Nintendo has announced an overhaul for how digital game licenses are handled on Nintendo Switch and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 with the new Virtual Game Card. This throws out the old game sharing loopholes and workarounds that many people will have been using, introducing new ways to share digital game licenses.
The change will make digital game use much more like how you use and share physical game cartridges. When purchasing a digital game, it will be loaded as a Virtual Game Card, giving you access to that game on that particular system.
Using Virtual Game Cards with two Nintendo Switch consoles
If you have multiple Nintendo Switch consoles, two of them can be linked to your Nintendo Account to use Virtual Game Cards. This lets you move virtual cards between systems, either using a new dedicated management screen on the consoles or using the Nintendo Account site to manage.
You need to have paired the two consoles together using a local wifi connection, and you are limited to two systems (either Switch or Switch 2) per Nintendo Account as well. An internet connection is required when loading and ejecting game cards, but that first time set up to link consoles is only required once.
This breaks down the primary Nintendo Switch designation that is currently needed. The current system lets only one Nintendo Switch have access to games without first authenticating online, and only the primary Nintendo Switch lets other user accounts have access to a game. The downside to this change is that you won’t be able to just log in with your account and access your full library on a non-primary Switch. Hopefully there is some kind of override functionality on the Switch itself, though you can manage game cards via your Nintendo Account on the Nintendo website.
Sharing Virtual Game Cards with families
Virtual Game Cards adds a new feature for game sharing in families. You will now be able to lend to members within a Nintendo Switch Online family group. This again requires a local wireless connection at the time of lending, and you can only lend one game at a time per person.
Lending a game gives the borrower full access to a game for up to 14 days – the game will be playable while offline, and all users on the borrower’s console will be able to play. The borrower can return the game early, but after 14 days the game is automatically returned.
Save data will remain in place, so they can resume playing where they left off by either borrowing again or buying the game.
This seems like a better system for families to share one copy of a big single player game, perhaps, and certainly when compared to the tricky primary account for game sharing that has been a staple of console gaming since the late aughts.
This system will be implemented in a system update for Nintendo Switch in late April, and will apply to the Nintendo Switch 2 as well.
There’s certainly a blend upsides and downsides to this new system for individual and family uses. However, it does seem appropriate to address this, given the likelihood of a lot of people having two generations of console in the relatively near future…
Source: Nintendo
