3:35 Switch 2 from the ground up, it might
3:38 have been different as it was. is we'd
3:40 build a game around the SSDs of the
3:43 initial targeted platforms and then the
3:45 Switch 2 came along a while later. I
3:47 think in this case our leadership made
3:50 the right call. So this is very very
3:53 interesting what is said here. What this
3:57 tells us is any big openw world game is
4:00 probably going to be a game key card
4:02 because a majority of these openw world
4:05 games coming to the Switch 2 is probably
4:07 going to be ports considering that the
4:09 Switch one is missing a lot of these
4:11 titles, particularly Ubisoft titles.
4:13 I've said many times before that I think
4:16 the Switch 2 is going to be a Ubisoft
4:18 machine essentially because there's so
4:20 many things that did not come to the
4:22 Switch one that I think Ubisoft's going
4:25 to look at the Switch 2 and be like hm
4:26 let's put Rainbow Six Siege on here.
4:28 Let's put all the Far Cry games on here.
4:30 This is like let's put all the Division
4:32 games. There's going to be so many of
4:34 that stuff on to the Switch 2. I am
4:37 heavily expecting it. The developer in
4:38 this post confirms that Star Wars
4:41 Outlaws didn't have to be a game key
4:43 card if it had been developed
4:45 specifically for the Nintendo Switch 2
4:48 in mind. But since the system was
4:51 announced later after the game was
4:53 already out, it was kind of impossible
4:55 to do something like that. Now, if they
4:57 would have made a version from the
5:00 ground up, I think that could have been
5:03 possible. But with a majority of these
5:05 ports coming out to the Switch 2, you're
5:08 not going to see built from the ground
5:10 up Switch 2 versions because that's not
5:12 what happened with the Switch one. And I
5:14 don't expect to see that ever happening
5:16 with the Switch 2 with a majority of
5:19 these third-p partyy games. Stop the
5:22 video, guys. This is it. This is the
5:26 final week of the Monado Max merch being
5:28 available for the rest of the week. It's
5:30 closing like October 3rd or 4th. I can't
5:32 remember off the top of my head, but go
5:33 grab a t-shirt if you are interested
5:36 before the website shuts down and you're
5:38 never able to get one of these because
5:40 the next time we do it will be sometime
5:42 next year and it's a totally different
5:44 design. Back to the video. So, over the
5:46 last few days, we had Tokyo Game Show,
5:48 which every developer was there
5:51 essentially. You had Capcom and Square
5:53 Enix. Square Enix actually made comments
5:56 regarding game key cards twice over the
5:59 week, especially with Capcom as well.
6:00 And I think it's interesting that we're
6:02 seeing these comments being talked about
6:04 at Tokyo Game Show because it shows that
6:07 the movement of people not liking game
6:10 key cards also exist within Japan. And
6:12 Square Enix made some interesting
6:15 comments. I think we first should go to
6:17 what the Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
6:20 director said when it came to game
6:22 keyarts. Yes, I've heard the reactions
6:25 of various Nintendo players to the game
6:27 keyarts. I certainly understand their
6:29 perspective. I can understand what might
6:32 bother them and why they might not like
6:35 them and I really do. But among
6:37 developers, the discussion about the
6:39 formite might be a little different than
6:42 fans might expect. Perhaps the biggest
6:44 issue for developers is certainly for
6:45 people like us who are developing
6:49 high-end HD games is the loading speed.
