Even Nintendo's Next Pokemon Game Is On A Game-Key Card

"Since the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 in June, players have been pretty miffed to discover that the physical versions of many games don't actually contain the game at all. Instead they're so-called "game-key cards," essentially a phony game cart that only contains an instruction to download the game from Nintendo's servers. Until now, it's something that's only affected third-party titles, albeit some very big-name games."

"But now-with March 5, 2026's Pokémon Pokopia -the phenomenon will seemingly affect a Nintendo-published game for the first time. While this isn't fully confirmed, it's all but certain after Nintendo simultaneously announced a March 5 release date for the recently revealed Animal Crossing-like Pokémon Pokopia, and a video explaining how game-key cards work that used Pokopia as an example."

Physical Switch 2 cartridges often contain only a download instruction, known as game-key cards, rather than the full game data. Pokémon Pokopia, scheduled for March 5, 2026, appears to be the first Nintendo-published title using a game-key card. Nintendo announced the release date and released a video demonstrating how game-key cards operate using Pokopia as an example. Game-key cards frustrate players who want permanent ownership and offline installability. Nintendo currently offers publishers only 64GB cartridges priced around $23 each, prompting publishers to opt for game-key cards or alternative transfer methods for larger titles. This departs from Nintendo's prior practice of physical cartridges containing complete game data.

Read at Kotaku