The Switch 2’s data-free, download-enabling Game Key Cards have become contentious among players who fear they may affect long-term ownership and access to bought titles. They remain popular with publishers trying to cut costs on boxed Switch 2 releases, since Game Key Cards lack the expensive flash memory that standard Switch 2 cartridges contain.
Now, however, at least one publisher has publicly suggested Nintendo is offering lower-cost Switch 2 cartridge options with reduced storage capacities, trimming manufacturing expenses in a way that could make full cartridge releases practical for more games on the system.
Earlier this week, R-Type Dimensions III publisher Inin Games told customers it couldn’t move from Game Key Cards to a “full physical cartridge” for the retail edition of the Switch 2 game without “significantly rais[ing] manufacturing costs.” Those extra costs would “force us to increase the retail price by at least €15 [about $20],” Inin wrote at the time.
In an update posted to social media earlier today, though, the publisher said that “there is no better timing: two days ago Nintendo announced two new smaller cartridge [storage capacity] sizes for Nintendo Switch 2. This allows us to recalculate production in a way that wasn’t possible before.”
As a result, Inin said it has opted to replace the Game Key Cards that were slated for the game’s retail box with full physical cartridges. That switch will raise the game’s asking price by €10 (about $13) “due to still higher production costs,” Inin explained. That increase is still lower than the “at least €15” Inin had been estimating just days earlier. Inin added that early pre-order customers for R-Type Dimensions III won’t be hit with the higher price, effectively receiving the full cartridge at no extra charge.
