Why was there almost no outrage about game keys?

Ondrashek06 · May 13, 2026

Everyone was complaining about game keys at first, but then Nintendo said that it's a third-party thing and that they'll always have proper physical releases, so the outrage died down.

And then they immediately went and released a game that's exclusively on game keys and has no proper physical releases, and NO ONE actually cared about that and everyone just gobbled it up.

Why did that happen? How come there was almost no outrage about that?

The Real Jdbye · May 13, 2026

Ondrashek06 said:
Everyone was complaining about game keys at first, but then Nintendo said that it's a third-party thing and that they'll always have proper physical releases, so the outrage died down.

And then they immediately went and released a game that's exclusively on game keys and has no proper physical releases, and NO ONE actually cared about that and everyone just gobbled it up.

Why did that happen? How come there was almost no outrage about that?

I just don't buy them.

Ondrashek06 · May 13, 2026

The Real Jdbye said:
I just don't buy them.

I'm the same, I never bought a game key and don't intend to. Though I've barely seen anyone complaining about it anywhere so I'm just worried that Nintendo will see that as a success and won't ever have a true physical release again.

Scarlet · May 13, 2026

I assume most people just care more about playing a good game. There will still be people avoiding things because they're key cards, but when you're only a year into a new console's life cycle, you'll find more people jumping to play the good games when they come.

Skelletonike · May 13, 2026

Ondrashek06 said:
And then they immediately went and released a game that's exclusively on game keys and has no proper physical releases, and NO ONE actually cared about that and everyone just gobbled it up.

The game was made by Koei's Omega Force and The Pokemon Company probably didn't expect it to blow up like it did.. For this type of game however, I did buy it digitally since it's a nice game to have always available.

M7L7NK7 · May 13, 2026

Because people found the next thing to complain about

Avalyn · May 13, 2026

Ondrashek06 said:
Everyone was complaining about game keys at first, but then Nintendo said that it's a third-party thing and that they'll always have proper physical releases, so the outrage died down.

And then they immediately went and released a game that's exclusively on game keys and has no proper physical releases, and NO ONE actually cared about that and everyone just gobbled it up.

Why did that happen? How come there was almost no outrage about that?

There is, many of us are not buying the switch 2 because of it.

VmprHntrD · May 15, 2026

Who said there wasn't outrage? I've seen a ton of entitled bitching online about it, and while a bit of it is justified, a good bit of it also largely is just blind seething entitled raging out.

Game Key Cards have their place, and they are in an annoying way also are a happy middle ground because if you are done with/hate the game you can resell it where a piece of paper or a digital rental from the eShop you're screwed and stuck with it.

The thing is, Nintendo f'd up and didn't have 16 and 32GB cards online for use from day one, they rolling them out like 9mo after the fact so those smaller games that were already far enough along were not going to go back into retooling and more development to read from the slower card media format. Those suck that happened, but at this rate, and I'd say filtering out existing stuff, come 2027 if you see a small game on a key you have utter greed and DRM control freak jerkiness under it.

But, on the other side of it, you have the thing the blowhards get mad about being brought up and just rage when having it put in front of them. Some games do not fit on the media. Some games are so thirsty for data throughput just to function right that you can't use the media even if it does fit. Those games that are thirsty you'll find this happen on the blu-ray console releases too where the discs are just keys as well, or they have a small amount of data but largely still need a download from online, the disc, or a mix of the both. Those ones people getting salty over need to grow up and shut up.

Get mad at the company who made the game creating the environment that physical media can't pull the info fast enough, not Nintendo. DO get mad at Nintendo and the third parties when you see a release that should and will work fine on media that's just a key card or download only because that's a greedy control freak choice and should be called out for it.

I have a few keycards with the likes of Sonic Generations X(was a gift), The RE Generation Pack, and Pokopia (dick move Nintendo) but the rest are real, even when I had to use PlayAsia to get Majogami on media.

ChibiMofo · May 15, 2026

Because 95% of people who buy games are not incessant whiners who whine about every little thing.

Couple that with the fact that as of the end of March 2026, 85% of full game sales on PlayStation consoles (PS5 and PS4) are digital downloads, according to Sony's FY2025 Q4 financial report. Physical game sales have dropped to a record low of just 15%, highlighting a, major shift toward all-digital consumption. Again, no one cares. PS6 will likely be digital only with an external drive at an extra expense for those with ancient PS5 and PS4 discs. Nintendo will be literally the only company left shipping new games on actual physical media, ironically enough.

