Elden Ring: pricey Switch 2 edition
Elden Ring is showing how Switch 2 releases might cost more and ship differently — a new Tarnished Edition preorder lists at $80 and is being sold as a game‑key card rather than a full cartridge. (ign.com) This Tarnished Edition bundles the base game, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, and new armor sets and starting classes, but publishers still haven’t given a release date beyond 2026 — which raises questions about pricing expectations for premium Switch 2 launches. (nintendolife.com)
A new Switch 2 box for Elden Ring is up for preorder at $79.99, and the surprise is that the card inside is not the full game data. IGN’s preorder listing says the Nintendo Switch 2 version is a game-key card and still has no firm release date beyond 2026. (ign.com) Nintendo says a game-key card is different from a normal game card because it does not contain the full software. The first time you use one, you have to connect the console to the internet and download the game into system memory or a microSD Express card. (nintendo.com) That means this is a physical purchase that behaves a lot like a download with a plastic permission slip attached. Nintendo’s support pages say the card still has to be inserted to launch the game after the download is finished. (nintendo.com) Bandai Namco announced Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition for Nintendo Switch 2 on April 2, 2025, and the company still only says “2026” for release. The official product page describes it as the original 2022 game plus the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion and extra content made for this edition. (bandainamcoent.com) (bandainamcoent.eu) The extra content is not just a label change. Bandai Namco says Tarnished Edition includes new armor, new weapons, new starting classes, and new customization options for Torrent, the spectral horse you ride across the game’s open world. (bandainamcoent.eu) (ign.com) The $80 price looks steep until you line up the parts. On other platforms, Elden Ring launched at $59.99 and the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion launched at $39.99, so this Switch 2 bundle is priced below buying those two pieces separately at full list price. (bandainamcoent.com 1) (bandainamcoent.com 2) (ign.com) (bandainamcoent.com) What makes people notice this one is the combination of premium price and lighter physical ownership. Nintendo says some Switch 2 releases will still ship on regular game cards, so publishers are choosing between a cartridge with full data and a card that mainly unlocks a download. (nintendo.com) Elden Ring is also not a niche test case. Bandai Namco says the game has sold more than 28 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the biggest third-party games announced for Switch 2 and a useful signal for how major publishers may package late-generation ports on Nintendo’s new hardware. (nintendo.com) (bandainamcoent.com) So the story is not only that Elden Ring is coming to Switch 2 sometime in 2026. It is that one of the platform’s highest-profile ports is asking $80 for a box that still needs a download, and that may end up being the template other big Switch 2 releases follow. (ign.com) (nintendo.com)
