Nintendo Introduces Virtual Game Card System

Today’s Nintendo Direct brought us word of a new approach to managing and playing digitally purchased games. 

The new Virtual Game Card system features a dedicated management screen for all of a player’s digital titles. Players may freely move their digital cards between two different Switch systems. A player needs to make a local connection between their two Switch systems the first time they set things up. After that, a person can freely select which of two Switch systems can use the digital game at any given time. 

The feature also allows for up to 8 Switch units in a “family group” to lend games back and forth. You can only lend one game to a given Switch at a time, and somewhat like a library loan, you can only lend out a given title for 2 weeks at a time, after which the game card is returned to you automatically. Presumably, that means you could then “reloan” the game after that period is over, but Nintendo didn’t confirm that detail in its video announcement of the feature.

An internet connection for any given Switch is required, but only when loading and ejecting a given virtual game card. 

The new Virtual Game Card system is planned to be compatible with both Switch and Switch 2. 

The Virtual Game Card system is clearly a nod to the ever-growing use of digital games over physical ones, and an attempt to make ownership of digital games more flexible for Nintendo users. It’s also likely that Nintendo is actively considering that some families may soon have more than one Switch unit in the house (perhaps a new Switch 2?) and is aiming to make it easier for families to share and use digital games across different physical consoles. 

We won’t have long to wait to test out the next feature; Nintendo plans to launch the Virtual Game Card approach to digital games in late April.