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Nintendo Switch 2: The Current State of Physical Releases

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Xbox one and series discs are particularly weird. Some of them contain the full game as expected but i think thats a rarity now,
Most physical releases are like this

1. Physical license key there is no data on the disc other than game ID and like a basic executable. Entire game must be downloaded and is functionally a game key card.

2. Discs that don't have the actual full release on the disc, Theres actual data on the disc but Its an unplayable or unfinished build that required the rest to be downloaded off the net. Devs actually mark these games as do not launch without an update.

3. Cross gen discs that only have 1 version of the game on disc. Usually its the xbox one version and you have to download the series S/X version. Sometimes its the other way around.

4. Discs that are effectively a day 0 build. Yes the game is there but without a day 1 or future patch its clearly so unfinished and awful nobody would actually like to play it like this, Halo MCC in a nutshell.
 
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subcon959 said:
@DeadSkullzJr It's fairly common for Xbox discs to act as a license only and download the game once inserted. It was around long before game key cards was a thing.

Edit: I should clarify what I mean. If you have a Series X then none of the game is on the disc and will be downloaded. The disc will usually only contain the previous gen version. I'm sure I read somewhere though that the Indiana Jones game was basically just a DRM disc, just like the PS5 version (which annoyingly could've fit on a blu ray).
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This isn't entirely right though. Here's a list of games with the native game data on the disc in full, created by an individual. This isn't a complete list of course, and I'm sure a lot has changed since this list too:
https://www.reddit.com/r/gamecollecting/comments/wcjrdt/full_list_of_xbox_series_x_native_discs/

DoesItPlay? also has some statistics to work with. As of current it states that 50% of the games do not require additional downloads of any kind, and work straight out of the box, offline. Meaning they work straight from the disc.
https://www.doesitplay.org/

Checking multiple game entries, each one states that there is game data on the discs. Some games do indeed require additional download data, which I did state some releases were like that. The point is, the discs do have content on them, it's just a matter of how much is on them. Again, 50% are native Xbox Series entries, complete on a disc. Nothing listed on this site mentions anything about the disc being a key only from what I could find. The only aspect that holds true from what you said was the license part. The discs do have verification keys that the system checks against when you pop the disc in. But that's done locally, hence why you can still play many games offline.

Game key cards are truly different from the partial contents on a disc concept. Only a verification key is on the cartridge. They never made a DVD of Blu-ray disc small enough to house only a verification key. So the idea of doing this makes zero sense, unless a proprietary form of the disc standard is made. Even then, that's a waste, and doesn't avoid any of the long term problems that even game key cards will face one day.
 
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Doesitplay only tested 78 releases for Series X so the stats aren't particularly useful, but I do think that Playstation is much better than Xbox in this regard. I also think it makes more sense for a cheap disc to be a license than a cartridge so the Nintendo decision still baffles me.
 
subcon959 said:
Doesitplay only tested 78 releases for Series X so the stats aren't particularly useful, but I do think that Playstation is much better than Xbox in this regard. I also think it makes more sense for a cheap disc to be a license than a cartridge so the Nintendo decision still baffles me.
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Chips have way more flexible size options compared to an optical disc, and they don't have to change their form in any aggressive way to achieve what needs to be done. Optical discs have multiple characteristics and standardizations that determine what actually fits on a disc, even the physical size of the disc matters, let alone the amount of physical layers. The problem is, full size discs have been the standard for optical media for decades at this point, not counting the very few instances of systems that utilized mini compact disc and mini DVDs. They haven't gotten any smaller, only larger in capacity. It may be currently cheaper to fabricate optical discs compared to larger chips (wasn't always this way until the artificial intelligence boom), but because of their characteristics, it's way more wasteful using our current optical disc standards for something as minuscule as a verification key, especially when that information is only kilobytes worth of data in many cases. Even using a compact disc would be a waste for this. Chips on the other hand can range at any size you want, and they can come in extremely small form factors. Realistically speaking, chips with very small capacity aren't going to be as expensive as one might think, despite the current hardware crisis. Yes fabrication prices have gone up, as did the sales of the product, but most of the issues are with much larger capacity chips. Given the capacity of regular DVDs and Blu-ray discs, the company would be stupid to spend so much money for the capacities of these mediums, only to use less than 1% of that total storage (you wouldn't really be able to tell the disc even houses any contents at that point, it would look like a blank disc). It's way more sensical to request a chip to be fabricated relative to the size of the verification key data. That's how cartridges are fabricated, or at least, that's how they are supposed to be fabricated (they certainly used to be fabricated in accordance to necessary size).
 
