Elden Ring: pricey Switch 2 card

Amazon preorders for Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition on Nintendo Switch 2 showed up this week at $79.99 in the United States, and the listing tags it as a Game-Key Card instead of a full game card. (amazon.com) A Game-Key Card is Nintendo’s new halfway format: you insert a cartridge to prove you own the game, but the cartridge does not hold the full game data, so the console has to download the software first. (nintendo.com) Nintendo says these cards can be sold, shared, and used like ordinary cartridges after the download, but the first setup still needs internet access and enough free storage on the system or a microSD Express card. (nintendo.com) Bandai Namco announced the Switch 2 version on April 2, 2025, and called it an all-in-one release that bundles the base game with the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. (bandainamcoent.com) Bandai Namco’s official product page also says the package adds new armor plus new looks for Torrent, the spectral horse you ride across the game’s open world. (bandainamcoent.eu) The unusual part is not just the format. It is the price. At $79.99, the Switch 2 version is being listed at the same premium level many publishers now use for big new releases on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, even though Elden Ring first launched in February 2022. (amazon.com) That tells you how publishers see Nintendo Switch 2 ports right now: not as bargain reissues, but as full-price shelf products aimed at a new audience that wants major console games on a handheld-friendly machine. (gamesindustry.biz) This also lands in the middle of a fight over what “physical” means on Nintendo’s new system. Nintendo support pages say some Switch 2 releases will still ship on regular game cards with the software onboard, while others will use Game-Key Cards that work more like a reusable download license. (nintendo.com) For collectors, that difference is the whole argument. A normal cartridge is like buying a Blu-ray with the movie on it; a Game-Key Card is closer to buying a hotel key that opens a file stored somewhere else. (pcmag.com) For travelers, the tradeoff is simpler. You still get something you can lend or resell, but you lose the old cartridge advantage of popping a game in on a long trip with no download step and no storage planning. (nintendo.com) Bandai Namco’s page still gives Elden Ring: Tarnished Edition only a 2026 release window, so the preorder is doing two jobs at once: it confirms the format, and it shows that one of the biggest third-party games on Switch 2 is being sold as an $80 key-card product, not a discount port. (bandainamcoent.eu)