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Square Enix has confirmed that Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Switch 2 simply wouldn’t exist without game-key cards, citing the hardware’s cartridge read speeds as a total deal-breaker. It appears Nintendo’s “hybrid” dream still comes with a few nightmares attached, forcing publishers to abandon physical media purism in favor of what are essentially functionally empty plastic boxes.
We all knew the Switch 2 would be a leap forward, but the storage situation is quickly becoming a comedy of errors. With massive titles like FF7 Remake treating the internal drive like an all-you-can-eat buffet, the days of plug-and-play cartridges are vanishing. This isn’t just a Square Enix problem; we’re seeing similar growing pains across the board.
Just look at the excitement surrounding Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen’s potential Switch return—even nostalgic legacy titles are navigating a weird new ecosystem. While Nintendo issues Switch emulator DMCAs to protect its IP, the hardware itself is forcing third-party developers into awkward compromises just to get their modern engines running without melting the handheld.
Loading speeds kill carts
According to director Naoki Hamaguchi, the issue isn’t just that the game is too fat for a standard 64GB cart. It’s that the carts are simply too slow for modern asset streaming. Speaking to Automaton, Hamaguchi explained that loading from a cartridge versus internal storage results in a speed difference that is “roughly double.”
Because Final Fantasy 7 Remake constantly streams assets in the background, a traditional cart would have likely turned the slums of Midgar into a slideshow of stuttering textures. “The loading speed from a game card would inevitably be insufficient, leading to stress for the player,” Hamaguchi noted. In the past, these bottlenecks meant Square Enix “had to decide not to release on Nintendo systems.”
The game-key card—essentially a download code in a box that utilizes the Switch 2’s SSD-like speeds associated with internal storage or high-end SD cards—was the only lifeline. With Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 entering its final push phase, this sets a distinct precedent for how the entire trilogy will function on Nintendo’s platform moving forward.
The physical media illusion
This candid admission essentially puts a bullet in the head of physical preservation for high-fidelity ports on Switch 2. If the cart reader can’t keep up with the data streaming requirements of modern engines, the plastic cartridge becomes little more than a collector’s token for your shelf. While Square Enix insists FF7 multiplatform plans won’t hurt Part 3 graphically, the reality for Switch owners is a future of expensive microSD cards.
It’s a bitter pill for collectors. Hamaguchi hopes players understand that these games “can only be released because the key card format made it possible,” but for many, it feels like renting a license rather than owning a game. As we barrel toward the Rebirth port in June, expect your physical library to look impressive on the outside, while your storage space screams for mercy. The cartridge is dead; long live the download code.
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