It is rumored that Nintendo is starting to produce Switch 2 cartridges with smaller storage on them, which would seemingly allow for more games to be released fully physically rather than going the route of the often-criticized game-key card.
The post below comes from Nintendeal, but a couple of other people connected to developers have also stated it.
While exact sizes have not been said, speaking speculatively, 16 and 32 GB cartridges would seemingly make the most sense for Nintendo to start producing. Since launch, only 64 GB cartridges have been available for developers and publishers, which is way too much for an indie game that sits around 5-10 GB in storage. Even a game from Nintendo in Pokémon Pokopia is a game-key card release.
When Will the New Switch 2 Cartridges Start Coming Out?
Because of the lack of choices, many physical games have been going the game-key card route to drop the price, but it’s been pretty clear that there is a large portion of Switch 2 owners who are not happy with that route.
While this is good news for people who love their physical games, it could still be quite a while before smaller games start releasing on these new Switch 2 cartridges. Because of manufacturing processes and everything to do with the rising costs of materials from tariffs and just how messy the tech industry is right now, it might be about a year’s wait before these start actually coming out.
Even when they start coming out, it doesn’t mean that game-key card releases are fully going away. Producing cartridges in general is still more expensive than a disc, so some companies will look to get the cheapest deal possible for their release.
