Switch 2: Elden Ring’s $80 quirk
Preorders for Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 have gone live and the release is being sold as a pricey $80 Game‑Key Card rather than a traditional cartridge, with no firm release date and reports that the port was delayed to sometime in 2026. ( ).
Elden Ring on Nintendo Switch 2 is up for preorder at $79.99, but the “physical” version is a Game-Key Card, which means the cartridge is acting more like a ticket than a box full of game data. ( ign.com ) Nintendo’s own support page says a Game-Key Card does not contain the full game, and the first setup requires an internet download plus enough free storage on the console or a microSD Express card. ( nintendo.com ) After that download, the card still has to be inserted every time you want to play, so it behaves like a physical license even though the software lives on the system. Nintendo also says a Nintendo Account is not required just to download the game data from the card. ( nintendo.com ) The game itself is not a stripped-down port. Bandai Namco says Tarnished Edition includes the 2022 base game, the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, four new armor sets, and new customization options for Torrent, the spectral horse you ride across the map. ( bandainamcoent.com ) That bundle helps explain the $80 sticker. IGN notes that Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree Edition on other platforms also sits at $80, so Bandai Namco appears to be matching the all-in package price rather than discounting for an older game arriving late on weaker hardware. ( ign.com ) The stranger part is the date. Bandai Namco and FromSoftware announced the Switch 2 version in April 2025 and said it was planned for 2025, but the official European product page now lists only “2026,” and current preorder pages still do not show a firm launch day. ( fromsoftware.jp ) ( bandainamcoent.eu ) ( ign.com ) One retailer date floating around is December 31, 2026, but IGN says that is a standard placeholder used for preorders when a store needs to list something before the publisher gives an exact day. ( ign.com ) So the current deal is simple and a little odd: an award-winning game that has sold more than 28.6 million copies is finally coming to Nintendo’s new machine, but the version on sale today costs full premium price, ships on a download-required card, and still does not have a real release date beyond 2026. ( fromsoftware.jp ) ( ign.com )
