Randy Pitchford said Borderlands 4 on Switch 2 would require a download, but it's worse than that – it's a game-key card

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"It's a big game," but it's a small cart

Borderlands 4
(Image credit: Gearbox)

Everyone seems to hate Switch 2's game-key cards except for the publishers who keep producing them, and the latest game on the train is Borderlands 4. Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford previously noted that physical copies of the looter shooter would require an additional download on Nintendo's platform, but now that pre-orders are live, we have full confirmation that it's coming via a game-key card.

Box art for Borderlands 4 on Switch 2 is emblazoned with the dreaded white bar warning of a game-key card inside the package, meaning that you're getting less of a "physical game" and more of a "plastic license key." Which, I guess in legal terms, is what a physical game is anyway, but it feels a lot worse when you're not even getting a local archive of the game's full launch version.

Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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