Lots to say but the game key cards are confusing a lot of people still it seems.
From what I have seen/heard etc;
Games can come in multiple ways;
- Digital, tied to your account.
- Code in a box / One time download code (not sure this is happening anymore but for specifics let's include it), which one time ties it your account.
- Game Key Card, which are the reusable physical cards. Tied on combination I assume *.
- A real physical game card, not tied to anything.
How the game comes, can depend on region.
Look for instance at what Marvelous stated about their games in the west coming on real physical card, while coming as a game key card in the likes of Japan etc.
But in all these cases don't forget we still have two things that matter;
- Gameid/titleid
- Cert/license
Various sources have confirmed that the gameid/titleid for a game can differ if is a game key card or a real physical.
And for sure the come with their own cert/license.
So game key cards;
It's a physical card, which does NOT include the game data.
It more or less is a license/cert to download the game data. //
AND PLAY it seems
When you insert it, it will user/check it's license/cert
to the active account (and this I assume the specific console on hardware id, more on that below).
But unlike a code in a box /one time download code, the game key card, is not one time use.
The code in a box /one time download code links the license/cert hard and once to your account.
As noted a game key card is tied to a unique license/cert, because how else can they check if there is 1 or 10 of the same being used. (they never are going to allow that) //
They check through the card
This means, if the same game key card gets inserted into another console, it will use/link it's license/cert
to the account (and as I assume console, more on this below).
Thing is the whole process has not been detailed specifically as far as I know.
So once again I ASSUMED ALL below this;
- If you insert a game key card, which was linked already, into a system where the account matches up (say you have multiple Switches), it will ask you to activate the license for that console.
This way only 1 active license/cert situation remains intact, it just gets tied to that console.
- If you insert game key card into a system with a different account, it might ask you to confirm you want to tie it to a different account.
As the physical card is the most concrete way to check ownership, it could just skip that confirmation entirely.
It will then disable the license/cert for the original account with a you can't play that/confirm with game key card.
As noted I assume it will tie it down to the console (based on hardware id)
This way only 1 active license/cert situation remains intact as it is linked to another account (and console).
Some additional takeaways;
- Does the game key card need to be in the console to play always?
Nope, I think it's a one time need (Nintendo might do periodic checks though, for the people who would say airplane mode it so it can never recheck and play it on multiple systems).
As you need internet to download, and then the linking happens.
- So you sell a game key card, and what if you dont unlink it from your account.
That should be fine as you can never leave that up to the seller, as what if they don't?
Then they are basically scamming, as you as buyer can not link it to your account.
So common sense say's the linking is done on buyers end as the game key card is the prove of ownership.
It simply get's unlinked from the sellers account/console, and if they try to start it they will get a you can't play that/confirm with game key card popup.
- So you sell a game key card, what if you buy another game key card.
Fine your new license/cert will be linked/used, and you download (if not on console/sd anymore) and can play that game again.
- So you sell a game key card. But you buy a real physical game card of the same game.
In general that should be fine, own license/cert.
BUT what if the gameid/titleid is different? I am sure you can play the game, but does it show up as the same game (read is it a different save)?
On Switch 1 I have MULTIPLE situations in which I have a game listed multiple times as the download / physical, or in some cases even physical and special edition (or different region) turn up a 'different games).
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If I am wrong anywhere, please by all means correct me.
The situation still is not perfectly clear and confusing for sure.
EDIT - 2025-05-05
* So I assumed a bit to much it seems. I have kept what I noted, but striked through what seemed of (quite a lot actually) and added some bold comments to things.
It seems game key cards are not tied to an account or anything at all. They run on which ever system they are inserted to. Think of that as a local (card) kept cert/license, which enables the download and checks if you are allowed to play.
This comes down to Nintendo's support documentation;
"However, like regular physical software, the game-key card must be inserted into the system in order to play the game."
Source;
https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/68415
Source
