Wolfenstein: Youngblood's summer launch is approaching, and soon players will be able to experience the latest in Id Software's Nazi-slaying series. Unfortunately for those that might have been interested in adding the game to their physical collections, it appears that the Switch version will not ship with a game cartridge. Updated retailer listings on both GameStop and Amazon show that Panic Button's port will just include "a code packed in a box, with a required download", rather than a standard cart. This detail has yet to be confirmed by Bethesda or Id Software, though we do know for a fact that the European release of the game's standard edition will be digital only on all platforms. Wolfenstein: Youngblood releases on July 26th for PlayStation 4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

• MURDER, THEY WROTE - Team up with a friend or play alone with an AI companion in the first modern co-op Wolfenstein adventure.
• ESCAPE FROM PARIS - Wolfenstein: Youngblood features the most open-ended Wolfenstein experience to date. From a new base of operations located deep in the heart of the Paris catacombs, plan how and when to attack and dismantle the Nazi regime
• SWEATIN' THE 80S- The wonder years, these are not. Featuring harrowing takes on iconic Parisian landmarks to graffiti-tagged streets, leather-clad Nazis, and an all-new soundtrack inspired by the synth heavy tones of classic 80s action films.
• LOCK AND LOAD - Wield the latest advancements in power armor tech, weaponry, and armor to stamp out Nazi scum. Level up, explore, and complete missions to unlock new abilities, weapon attachments, gadgets, cosmetics, and more to complement your playstyle.
• Contains digital download code. No cartridge included

Source

 

[rich333]

They should include an 64gb blank SD card in there!

 

[Foxi4]

That should be Nintendo's slogan

That tickled my internal giggle.

Hey, remember miniDVD's? Nevr forgetti, Nintendo's storage medium spaghetti.

 

[kuwanger]

The DRM on the card is effectively a unique ID that can be used to verify that the card and the data on it match, it's not that extensive.

That's literally all you need so long as it's expensive enough for forge said unique ID. The point is to protect against casual piracy, not commercial piracy. You have to attack that through customs, courts, etc.

It's expensive, it's not secure due to the lack of any ability to customise, it requires an additional license to use the standard, it's just not worth it for Nintendo who is known for using custom storage.

Right, it's not worth it. My point is there's an irony that Secure Digital with DRM is considered not secure and is treated as generic memory storage. Sony still has a good luck on their own memory storage. Nintendo is de facto using SD cards with custom DRM, it's just not something they're paying for--having users pay for the storage device is the cost cutting method. Like I said, bandwidth is cheap so they're leave it to users to redownload and rewrite their games on their own personal storage on a semi-regular basis. That's the real crux of the story and why physical copy cartridges seem doomed. Switching to SD wouldn't really fix things.

 

[Foxi4]

That's literally all you need so long as it's expensive enough for forge said unique ID. The point is to protect against casual piracy, not commercial piracy. You have to attack that through customs, courts, etc.



Right, it's not worth it. My point is there's an irony that Secure Digital with DRM is considered not secure and is treated as generic memory storage. Sony still has a good luck on their own memory storage. Nintendo is de facto using SD cards with custom DRM, it's just not something they're paying for--having users pay for the storage device is the cost cutting method. Like I said, bandwidth is cheap so they're leave it to users to redownload and rewrite their games on their own personal storage on a semi-regular basis. That's the real crux of the story and why physical copy cartridges seem doomed. Switching to SD wouldn't really fix things.

I don't know how to respond to that, the writing has been on the wall for years, just look at PC gaming. Physical media will eventually just go away, or they'll be limited to small batches for collectors, there isn't much we can do about that. The objective releases like this try to achieve is to give people something to put on their shelves, which is some of the appeal of a physical copy, while simultaneously delivering the software in the cheapest method humanly possible. Unfortunately, at present the Switch only comes in one 32GB SKU, which may have been ample storage last generation, but at present it's a bit of a tight squeeze. Naturally you have the SD card slot, but that's just more ancillary spending.

 

[kumikochan]

Of course it's not. At least not at a relevant amount lol.
Just sayin' it's pretty pointless to buy game boxes that contain nothing but a download code except you love to stack those releases in your shelf.

Ah okay, i misread what you said then sorry bout that

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Damn it Id. 64GB flash chips aren't that expensive and there's already the Switch tax that easily covers the cost of a 32GB cartridge. Stop being cheap.

 

[Foxi4]

Damn it Id. 64GB flash chips aren't that expensive and there's already the Switch tax that easily covers the cost of a 32GB cartridge. Stop being cheap.

