Final Fantasy VII Remake Interdisciplinary Director Hopes Nintendo Fans “Accept” Game Keycards as part of “Game Culture” for “Switch 2”
Blog Andrew Joseph 25 Sep , 2025 0
Since they announced the news, the Switch 2-key card has sparked a lot of discussion and has sparked strong comments from gamers and developers. The latest Nintendo controversial format is Naoki Hamaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy. He suggests that developers are choosing game key cards, not necessarily from a cost standpoint, but a performance because the format allows them to bring smoother gaming to the Switch 2.
Although Switch 2 game key cards are physical, they only contain a key that requires users to download the actual game from Nintendo's online store. As Morningstar analyst Kazunori Ito recently summarized Bloomberg: “The key card combines the drawbacks of both the physical and digital versions, so it feels quite half baked.”
Although it has also attracted criticism from the perspective of game protection (see Night CEO Stephen KickFor example), some developers have recently spoken out in favor of the format of the game keycard, and the latest one is Naoki Hamaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy.
Speech through an interpreter in a recent interview with German news website JP GamesHamaguchi said he understood why he didn't like the Switch 2 game keycard format. “I really have good reasons from the sources people have about the negative side,” he said. However, the developers’ discussion of the topic “maybe different from what fans expect.”
Final Fantasy VII Remake Hybrid will debut on January 22, 2026. However, the game will only be released on the game key card, and there are some reasons.
Hamaguchi explains that for those who want to release high-end, the main problem with the demanding game of the main problem (like Final Fantasy VII Remake 2 on Switch 2) is the limited memory of the cards and its slow loading speed (the PS5 and Xbox Series X and X and S compared to disc-based games). The memory size of the card is small, which is “developers can't ignore (…) we have to solve this problem.”
However, the Switch 2 game key card helps developers bypass these limitations. Hamaguchi added that the game key card allows developers to use the Switch 2's internal storage space for a “half-reloaded version of the game”, which can load the game faster than a game that is fully loaded from the card.
On ubisoft Star Wars Outlaws developer Rob Bantin has also recently defended game keycards From a similar perspective, performance is the main reason along this route: “(regular) switch 2 cards simply don’t give us the required performance targets for quality.”
To defend the format, Hamaguchi said he wanted “Nintendo fans to understand game key cards and maybe start accepting them as part of the gaming culture on the Switch.
This corresponds to the past Remarks by Nintendo CEO Doug Bowserhe suggested that game keycards can help third-party publishers release larger, more ambitious games on Switch 2: “Game keycards are a way our publishing partners can bring more content to the platform, deeper, bigger, bigger, more immersive content.”
Verity Townsend is a Japanese freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for Game News website Automaton West. She also wrote articles about Japanese culture and film for various publications.