Ever since its unveiling, the debate has been raging on whether Nintendo Switch 2 Game-Key Cards count as a true physical edition or if they’re another in a long line of shady business practices that the video game industry loves to partake of. I don’t suppose there will ever be a true answer to that discussion, but a new decision from Japan’s National Diet Library may have provided further evidence for naysayers. In a new report from Famitsu, the NDL has decided it will not be preserving Game-Key Cards since it doesn’t view them as physical content.
Using a machine translation (which could have some errors), a representative from the NDL said that “only physical media that contains the content itself” is considered for preservation. Game-Key Cards, conversely, fall outside of the perimeters set by the NDL for preservation because, “a key card, on its own, does not qualify as content.” To clarify, the NDL does not preserve digital-only games either, as there is no physical component involved. Things might change in the future, much as they have with magazines and books.
For some background, the National Diet Library was established in 1948 to assist members of the Japanese government for the purposes of research on public matters. Much like the Library of Congress, it would expand over the years to include more than just government material, and since 2000 it has been collecting video games across various consoles and formats. As Famitsu notes, the NDL currently has over 9,600 video games archived in its collection. While those games don’t date back past 2000, there are still a tremendous amount of titles preserved for future generations.
While the NDL’s stance on Game-Key Cards shouldn’t be taken as a definitive answer, it’s not surprising to see the institution shy away from them. Game-Key Cards have no guarantee of working in the future, and while I wouldn’t expect them to become non-functional in 10 years time, there’s no saying what will happen once Nintendo moves onto the Switch 3, 4, or 5. We can’t know what the future holds, but digital content is not immune to disappearing into thin air. Since the NDL can’t make a backup of these games, it seems publishers will need to change their manufacturing if they want to have games preserved indefinitely.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