6:51 Because if you compare that to an SSD
6:53 drive and the speed you get from when
6:56 it's loading, it's inferior. So, that's
6:57 really the bigger problem when it comes
7:00 to developing games, high-end games for
7:02 the Switch 2 and what's possible with
7:04 it. This is just my personal opinion,
7:06 but I would like it if Nintendo fans
7:09 understood the key cards and perhaps
7:11 accepted them as a part of the gaming
7:14 culture on the Switch because they offer
7:17 more possibilities. It's an option that
7:19 not everyone needs to use, but it's
7:21 another way to make games available to
7:24 fans, and I think we could miss
7:26 opportunities if we didn't have that
7:28 option because there might be people who
7:30 wouldn't be able to play the game
7:32 otherwise. I really understand why
7:34 people are negative about it and there
7:36 are good reasons and arguments for it,
7:38 but if people are more accepting of it,
7:40 I think there are also advantages. And
7:42 from a developer's perspective, it
7:44 allows us to do the things we might not
7:46 otherwise do. Again, I think these
7:48 comments are interesting if you look
7:50 back at what was said with the Star Wars
7:54 Outlaws comment because the developer
7:56 said that Star Wars Outlaws would have
7:58 been possible if they made it from the
8:01 ground up where all of these other games
8:02 that Square Annex is doing like Final
8:06 Fantasy 7 remake, it's a port, so it's
8:08 not going to be possible to put that on
8:11 the 64 GB cartridge. Something that I
8:13 think is important to note with Final
8:16 Fantasy 7 remake as well is that game
8:19 was never going to be a 64 GB cartridge.
8:21 Have you seen how much storage this game
8:23 takes on PlayStation and all other
8:26 platforms? Even on the Switch 2, I
8:27 believe that this is the highest
8:29 gigabyte game that the Switch 2 is
8:32 getting where it's almost 100 gigabytes
8:36 taken onto your storage. So honestly, no
8:39 matter what, this was always going to be
8:41 a game key card. But that's also a game
8:44 that is a not necessarily open world. I
8:46 know Final Fantasy 7 remake is not, but
8:49 it is bigger worlds, more exploration,
8:52 more to it than a typical game. And it's
8:55 also again a port. I think what it comes
8:58 down to from these developers comments
9:01 that ports are going to always be a game
9:04 key card, especially when these bigger
9:06 games, bigger worlds, open world
9:09 especially will always be game key cards
9:11 because of how the Switch 2 cartridge
9:14 systems work. Now, I don't know if
9:16 there's really a way around this with
9:19 making better 64 GB cartridges that I
9:22 don't know much about. I don't know the
9:24 side of things of how it could work. I
9:27 just understand that the game key cards
9:30 run off a faster cartridge, I believe,
9:32 because of it through I I don't really
9:34 understand why, but from what developers
9:36 are saying, it's more meant for the SSD
9:38 technology that the Switch 2 has.
9:41 Capcom's response to game key cards is
9:43 very short. I'm not even going to lie.
9:46 It's very obvious that Capcom does not
9:48 care when it comes to game key cards.
9:50 even if it wasn't selling, they were
9:52 always going to go down this path. And
9:55 it's very apparent if you paid attention
9:57 to really all of their physical releases
10:00 when it came to the Switch One. If you
10:02 look at their collection releases, a
10:04 majority of them were a lot of download
10:06 releases. They would have one of the
10:08 games on the cartridge and there would
10:12 be a download code. So, I am not really
10:14 surprised that all of what Capcom's
10:16 doing is game key cards. and probably
10:19 for the foreseeable future is always
10:21 going to be game key cards if you look
10:23 at the history Capcom has had with these
10:25 releases. But let's go over what they
10:28 talked about. So, this individual asked
10:32 the Resident Evil 9 director about their
10:34 thoughts on the Nintendo Switch 2 game
10:36 key cards. In fact, I will tell you
10:38 exactly what they said. One of the big
10:39 topics at the moment around the Switch 2
10:42 are the game key cards. as a team making
10:43 one of the most technically intense
10:46 Switch 2 games so far. Is data streaming
10:48 an issue when you're putting a game onto
10:51 a card as some other developers have
10:53 suggested? Basically, are Game Key cards
10:55 a developer consideration or a
10:56 publishing one? And then the director
10:59 responded with, "It's not a development
11:01 decision for us. It's more of a sales
11:03 strategy decision." And I think people
11:05 are going to look at what Capcom just
11:08 said here and say that Square Enix and
11:11 Ubisoft must be lying because the
11:13 releases that Capcom is putting as
11:15 always game key cards, stuff like that.