Post automatically merged: May 15, 2026

Avalyn said:
There is, many of us are not buying the switch 2 because of it.

Correction: Not many. The Switch 2 is the fastest selling game device of all-time and has already sold 20 million units.

Avalyn · May 16, 2026

ChibiMofo said:
Because 95% of people who buy games are not incessant whiners who whine about every little thing.

Couple that with the fact that as of the end of March 2026, 85% of full game sales on PlayStation consoles (PS5 and PS4) are digital downloads, according to Sony's FY2025 Q4 financial report. Physical game sales have dropped to a record low of just 15%, highlighting a, major shift toward all-digital consumption. Again, no one cares. PS6 will likely be digital only with an external drive at an extra expense for those with ancient PS5 and PS4 discs. Nintendo will be literally the only company left shipping new games on actual physical media, ironically enough.

Post automatically merged: May 15, 2026

Correction: Not many. The Switch 2 is the fastest selling game device of all-time and has already sold 20 million units.

You don't care, that's fine.

But lots of people care. I play on pc where I can get DRM free stuff, legally on gog or less legally other places. Regardless, it's drm free, and lots of people are making sure it will stay that way. DRM is anti consumer, in every way.

And yes, as we all know, the world only has 20 million people in it.

Jayro · May 16, 2026

With each new generation, there's more and more kids that just don't care about collecting physical. From a physical collector's point of view, it's a bit sad and pathetic, but it's the truth. And I feel like Nintendo is using the Pokemon spinoff as a means to test the waters for possibly releasing their first-party titles this way as well in the future. There was almost zero backlash for the Pokopia key cards... So I'd say Nintendo got what they wanted.

That said, I'm disappointed in these key-card gamers all over the world. SHAME ON YOU FOR HELPING KILL PHYSICAL GAMES!

Marc_LFD · May 16, 2026

Dude, what? There obviously was, but people can't keep going on and on about the same thing forever. Just don't buy it.

Much as I want Pokopia, I'm not buying it because it's a Key Card. Thanks, Nintendo.

Post automatically merged: May 16, 2026

Jayro said:
With each new generation, there's more and more kids that just don't care about collecting physical. From a physical collector's point of view, it's a bit sad and pathetic, but it's the truth. And I feel like Nintendo is using the Pokemon spinoff as a means to test the waters for possibly releasing their first-party titles this way as well in the future. There was almost zero backlash for the Pokopia key cards... So I'd say Nintendo got what they wanted.

That said, I'm disappointed in these key-card gamers all over the world. SHAME ON YOU FOR HELPING KILL PHYSICAL GAMES!

It's not about collectors, but people who want the full game on cart. I'm sure there's collectors out there that have bought every single Switch 1 Code in a Box releases and now they'll do the same with Switch 2 Code in a Box releases and Key Card releases.

They're not about preserving games or wanting a physical copy, they want a case even if there's nothing inside.

nWo · May 16, 2026

Well, I tried, I haven't bought a single Key Card and I always express that digital is kind of shady due to many things that we already know. But it seems that more people are saying "fuck it" and just bought them anyway. So, the big companies have the grasp of the situation and are just lazy, feeding the crowd with those kind of things.

I have always liked my games in physical format. I love to watch them in my shelves, take one every now and then and not just play it but look at the art, the manuals, every little detail that it's in there (and that has been ripped from us already, mind you) and just put it in the console and play. I think that nothing beats that feeling. Also, as a plus, games were incredible good and full of content, all inside your physical copy. No one is going to take that copy away from you as long as you keep it nice and clean.

I have a 512 gb micro SD express card for my Switch 2 and yes, storage isn't enough. There are so many games I want to try but I can't afford at the moment a 1 tb micro SD, so it's a big issue to be looking for game's size and all of that. Not everyone can buy big SD cards with those prices, or have multiple laying around. I would love that games lower than 8 or 10 gb were digital, and games that are more than 10, would be in physical format. That would be nice.

Maybe just the newer generations just don't give a crap, like every other thing they don't give a crap today. And that's just sad.

Jayro · May 16, 2026

nWo said:
Well, I tried, I haven't bought a single Key Card and I always express that digital is kind of shady due to many things that we already know. But it seems that more people are saying "fuck it" and just bought them anyway. So, the big companies have the grasp of the situation and are just lazy, feeding the crowd with those kind of things.

