A new Amazon listing has made an unwelcome, but expected, reveal for an upcoming Switch 2 game.
As shared by Wario64 on Twitter, Star Wars Outlaws is finally available to pre-order on physical for the Switch 2. Unfortunately, it’s a Game-Key Card game.
As Nintendo explains, Game-Key Cards do not have the physical game in the cartridge. Instead, the cards function as a key to allow you to access the game. When you put the cartridge into the Switch 2, it will download a copy of the game, but you’ll need to have the card in to play the game.
Game-Key Cards create a strange new category of digital games. While physical collectors aren’t happy with the idea, it must be said that we don’t know how the wider public will take to it yet. This is a way that allows gamers to lend or sell digital games. While we think there are valid concerns if games can no longer be downloaded someday, we should also acknowledge that previously, physical retail games that were only codes in boxes that couldn’t be resold.
This did become an issue that boiled over near the end of April, when it came to light that most Switch 2 3rd party games are coming as Game-Key Cards. As of now, we don’t know the full reasons of even why Game-Key Cards exist, but there’s certainly a lot of speculation around it. Part of the speculation is that 3rd party games would be made in larger file sizes than they can afford to make on cartridge. This does not mean that these games can’t be sold on physical per se, but the publisher would either have to eat part of the manufacturing cost or raise the price of the physical version itself.
As we know, CD Projekt RED’s Cyberpunk 2077 is the odd 3rd party developer putting their whole game, including Phantom Liberty, on the cartridge. Considering we are talking about a game that started development in 2016, and with such a high profile that it’s highly likely to make a profit, we cannot expect all 3rd parties to take this option for their games.
At least, this version of Star Wars Outlaws is good value value. As the Gold Edition, it comes with both the base game and its season pass. All things considered, it’s highly likely that most gamers who do want to play this on the Switch 2 will choose to buy it on digital instead. As of right now, Star Wars Outlaws isn’t up on the web eShop, so we don’t know its filesize, and what editions will be available on the Switch 2.