DeadSkullzJr said:
They are bad long term. Despite the short term benefits, the problem boils down to when the service ends. When that happens, access to the games basically becomes impossible with the game key cards, you'll have plastic paperweights. Game key cards are quite literally just keys to fetch and access digital versions of games. The cartridges don't hold any of the game data. Digital software as a whole is in a compromised state for all platforms. This also doesn't account for service issues along the way. When that happens, you can't access anything from the service if by chance you didn't have the game downloaded prior.
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Intrinsically agree with you, but how short term those benefits are are a massive guess wouldn't you agree? Nintendo has kept up all their past networks they shut down as far as purchases go, even if you do not have an account with games on it, or even an account at all, you still give the vital stuff. If you bought games on the old Wii and DSi networks (#1), or the WiiU and 3DS networks (#2) you still can get anything you paid for. You also buy a game that has a mandatory fix for bugs, account or not, they will ask if you want to download it (I discovered this on 3DS Pokemon USUM and MK7) which I found nice. That oldest network has been online since 2006 (20 years) now. Switch itself is at the 10 year mark for perspective too. I get some people may still want out there to have a download work in another 30+ years, maybe it will, maybe it won't? Maybe you'll be dead and not care? :)

Key cards are a value, just when you have a game that truly does not fit the 64GB size cards now, also in the case of a game that's memory thirsty enough a media card or disc(other consoles) can't keep up so they all need an install, and that's fine too, not great, but fine. There are also some games on keycard that pop up on NS2 that are like 4-8GB in size, so even a 16GB card probably blows the budget in their eyes when they do a budget release title ($40-50) too so I kind of get that. But in all other cases of DRM gestapo antics, to just being an utter cheap skate I refuse to buy those games out of pure spite.
 
VmprHntrD said:
Intrinsically agree with you, but how short term those benefits are are a massive guess wouldn't you agree? Nintendo has kept up all their past networks they shut down as far as purchases go, even if you do not have an account with games on it, or even an account at all, you still give the vital stuff. If you bought games on the old Wii and DSi networks (#1), or the WiiU and 3DS networks (#2) you still can get anything you paid for. You also buy a game that has a mandatory fix for bugs, account or not, they will ask if you want to download it (I discovered this on 3DS Pokemon USUM and MK7) which I found nice. That oldest network has been online since 2006 (20 years) now. Switch itself is at the 10 year mark for perspective too. I get some people may still want out there to have a download work in another 30+ years, maybe it will, maybe it won't? Maybe you'll be dead and not care? :)

Key cards are a value, just when you have a game that truly does not fit the 64GB size cards now, also in the case of a game that's memory thirsty enough a media card or disc(other consoles) can't keep up so they all need an install, and that's fine too, not great, but fine. There are also some games on keycard that pop up on NS2 that are like 4-8GB in size, so even a 16GB card probably blows the budget in their eyes when they do a budget release title ($40-50) too so I kind of get that. But in all other cases of DRM gestapo antics, to just being an utter cheap skate I refuse to buy those games out of pure spite.
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Software updates and the ability to redownload software you have already registered / purchased under your account, prior to the end of life servicing, is one thing. But Nintendo, no matter the storefront on their respective platforms, has never allowed you to download software not registered to your account and or system / not purchased at all AFTER service discontinuations. So that begs the question on what that means for game key cards. They already restrict digital purchases from happening, so what makes a game key card any different, when that's really all the game key card is for, a digital version of the game? This doesn't account for service related issues that do spring up, and sometimes last a while (the Wii Shop for example was down for a decent amount of time sometime a while back, nobody could access their purchases). Nintendo has also stated that eventually, they will shutter the ability to redownload software you've purchased on these aging platforms. Considering the shift in business practices from Nintendo over time, I'm sure eventually they won't mind pulling a Sony.

"I get some people may still want out there to have a download work in another 30+ years, maybe it will, maybe it won't? Maybe you'll be dead and not care? :)"

Maybe some of us just care no matter what the circumstances are. Dead in the next few minutes or not. Dead service or not. I care for a future that I may or may not even get to see, and I'm fine with fighting for that. Even if I'm dying on that hill alone. At least I stand up and speak up about these things, question them, etc., even if it's not happening right this second. This makes a bigger impact on the future than just sitting around saying "whatever" all the time, to nearly everything that happens. The "whatever" treatment is one the main reasons we are headed towards an all digital future in the first place. I don't want that future, I don't like that future, and I'm going to keep expressing that, even if it seems like all hope is lost.
 