I have always liked my games in physical format. I love to watch them in my shelves, take one every now and then and not just play it but look at the art, the manuals, every little detail that it's in there (and that has been ripped from us already, mind you) and just put it in the console and play. I think that nothing beats that feeling. Also, as a plus, games were incredible good and full of content, all inside your physical copy. No one is going to take that copy away from you as long as you keep it nice and clean.

I have a 512 gb micro SD express card for my Switch 2 and yes, storage isn't enough. There are so many games I want to try but I can't afford at the moment a 1 tb micro SD, so it's a big issue to be looking for game's size and all of that. Not everyone can buy big SD cards with those prices, or have multiple laying around. I would love that games lower than 8 or 10 gb were digital, and games that are more than 10, would be in physical format. That would be nice.

Maybe just the newer generations just don't give a crap, like every other thing they don't give a crap today. And that's just sad.

I'm sure the game companies like Limited Run are frothing at the mouth to put the key card games on real carts. I'd pay a small markup for the real copies over Nintendo's bullshit.

ServiceServices · May 18, 2026

Enjoy the game key cards while you can. The next alternative is zero physical releases. I'm putting in my prediction now that the next console will be digital only.

The benefit of game key cards is you can resell your digital games. Nobody likes it, now we will have no options. There is no reality where Nintendo agrees and makes everything physical again. That's comedy.

Jayro · May 18, 2026

ServiceServices said:
Enjoy the game key cards while you can. The next alternative is zero physical releases. I'm putting in my prediction now that the next console will be digital only.

The benefit of game key cards is you can resell your digital games. Nobody likes it, now we will have no options. There is no reality where Nintendo agrees and makes everything physical again. That's comedy.

That just goes to show that we consumers need to get consumer rights passed that force companies to offer physical mediums with the full game on them that can be played offline. If nobody stands up against this stupid shit, we're doomed to not have physical games anymore, and that's not a society I want to live in.

Marc_LFD · May 18, 2026

ServiceServices said:
Enjoy the game key cards while you can. The next alternative is zero physical releases. I'm putting in my prediction now that the next console will be digital only.

The benefit of game key cards is you can resell your digital games. Nobody likes it, now we will have no options. There is no reality where Nintendo agrees and makes everything physical again. That's comedy.

"Resell your key cards" maybe that's something you're into, but when the servers are shut down or it's removed it can't be downloaded.

To have digital games... I'd rather just get them from the eShop than physical cases with an empty cart.

DiscostewSM · May 18, 2026

Marc_LFD said:
"Resell your key cards" maybe that's something you're into, but when the servers are shut down or it's removed it can't be downloaded.

To have digital games... I'd rather just get them from the eShop than physical cases with an empty cart.

The only servers that have shut down for Nintendo have been payment servers. Games that are delisted are only removed from being purchased on those servers.The servers with the games themselves remain intact, including those from the DSi/Wii era, allowing folks to download their purchases. This is actually a benefit to game key cards after the payment servers shut down, because those do not require the payment servers.

Marc_LFD · May 18, 2026

DiscostewSM said:
The only servers that have shut down for Nintendo have been payment servers. Games that are delisted are only removed from being purchased on those servers.The servers with the games themselves remain intact, including those from the DSi/Wii era, allowing folks to download their purchases. This is actually a benefit to game key cards after the payment servers shut down, because those do not require the payment servers.

Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to digital content so trusting that key cards won't get screwed with is just being naive.

That's great about DSi/Wii, but times change and not for the better.

DiscostewSM · May 18, 2026

Marc_LFD said:
Nothing is guaranteed when it comes to digital content so trusting that key cards won't get screwed with is just being naive.

That's great about DSi/Wii, but times change and not for the better.

Same goes for physical media. It won't last forever. While capacities do increase, the longevity they have before things like bitrot sets in gets lower because that's just how the tech is these days. Increased complexity just to reach higher capacities.

Why was there almost no outrage about game keys?

Well-Known Member

Le derg

Well-Known Member

Editorial Aspirant

♂ ♥ Gallant Pervert ♥ ♀

Well-Known Member

Ancient Enchanted Sorceress

Well-Known Member

Elon 'The Nazi Saluter' Musk is my dog

Ancient Enchanted Sorceress

MediCat USB Dev

Well-Known Member

The Game Master

MediCat USB Dev

Member

MediCat USB Dev

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Popular threads in this forum