In a surprise announcement during Thursday’s Nintendo Direct, Nintendo revealed a major change to the way digital game purchases will be handled. From now on, digital Switch games will become Virtual Game Cards that can be swapped back and forth between consoles, and even borrowed by family members.
For players with multiple Switch consoles, Virtual Game Cards can be swapped between the systems at will. Local communication between the two systems is required, but only the first time. An internet connection is required when “ejecting” or “loading” a Virtual Game Card, but not at any other point to use the game.
Crucially, there are no restrictions on the number of accounts on a Switch that can use the Virtual Game Card. In this way, it behaves just like a physical game card — and unlike the previous digital purchases, which can be used by every account on the owner’s primary console, but only by the owner on a secondary console. They also require an internet connection to work on a secondary console.
Answering another key frustration of families of Nintendo Switch users, Virtual Game Cards can be lent to other family members whose accounts are grouped together. These loans last 14 days, after which the Virtual Game Card is automatically returned to its owner. You can only lend one game to each family member at a time.
As a member of a family with multiple Switch players, I can confirm that this is a literally life-changing update, despite the restrictions Nintendo has placed on it. I have only bought physical Switch games for years for precisely this reason, and have been unable to usefully share my digital library. No longer!
Nintendo made no mention of the Switch 2 during its Virtual Game Card announcement. We’ll have to wait and see whether the new console is compatible with the Virtual Game Card system — although it seems tailor-made to make it easier for new Switch 2 owners to manage their digital libraries across their old and new consoles.
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