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Final Fantasy 7 Remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi thinks the Nintendo Switch 2's controversial game-key cards are part of an unavoidable trend in the games industry.
Capcom, Ubisoft, Sega, and Square Enix have all been supporting the Nintendo Switch 2 pretty strongly in its first year, but the unfortunate part of that is that all of their games' physical editions are practically useless because they are game-key cards (which are cartridges that allow you to download and play digital games). While they have their uses, with a Star Wars: Outlaws dev saying regular cartridges "simply didn't give the performance we needed" they have been disliked by Switch 2 owners due to them being unsuitable for preserving games once digital stores go offline.
Final Fantasy 7 Remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi has previously praised the game-key cards, and when speaking to GamesRadar+ he elaborated on his thoughts. "I do understand why there are a number of people out there who maybe don't like this new format, and I get the reasons why they don't like it."
Hamaguchi said, adding, "I think it's, in some ways, part of a larger trend that we can't avoid," citing physical media becoming "less and less part of the industry", with digital becoming more prevalent on PlayStation, Xbox, and physical PC games being all but extinct. However, he acknowledges that "the user, the fans, the customers on Switch 2 very much value what's good about physical media. So, for that platform in particular, it's going to be an even slower change."
Hamaguchi added, "the trend is going towards digital. But within that, where the key card falls into that – I understand why a lot of people don't like this and maybe want to push back against it. But from a creator's perspective, I kind of think it gives us opportunities to put some games on Switch 2." He also echoes the perspective of the Star Wars Outlaws developer, saying "There are some especially high-end, real high-quality games that require a lot of memory that we probably couldn't put on it without this – as a physical version, without the key card."
