Since the console was announced, there has been a lot of debate surrounding Nintendo Switch 2 game cards and the alternative key cards. Switch 2 game cards can only hold up to 64GB, and many third-party studios have elected to utilize the cards as game keys with a download being required in order to play. One such studio utilizing the latter Switch 2 key cards is Ubisoft.
Ubisoft released Star Wars Outlaws 2 on the September 4, and its physical edition of the game utilizes the game key feature. And while many assumed it was cost effective to go this route, one Ubisoft developer says the cost has nothing to do with it. Instead, it was all about the performance of the game on the platform.
Why Ubisoft Chose To Use Game Key Cards For Switch 2
In a post on social media, audio architect Rob Bantin talked about Switch 2 game key cards and the studio’s proprietary Snowdrop engine.
“Snowdrop relies heavily on disk streaming for its open world environments, and we found the Switch 2 cards simply didn’t give the performance we needed at the quality target we were going for,” he said. “I don’t recall the cost of the cards ever entering the discussion – probably because it was moot.”
He then added that if a game was designed specifically for the Switch 2 “from the ground up”, it could be different.
“As it was, we’d build a game around the SSDs of the initial target platforms, and then the Switch 2 came along a while later,” Bantin said. “In this case I think our leadership made the right call.”
Recently, data miners went looking at how the game cards perform for the Switch. What was found was that game cards communicate with the SoC (system on a chip) via eMMC, which as a max data transfer rate of 400MB/s. It’s also important to mention that traditional Switch 2 game cards don’t actually install the game on your system, the game remains on the card.
Despite these possible performance issues, it hasn’t stopped all third-party companies from having their games fully on the card. CD Projekt Red’s Cyberpunk 2077 is included on the game card, and it has outsold the digital version of the game by quite a wide margin on the Switch 2.
What do you think of Bantin saying that Switch 2 game cards don’t allow the performance they need? Let us know down below, and take the discussion further in the Insider Gaming forums.
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Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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Then don’t make games for it. Didn’t they say Star Wars is a dead brand?