It's no secret that of late some developers opt to order a batch of small capacity Switch cartridges and force mandatory downloads on users for games that are large in file size (such as Doom or L.A. Noire), arguably killing the point of physical media. The reason for this is cost as small capacity cartridges cost less than large ones. The good thing about this is that the prices are not too overpriced compared to the prices of those games when they were released on other platforms. The other route would be when developers chose to fit the entire game in a large capacity cartridge without requiring a mandatory download from the eShop. The downside of this is that it results in what is known as "Switch tax", games sold for more to offset the cost of large cartridges. Currently the maximum capacity for Switch cartridges is 32GB.

In any event, games won't become smaller over time and seeing the trend of large PC/PS4/XBone games ported to the Switch, it has to be expected that mandatory downloads for physical media won't go away anytime soon. Especially not since a recent report from The Wall Street Journal suggests that Nintendo has delayed the Roll-Out of 64GB Switch cartridges to 2019 that were originally scheduled for release during the second half of 2018. Apparently Nintendo had some technical issues that impacted the quality of the final media and needs more time to resolve those issues.

The question now for the average joe is whether or not this will impact third-party releases. Developers whose games are larger than 32GB could either wait til 64GB cartridges are available, delaying their releases in the process (although that's very unlikely in my opinion), or ship their games in small capacity cartridges and require a large mandatory download from the eShop. Another question is whether or not developers care at all about 64GB cartridges since they would presumably and significantly cost more than existing ones, making it not worth it for them from a financial standpoint.

What do you think about it? Do you prefer games being shipped in a single cartridge without requiring a large download, no matter the cost, or do you not care if half of the game from a cartridge has to be downloaded as long as the price is reasonable?

Source

 

[Sakitoshi]

The real problem is devs being lazy and not compressing literally anything in their games.

There is a limit to compression and ask yourself, do you like loading screens or not?

 

[codezer0]

Just another case of Nintendo forcing scarcity. As it is, 2017 is almost over and I've not even seen a Switch console to buy, anywhere. Considering the already negative impression I had with the size of joycons that were available at GameStop, I'm trying to reserve judgment on the whole system until I could actually use the system. But literally effing nobody has it. They've got accessories, docks, spare joycons and controllers for days, but not the system itself. Not even a single kiosk to actually try playing any games for it.

We have where we can fit 128GB on a BluRay disc.
We have microSD cards that are over 200GB already.

Nintendo is just being stingy to drive up demand, again.

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Considering BotW takes up roughly 14GB, this is not a big deal at all. Xenoverse 2 takes up about 9GB, Skyrim 14GB. Seems they are still a ways off from utilizing 64GB anyway.

Edit: A quick search shows DragonQuest Heroes I and II takes up 32GB. Short of that though, is there really a need?

It matters if you want to actually have a library, especially on the digital side. Despite there being a spec supporting it, nobody's yet to even make a 1TB SD card, let alone a microSD, or a 2TB card.

 

[chartube12]

As if being required to download part of a game, and buying an SD card for a game that's already on a Switch cart wasn't asinine enough

i am surprised he didnt suggest a new dock with a second game card slot. oh god dont do it nintendo!

 

[mario5555]

Resident Evil: Revelations 1 & 2 requires 20+GB download if you buy the cartridge version, because only RE:R 1 was put on the cartridge.

I thought that was everywhere except the US which got both on cart? I know the EURO version was digital only on RE:R2, not sure about JPN, but the fuss was only the US was getting both on cart, unless that changed somewhere and I missed reading about it.

Just another case of Nintendo forcing scarcity. As it is, 2017 is almost over and I've not even seen a Switch console to buy, anywhere.

Was in the local walmart 2 days before Christmas and saw 4 in the case. That's more of a region thing than scarcity situation. In the midwest anyway, they're not in limited supply, I thought the supply chain issues were pretty much worked out at this point.

 

[DarthDub]

I hope more devs use CriWare for compressing their games. (Or have it be like the PSX era and switch carts)

 

[linuxares]

Maybe it has to do with prices are at all time high for storages and memory modules?

