Ahead of Wednesday’s Switch 2 reveal event, Nintendo announced a new feature for its Switch consoles: virtual game card. In short, you can now link multiple Switches together to share digital games, with a game that is ejected from the first unit then becoming playable on the second, without the hassle of setting “primary” and “non-primary” Switch devices. It could point towards Nintendo edging towards the same “adorably all digital” future espoused by Microsoft in leaked documents, but does it?
To discuss this, and the rest of the week’s tech news, Digital Foundry’s John, Alex and Oliver assembled for DF Weekly #207. The discussion kicks off 40 minutes into the episode, with our panellists concluding that this isn’t a move towards the digital-first approach taken by Microsoft and Sony, but rather a quality-of-life feature that comes into play just as owners of Switch consoles pick up a Switch 2.
So what’s the issue that Nintendo is trying to solve here? In short, right now you can nominate one Switch as your “primary” console, with all others being “non-primary”. The primary console can play all games offline, but non-primary consoles have to be online to run games – which is a pain if you wanted to play a digital game on a flight or anywhere else with limited connectivity.
0:00:00 Introduction0:01:17 News 1: Nintendo Direct – Metroid Prime 40:11:02 Pokémon Legends: Z-A0:22:08 Patapon, Everybody’s Golf, Tomodachi, Dragon Quest, Witchbrook, Shadow Labyrinth, Gradius, Marvel Cosmic Invasion0:33:02 Switch 2 C button leak and Nintendo Today app0:40:01 News 2: Nintendo introduces Virtual Game Cards0:54:01 News 3: Switch 2 game rollout revealed?1:00:33 News 4: Witcher 4, Intergalactic to arrive after 20261:09:51 News 5: Alex’s Nvidia driver woes1:19:36 News 6: John’s GDC thoughts1:32:44 Supporter Q1: What’s your favourite GPU of all time?1:39:07 Supporter Q2: Will Valve release a Steam Deck 2 soon?1:44:31 Supporter Q3: Should PC settings be changed to improve branding?1:52:02 Supporter Q4: Could Xbox One have succeeded if it had been better introduced?2:00:12 Supporter Q5: Is disc degradation a concern with Blu-ray media?
The new system seems fairly promising by comparison. Just as you can take out a physical Switch cartridge from your console and loan it to a friend or family member – or just put it in another Switch you own, eg travelling with a Switch Lite, – you’ll be able to “eject” a virtual cartridge from one device and “load” it onto another, using a bespoke menu. You need internet connectivity to load and eject, but after a game is loaded, it’s available thereafter regardless of conditions.