They're actually not as cheap as you might assume.

https://www.texplained.com/how-it-is-made-nintendo-switch-game-cartridge/

A full teardown of the cartridge, down to the silicon with the help of trusty nitric acid, shows that the packages are a little bit more complex than your average SD card. There are actually two components on the die, one for storage and one for security, presumably manufactured specifically to Nintendo's spec, which undoubtedly makes them more expensive than an off-the-shelf component. Just the module alone is surely a significant portion of the total price tag, and you still have to manufacture a cartridge out of it, not to mention that Nintendo's licensing fee is priced into the cost of the medium. The bigger the cartridge you use the less money you can make, and you're already making your game for a Nintendo device - Nintendo consoles have a notoriously low adoption rate of third-party content, especially if it's M-rated. It sucks, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

 

[Sheimi]

The store obviously will inform them

Nope. Unless they ask

 

[DANTENDO]

Nope. Unless they ask

If they don't bad customer service and should be sacked

 

[Beerus]

This is beyond science

 

[enarky]

Well, I don't mind not having a complete copy on cartridge, case in point: L.A. Noire. In that case the cart acts as a hardware key, anyone who has it can download the update and play the game. But leaving out the cartridge completely is just bad. If I get a physical copy I want to own something, not just a code that's tied to my account. At least I can lend L.A. Noire to a friend or sell it if I'm sick of it. Can't do that with codes once they're used.

I bought Doom, I bought Wolfenstein 2, I bought L.A. Noire. This one is going to stay on the shelves if it doesn't belong to me after I buy it.

 

[RedoLane]

This detail has yet to be confirmed by Bethesda or Id Software

leaving the incorrect capital I aside, I'm pretty sure id software have nothing to do with the Wolfenstein reboot(w-well, except that they allowed the devs to use their id tech engine).
MachineGames are those who develop the reboot games, including Youngblood.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

They're actually not as cheap as you might assume.

https://www.texplained.com/how-it-is-made-nintendo-switch-game-cartridge/

A full teardown of the cartridge, down to the silicon with the help of trusty nitric acid, shows that the packages are a little bit more complex than your average SD card. There are actually two components on the die, one for storage and one for security, presumably manufactured specifically to Nintendo's spec, which undoubtedly makes them more expensive than an off-the-shelf component. Just the module alone is surely a significant portion of the total price tag, and you still have to manufacture a cartridge out of it, not to mention that Nintendo's licensing fee is priced into the cost of the medium. The bigger the cartridge you use the less money you can make, and you're already making your game for a Nintendo device - Nintendo consoles have a notoriously low adoption rate of third-party content, especially if it's M-rated. It sucks, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Just increase the price of the retail version slightly. The additional cost that goes into making a 64GB cartridge vs a 32GB one surely can't be much, as the licensing fees and the additional costs of manufacture and security should be the same. Just increase the price by $5-10 if you have to. I know no one wants to hear that, but it's better than nothing.

 

[dude1]

And developers should be boycotted for this crappy anti consumer bullshit behaviour

they are, its called piracy

voting with your wallet and just not buying a item doesnt seem to affect AAA developers, but with piracy, they perceive that as a lost sale even for the many people that wouldn't actually buy the game regardless.

if you want to hurt AAA developers "feelz" that's the way to do it.
not to mention, when piracy is rampant legit sale prices go down (its why a boxed copy of M$ office is $2 legit in china/russia but it's over $100 in North America and the hundreds of similar examples)

all that said, support the Devs you like and Indies that haven't lost touch with reality.

 

[NicEXE]

And developers should be boycotted for this crappy anti consumer bullshit behaviour

This seems rather like a publisher stunt. Developers have nothing to do with deployment.

 

[kumikochan]

This seems rather like a publisher stunt. Developers have nothing to do with deployment.

Eum they do like recent leaks have shown that it was actually randy pitchford (Developer) that pushed the idea of borderlands 3 exclusive to Take 2 interactive (publisher) so in that regard developers can push that as much as the publisher. In a later post i was talking about Bethesda actually and not about ID software. I should have edited the main post and said publisher yeah

 

[weatMod]

but how much will gamestop give me in trade in credit for a used copy?

 

[Exaltys]

I'm not sure if this is better or worse than having a gutted card in the box but having you have to download a ton of data anyway.

 

[Vinceherman]

But imagine a poor fool who hadn't done any research on the game buying it only to find out it's only a code and he still needs to download a 50gb file.

imagine the poor fool (me) whom it takes almost a week to download 50gb?

this is really annoying, I seriously hope it's not true.... I love my Wolfenstein 2 and Doom on switch, this just makes me not want to buy the game... shame I was looking forward to it

 

[Foxi4]

Just increase the price of the retail version slightly. The additional cost that goes into making a 64GB cartridge vs a 32GB one surely can't be much, as the licensing fees and the additional costs of manufacture and security should be the same. Just increase the price by $5-10 if you have to. I know no one wants to hear that, but it's better than nothing.

I was talking about the general cartridge price, not specifically the 64GB ones. What I do know is that the 8GB carts use different, cheaper memory and cost as much as BD-ROM's, or close enough, when the licenses are priced in. I'm pretty sure the 64GB carts were delayed to sometime in 2019, not sure if they're out yet, are there any 64GB ROM's in the wild now?