@DeadSkullzJr I 100% understand the concern, I have it a bit too, and at this rate I base my sense on their storefront policy of allowing for paid goodies to be recovered based on 20 years of history so far. The difference here is you have the key card, not something bought off the e-shop as it is. I don't know, did they ever publish some legal TOS for the key cards? Anywhere we can read up on at all? My take would be, if they don't have terms spelled out, they'd seemingly have to leave any keycard games viable for download without expiration to some means to an end without getting sued over it. I would think if NS2 games were no longer sold at stores new shipped by them and not sold on the shop anymore they might have a way to worm out of it, but I would think not, because the dead stores have been retained to get what you paid for so far and the key cards lean heavily into the store or not, you paid for it angle.

I think it may end up being a bit of net research to see if anything of a TOS exists at all like for eshop stuff and after the store closes life terms, but in the case of these special cards to really know. Maybe a call to NOA might have an answer, or perhaps [email protected] might respond? I dislike the all digital future thing too, it's just too gray and too wild west still since there are no legal barriers in place to protect purchases or the unpurchased from just vanishing into purgatory.
 
Added the following full releases:
- Nintendo Switch Sports Resort

Added the following Nintendo Switch 2 Edition releases:
- Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition
 
Comes out next week. Was originally rumoured to be a GKC but is actually fully on cartridge!

Oblivy.jpg
 
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Great work, could you add a sub-section of "physical releases" with titles exclusive to Switch 2 (not released for other consoles)?
I'm trying to make a list of only fully physical exclusive releases for Switch 2 and I came up with only these titles:
  • [2025-06-05] Mario Kart World
  • [2025-07-17] Donkey Kong Bananza
  • [2025-11-06] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
  • [2025-11-20] Kirby Air Riders
  • [2026-02-12] Mario Tennis Fever
  • [2026-05-21] Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
  • [2026-06-25] Star Fox
  • [2026-07-23] Splatoon Raiders
  • [2026-09-17] Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave
I used this list.
 
Thad_Supersperm said:
Great work, could you add a sub-section of "physical releases" with titles exclusive to Switch 2 (not released for other consoles)?
I'm trying to make a list of only fully physical exclusive releases for Switch 2 and I came up with only these titles:
  • [2025-06-05] Mario Kart World
  • [2025-07-17] Donkey Kong Bananza
  • [2025-11-06] Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
  • [2025-11-20] Kirby Air Riders
  • [2026-02-12] Mario Tennis Fever
  • [2026-05-21] Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
  • [2026-06-25] Star Fox
  • [2026-07-23] Splatoon Raiders
  • [2026-09-17] Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave
I used this list.
Click to expand...
No. The thread and the lists provided are meant to be a break down of each type of physical release. Exclusivity status is irrelevant to the cause. The lists already speak for themselves in this regard anyway, because it doesn't take a lot of effort to realize that most of the games listed exist on more than one platform, and or have a Nintendo Switch version floating around. One of the main driving forces for quite a lot of people, is the idea that games, regardless of being exclusive or not, are fully available on the cartridge. So a list of exclusives only just makes it easier to express how minuscule the exclusive library really is, compared to the general physical library for the platform. No point having a duplicate, albeit truncated, list to keep up with.
 
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I remember that brief commentary going on some just started randomly about NS2 Oblivion, probably figured they'd cheap out, but it started around the time/after when Indiana Jones was both announced and shown to be all on the card which blew people away. They just didn't confirm it until a bit later, but the amusing part is, the two dedicated console releases are effectively code in the box nonsense so the little handheld that could has the only non-computer based full release to own. The tides have been shifting and will continue so I believe at an increasing rate as people get pissed over Sony and MS shenanigans.
 
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Just want to say that this is a great resource! Thanks for keeping it maintained. I've been using it to help decide what games are worth buying on S2
 
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SecureBoot said:
Just want to say that this is a great resource! Thanks for keeping it maintained. I've been using it to help decide what games are worth buying on S2
Click to expand...
Hey no problem! I'll continue to do my best to keep up with it.
Post automatically merged:

VmprHntrD said:
I remember that brief commentary going on some just started randomly about NS2 Oblivion, probably figured they'd cheap out, but it started around the time/after when Indiana Jones was both announced and shown to be all on the card which blew people away. They just didn't confirm it until a bit later, but the amusing part is, the two dedicated console releases are effectively code in the box nonsense so the little handheld that could has the only non-computer based full release to own. The tides have been shifting and will continue so I believe at an increasing rate as people get pissed over Sony and MS shenanigans.
Click to expand...
I just wish the future as a whole was different. Thinking about and remembering the enjoyment I experienced with video games growing up, I never once thought the existence of video games would change like this. Certainly not to what it is today anyways.
 
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