{"id":293280,"date":"2026-02-20T10:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/293280\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T10:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T10:30:15","slug":"final-fantasy-vii-remake-on-switch-2-wouldnt-have-been-possible-without-game-key-cards-claims-square-enix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/293280\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Fantasy VII Remake on Switch 2 wouldn\u2019t have been possible without Game-Key Cards, claims Square Enix"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most contentious aspects of the Nintendo Switch 2 is its introduction of Game-Key Cards<\/a>. Serving somewhat as a bridge between physical and digital media, for many it winds up being the worst of both worlds. That said, some developers have expressed praise towards this latest \u2018innovation\u2019, most recently claiming that Final Fantasy VII Remake\u2019s Switch 2 port was only possible due to Game-Key Cards.\n<\/p>\n

Taking part in an interview conducted by the publication Automaton Media<\/a>, Naoki Hamaguchi \u2013 the director of the Final Fantasy VII trilogy \u2013 was asked about the team\u2019s decision to go with Game-Key Cards as opposed to a standard cartridge release for the Switch 2 port. According to Hamaguchi<\/a>:\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s simply no way around key cards in certain respects. If you compare loading directly from a game cartridge (containing all game data) to loading from the Nintendo Switch 2\u2019s internal storage, the load speed difference is roughly double.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\"Final<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

The director continued<\/a>, \u201cSome have expressed concern that multiplatform development may impose constraints not only on graphics, but even on game design itself. However, this is precisely why we didn\u2019t choose a cartridge.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The full statement can be found HERE<\/a>, but Hamaguchi made sure to emphasise the reasons behind this decision, adding that \u201cin the past, when faced with practical issues related to load speed and storage capacity we couldn\u2019t resolve, we had to decide not to release on Nintendo systems. However, Nintendo Switch 2\u2019s performance is impressive, and with a key card format like FFVII Remake, releasing the games became possible. I believe the only thing I can do is continue to sincerely communicate that fact to users.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

While there is no denying that Game-Key Cards do have various faults (partly due to Nintendo\u2019s lack of offering many alternatives<\/a>), it appears as though in this case Square Enix feels truly justified in their decision. Of course, not all games are made the same, and so it is good to continue to question devs\u2019 decisions on such matters.\n<\/p>\n

KitGuru says: What do you think of Game-Key Cards? Has Square Enix justified its use? Let us know your thoughts down below.\n<\/p>\n

Become a Patron!<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most contentious aspects of the Nintendo Switch 2 is its introduction of Game-Key Cards. Serving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[46754,162247,160924,162248,111,43,139,8134,69,112368,11014,32261,12114,145],"class_list":["post-293280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-console","tag-ffvii","tag-final-fantasy","tag-game-key-card","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nintendo","tag-nz","tag-remake","tag-square-enix","tag-switch","tag-switch-2","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}