11:18 And to be honest with you, um, honestly,
11:21 these games could actually be on the 64
11:24 GB cartridge if I am to understand what
11:27 the developers are saying. Uh when it
11:29 comes to Capcom's release, particularly
11:32 with Resident Evil 7, 8, and 9, it's
11:34 pretty much flatout confirmed that these
11:36 are going to be Game Key card releases,
11:38 but these are games that being are being
11:40 developed with the other consoles in
11:43 mind all at the same time, which is what
11:45 Ubisoft was talking about was making it
11:47 kind of impossible to put Star Wars
11:50 Outlaws on a full-on cartridge
11:52 considering that this was a flatout
11:55 port. Same thing with Square Enix. Final
11:58 Fantasy 7 is clearly a port. Resident
12:01 Evil 9 is not a port, but from what
12:04 Capcom is saying, they don't care. It is
12:06 just a sales strategy. They want to make
12:08 the most money possible without having
12:10 to spend as much money. So, they're just
12:12 going to put everything on a game key
12:14 card because they just simply don't
12:17 care. And considering the very short
12:19 statement that the director said, I
12:21 think it is very clear that Capcom does
12:24 not care if you're buying them or not
12:25 buying them. They're always going to do
12:28 this no matter what. So, I bring all
12:30 these comments up to kind of give you
12:32 guys an updated feeling on how I think
12:35 future releases are going to be. I've
12:37 talked about how I thought that once we
12:39 get more cartridge sizes, we're going to
12:41 see less and less game key cards. And I
12:43 still stand by that statement. I still
12:44 think that that's going to happen.
12:46 Sometime next year though in the middle
12:48 of summer, so we're going to be stuck
12:50 with a lot of game key card releases.
12:52 But there's going to be the companies
12:54 that don't care that are still going to
12:57 do game key cards. Capcom for example,
12:59 EA for example. And with all of this new
13:02 information, I do think a lot of these
13:05 ports are going to end up being a game
13:07 key card. particularly anything that is
13:11 like a massive game that relies on SSDs
13:13 and on top of that any big openw world
13:16 experience unless they develop from the
13:18 ground up. That's the only way I see it
13:21 being possible to be fully on cartridge
13:24 which could also be possible. Who knows?
13:26 And I take that the comments that the
13:29 Square Enix director said makes it to me
13:31 sound like that not every release that
13:35 Square Enix does is going to be a game
13:37 key card. It really sounds once those
13:39 smaller cartridges are available,
13:41 they'll put it fully on cartridge. I
13:44 like to think that, but who knows? I
13:46 definitely want to hear your guys'
13:49 comments on Game Key cards, and I want
13:51 like an actual discussion on this. I
13:54 don't want people being like, "Oh, game
13:56 key card not buying." I want an actual
13:58 discussion here because we're actually
14:00 been given points regarding game key
14:03 cards. And I think it's important to
14:05 have this conversation rather than us
14:08 just saying not buying. Figure it out.
14:10 Like I just want some actual legitimate
14:13 comments because a lot of the times when
14:15 you guys are hating on game key cards,
14:17 which you guys are more than welcome to,
14:19 y'all have fair reason to hate them. But
14:21 I feel like now we're getting some
14:24 clearer answers and I think it's a good
14:26 debate now at this point. Definitely
14:27 want to hear it all in the comments down
14:29 below. But guys, I have been talking for
14:31 way too much. Make sure to back slash
14:33 that subscribe button, like the video,
14:35 check out the Twitter, Discord,
14:37 Instagram, all that good stuff in the
14:40 description below, and I will see you
14:43 guys in the next video. Peace.
