With the launch of Switch 2, a new Game-Key card is also launched. Compared with the previous cartridges, this card does not have complete game data and is only used as the "key" to activate the game, and the game body still needs it.

Nintendo calls the card "the key to a complete game through the Internet."Unlike the digital version, the Game-Key card does not bind the user account, so it can be resold and rented as before.This form of cassette makes some players who love to collect physical cards worry about whether they can be saved for a long time and whether Nintendo will give up the traditional form of physical storage medium.

Former Nintendo marketing heads Kit Ellis and Krysta Yang said, "Nintendo will not give up on physical cassettes." They said that the form of the Game-Key card comes from eshop's gift cards. The concept allows Nintendo to show both digital and physical presence, because Nintendo has always attached importance to making digital products visible in physical retail channels. "Compared with other game companies, Nintendo really attaches great importance to physical retail channels." Kit Ellis added.This is not surprising, after all, Nintendo made its fortune through the physical game - Huazhapai.

Nintendo President Doug Bowser also expressed his views on the criticism of the Game-Key card in mid-May and dispelled players' concerns: this Game-Key card is just an additional option.