Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth co-director Naoki Hamaguchi doesn’t think Nintendo is backing down from the Switch 2’s controversial game key cards – in fact, he thinks it’s going to double down on them.
Talking to Wccftech (via Stealth), Naoki Hamaguchi once again went against the grain and straight-up defended the Switch 2’s key cards, having previously said they “let us do things do things that maybe we wouldn’t otherwise” while admitting that he understands where the controversy is coming from.
Hamaguchi has now repeatedly stressed the benefits of game key cards for developers who would otherwise be working within the limitations of the Switch 2’s physical cartridges.
“Personally, I feel that the loading speed issue for the game cartridge is more about the hardware spec of the Nintendo Switch 2,” said Hamaguchi. “I’m not with Nintendo, so I can’t really speak to that side. That said, I do feel that the Game Key Card format that Nintendo created for the Nintendo Switch 2 is a really amazing new idea that they had offered for us.”
Game key cards are controversial particularly among physical media preservation communities for obvious reasons. If you don’t have a physical cartridge to boot up a game, you’re essentially at the mercy of Nintendo, and while there’s little reason to suspect them to start pulling games from digital libraries willy-nilly, the implications for long-term preservation aren’t ideal. Still, Hamaguchi reckons folks should get used to the idea of game key cards.
“I don’t personally see Nintendo working towards trying to improve the loading speed for the cartridges,” he said. “Rather, I feel that Nintendo will put more effort into popularizing the Game Key Card format which again is a really fantastic idea for us developers.
“Also, we hope players familiarize themselves with what that costs them. That obviously is something we can help out with as well, from the developer side. I think that the collaborative effort between Nintendo and publishers trying to promote the Game Key Card will be the best way forward for all players in the future.”
The excellent 2020 Final Fantasy 7 Remake is due out on Switch 2 in 2026, with Rebirth and then the third entry in the series to follow. Unsurprisingly, the remake will ship in physical boxes as a game key card demanding an eye-watering 90GB of hard drive space.
Here are the best Switch 2 games to play today.
