Nintendo initially billed Virtual Game Cards because the Swap and Switch 2’s new technique of managing the video games, making the method of loading digital titles so simple as slotting in your bodily Recreation Playing cards from one console to the subsequent. In apply, Digital Recreation Playing cards are one of many extra restrictive examples of DRM we’ve skilled. Not solely does it mandate you might have a single copy of a sport at any time, however you can even solely have one occasion of native save knowledge on one system. Digital Recreation Playing cards can even prohibit you from taking part in Swap 2 video games if you happen to don’t have your authentic Swap close by.
These with an authentic Swap have the choice to do a system transfer to the Swap 2 on startup. The method additionally turns all of your digital video games into Digital Recreation Playing cards. If you wish to play your previous video games on the unique Swap, it’s important to “eject” the cardboard from the Swap 2 and “load” it on the original Switch. Your save knowledge stored on Nintendo’s cloud servers should remain tied to your Nintendo Account, however getting these titles from one system to the opposite requires each consoles to be within the room on the similar time, not less than for the primary time you set issues up.
After we completely satisfied few on the Gizmodo shopper tech group acquired our Swap 2 unit, we weren’t contemplating simply how messy this course of might get if you happen to didn’t assume to convey your authentic Swap. For assessment, Nintendo granted us codes for Mario Kart World, Nintendo Swap 2 Welcome Tour, and a subscription to Nintendo Swap On-line + Growth Pack. We loaded two of our personal profiles onto the Swap however tied these video games and providers to 1 account. After spending near 4 hours organising the Swap 2—downloading the massive preliminary system replace file after which downloading Mario Kart World off Nintendo’s slammed servers—we loaded up the sport solely to be met with a pop-up window telling us we would wish to switch sport playing cards onto the Swap 2 from the account proprietor’s authentic Swap.
So we waited 4 hours for the Swap 2 to obtain Mario Kart World and now it is telling us that I have to have my authentic Swap readily available to be able to play it. Anybody know if unlinking my Nintendo account by means of the online will mess up my OG Swap? pic.twitter.com/s9DbdLh5tf
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) June 5, 2025
After attending to this display screen, the one two choices we have been left with have been bringing the Swap 2 close to the unique Swap or remotely transferring the info from Nintendo’s 8-year-old handheld by means of a browser. This option is supposed for individuals with lacking or broken Swap items, however it’s the one technique to transfer ahead if you happen to don’t have fast entry to your older handheld. Doing so might not brick the unique Swap, however it might imply your system could be manufacturing facility reset and also you’d have to reinstate the person account on that gadget.
Digital Recreation Playing cards have been accessible to the unique Swap household for near a month, and Nintendo followers already had their share of complaints, however the Swap 2 is throwing these DRM points into stark reduction. When transferring save knowledge from the unique Swap to the Swap 2, Nintendo deletes the info on the older console. Until your information are backed up in cloud saves, you can’t merely leap from one system to a different with out downloading the save knowledge first. This knowledge switch can go awry if you happen to don’t rigorously learn any on-screen prompts, as Gizmodo’s Senior Editor of Client Tech, Raymond Wong, skilled when shifting his Mario Kart 8: Deluxe sport save to the brand new handheld. He mentioned he by accident overrode the transferred sport save with a brand new, no-progress one which was saved within the cloud. It appears the console took the brand new cloud save because the one devoted to the Swap 2, successfully deleting a whole lot of hours of effort and car unlocks from both system. As Wong voiced on X: why is a sport save deleted from a Swap as a substitute of merely copied over to a different Swap?
The sport save is basically gone… I am heartbroken. Simply heartbroken 8 years of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe progress gone in seconds as a result of Nintendo thinks it is sensible to delete the sport save off the unique Swap when transferring it to the Swap 2. WHY is sport save deleted and never simply… https://t.co/2zxHKTRyGc
— Ray Wong (@raywongy) June 6, 2025
Digital Recreation Playing cards don’t simply hold up the method of taking part in video games on a Swap 2. It means taking part in video games throughout any of your Swap techniques turns into a time-consuming, restrictive problem. For instance, Wong transferred a number of sport saves for newly minted Digital Recreation Playing cards from his Swap to his Swap 2, however to be able to play these digital video games on his Swap together with his progress, he’d have to switch the sport save again from his Swap 2. This may be each annoying and complicated.
Okay that is obnoxious. Apparently I am unable to play SMM2 like I at all times have as a result of my Swap Lite is within the different room and powered down. Digital sport playing cards = 👎 pic.twitter.com/CfSRBZHvi4
— Mario Mike (@mariomykol) June 3, 2025
The explanation Nintendo invented Digital Recreation Playing cards was to ensure no person had multiple copy of a sport tied to anyone system. Reasonably than maintaining all of your video games accessible from any appropriate gadget, like on Steam, Nintendo’s digital playing cards are a sort of digital rights administration software program that restricts you from sharing your previous console with a buddy so he can play your library.
If you wish to share video games with your folks’ techniques, you possibly can undergo the method of quickly transferring a sport you personal to their account, as long as they’re in your “Household Group.” It’s important to do that over native wi-fi, and the sport mortgage instances out after two weeks. It’s as if Blockbuster got here again and began providing sport leases once more, besides you’re doing it by means of your cousin’s Swap 2. Nintendo’s obsession with mandating each Swap proprietor solely have a single copy of a sport has solely entrenched the decline of possession in gaming. Your save knowledge isn’t yours. Your video games aren’t yours.
