The Switch 2’s data-free, download-enabling Game Key Cards have sparked debate among players concerned about long-term ownership and access to their purchases. Yet they remain controversial with customers while staying favored by publishers looking to reduce the cost of boxed Switch 2 releases, since Game Key Cards omit the costly flash memory used in standard Switch 2 cartridges.
Now, however, at least one publisher has publicly suggested Nintendo is offering lower-cost Switch 2 cartridge options with reduced storage capacities, cutting manufacturing expenses in a way that could make full cartridge releases practical for more games on the platform.
Earlier this week, R-Type Dimensions III publisher Inin Games told customers it couldn’t convert the retail edition from Game Key Cards to a “full physical cartridge” without “significantly rais[ing] manufacturing costs.” The publisher warned those extra costs would “force us to increase the retail price by at least €15 [about $20],” it said at the time.
In an update posted to social media earlier today, though, Inin noted 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.”
Consequently, Inin announced it will swap the Game Key Cards planned for the retail box with full physical cartridges. That decision will push the game’s price up by €10 (around $13) “due to still higher production costs,” the company explained — which is less than the “at least €15” it had earlier suggested might be required. Inin also said early pre-order customers for R-Type Dimensions III will not be charged the higher price, effectively receiving the full cartridge at no extra cost.
