Many of us have a few things to say about the Nintendo Switch 2’s controversial game key cards, which don’t actually contain game data, and instead trigger a download from the Nintendo eShop when they are popped into the device. However, developer Rob Bantin, who is an audio architect on Ubisoft’s game engine Snowdrop, has revealed why the studio opted for key cards when it came to Star Wars Outlaws on Switch 2.
In a reply to Digital Foundry’s John Linneman about Star Wars Outlaws’ use of key cards and whether or not cost was a factor, Bantin explained that full-fat cards “simply didn’t give the performance we needed at the quality target we were going for”.
Bantin noted the Snowdrop engine “relies heavily on disk streaming for its open world environments”, adding they “don’t recall the cost of the cards ever entering the discussion – probably because it was moot”.
The developer said had Star Wars Outlaws been designed for Nintendo’s Switch 2 console from the beginning, things may have been different. “As it was, we’d build a game around the SSDs of the initial target platforms, and then the Switch 2 came along a while later,” Bantin said.
“In this case I think our leadership made the right call.”
Many third party developers have also opted for key cards for their own Switch 2 release. One high profile outlier was CDPR, which released Cyberpunk 2077 as a physical game cartridge with the actual game on it. Last month, it was revealed that out of all Cyberpunk 2077’s Switch 2 sales in June, over 75 percent were physical.
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