 

[Xzi]

Just another case of Nintendo forcing scarcity. As it is, 2017 is almost over and I've not even seen a Switch console to buy, anywhere.

Bro I'm pretty sure Switch outsold lifetime WiiU sales in a single year. Is it at all surprising they're hard to find without jumping on some shipments day one? I've managed to get two without much effort. One for a friend and mine on pre-order through Amazon, but still.

 

[DarthDub]

Bro I'm pretty sure Switch outsold lifetime WiiU sales in a single year. Is it at all surprising they're hard to find without jumping on some shipments day one? I've managed to get two without much effort. One for a friend and mine on pre-order through Amazon, but still.

Got mine in August. (or was it July?) You have to physically look for it in a store instead of trying to buy it online.

 

[Xzi]

Got mine in August. (or was it July?) You have to physically look for it in a store instead of trying to buy it online.

Yeah just talk to employees of Best Buy/Gamestop/etc and find out when the next shipment is due in. I like to avoid Gamestop when possible, but in some areas I know they're pretty much the only brick and mortar choice other than Wal-Mart.

 

[DarkRioru]

so basically we have to wait until 2019 or 2020 if we are going to see anything crazy like gta v ported to the switch lol

 

[Xzi]

so basically we have to wait until 2019 or 2020 if we are going to see anything crazy like gta v ported to the switch lol

After eliminating higher-res texture files that the Switch version wouldn't need, that could easily come in under 32GB. Or they could just have you download some of it.

 

[codezer0]

After eliminating higher-res texture files that the Switch version wouldn't need, that could easily come in under 32GB. Or they could just have you download some of it.

And what's someone supposed to do when the downloads are larger than what's on the Switch Cartridge already? or the game's big enough to be over 100GB altogether?

Or in Ajit pai's dream land, where it'll cost $20 to re-download a game, but another $80 to even have a microSD card for the Switch large enough to store the data for even one game?

 

[DarkRioru]

And what's someone supposed to do when the downloads are larger than what's on the Switch Cartridge already? or the game's big enough to be over 100GB altogether?

Or in Ajit pai's dream land, where it'll cost $20 to re-download a game, but another $80 to even have a microSD card for the Switch large enough to store the data for even one game?

thats most likely never going to happen and if it did, nintendo would have to make support for external hard drives when docking the system but playing on the go would be a hassle...

 

[Xzi]

And what's someone supposed to do when the downloads are larger than what's on the Switch Cartridge already? or the game's big enough to be over 100GB altogether?

Or in Ajit pai's dream land, where it'll cost $20 to re-download a game, but another $80 to even have a microSD card for the Switch large enough to store the data for even one game?

Online gaming in general is dead if Ajit Pai gets his dream land. I prefer not to think about the absolute worst case scenario. As for mSDs, they're very versatile and getting cheaper all the time.

 

[Pachee]

Again Nintendo fucked up with hardware/storage. Again it bites them back right after launch.

 

[Pomegrenade]

Yass...i have no idea how this works (still developing for DS) but Switch devs might find this somewhat useful, correct me if im wrong

 

[Futurdreamz]

Considering EA chose to push a bunch of mandatory downloads on us instead of using the 32GB version I don't expect this to be much of an issue.

 

[Yepi69]

what brand new switch games cost 65-70 ponds? i call that BS heck look at amazon uk and such not even they put brand new witch game over 60, heck the most i saw was like 55 or so.

here in portugal and i see the same pricing in spain, germany and france.

brande new ps4/xbox games cost 70 euros
brand new switch games cost 60 euros.

this are fulll priced games not remaster or indie games that are always lower.

Excuse me, what?
I have yet to see a PS4 game for sale in our country for 70 euros brand new.
3DS and Switch games ARE overly expensive tho.

 

[mr allen]

Bigger, adds bulk to the switch, Reduces battery life, noisy, prone to scratches, and potentially longer load times. Nintendo sure did fuck up by not using blu-ray.

 

[Dominator211]

I buy digital... There fore this doesn't concern me much