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Comment by angoragoats | Hacker News Reader

I feel this in my bones and it's a great way to frame it. My last Playstation console was a PS2 and I've also opted out of recent generations. Historically, for me, one of the benefits of a console was that you could just pop the game in, and it would always work, simply and easily.

DRM, online checks, DLC that should have been part of the base game, digital-only games, etc have ruined all that, and if that's going to be the trend everywhere I'll just stick to a PC and Steam where I have a library of games built up over the decades.

I have a Switch and feel that Nintendo provided a decent experience on their recent systems, but with the advent of "game keys" or whatever they call it on the Switch 2, they've flipped to being even worse than the digital-only systems. At least Sony isn't (yet?) trying to sell you a license on a disc to try to fool you into thinking you own a physical copy.

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You can resell game key cards, at least? They seem better than digital copies to me. And first party games are still on cartridge for the most part.

People have convinced themselves that game key cards are terrible, when they're the exact same thing as the old style of cartridges, with the only difference that you don't have the 1.0 on it.

People are convinced that game key cards will stop working at some point, when it's the reverse that will happen; your card will be fine, but won't work on a Switch 2, only a future console.

Nintendo will close access to their stores to old consoles way before they break access with their cards.

> People have convinced themselves that game key cards are terrible, when they're the exact same thing as the old style of cartridges, with the only difference that you don't have the 1.0 on it.

I guess this statement is correct, but my point is that the most important thing to me is that I have the game on the cartridge.

Does the switch's "Match Version with Local Users" feature on the software update menu work for this, or is an internet connection strictly required the first time you insert a key card?

That's only for updates. The initial install must come from the eShop. That's not different for game key cards. When you first put a card in, you need to download the game from eShop. No exceptions.

> You can resell game key cards, at least?

Sure, unless the game is no longer available for download, in which case the key card is a worthless piece of plastic to anyone who hasn’t downloaded it previously. And you still have to contend with all the other downsides of downloadable games including managing the free space on your device.

At this point I don’t trust any console manufacturer to pinky promise that downloads will always be available, so I will not buy anything but a proper physical copy.

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