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Helloplite 1 day ago
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Darwinianevolution said:
firebush03 said:

You never explained the “What difference does it make?” part. I still don’t understand in what (meaningful) sense is a GCK any different than a game with the full game on cart. You can loan the game to others, the key card will almost certainly still be fully usable well after the servers go down, etc.

If I get a regular cartridge for my Switch after the servers go down, I can still play the game. Maybe I don't get all the updates, but I still have a playable version.

If I get a game key kart for the Switch 2 after the servers go down, I have nothing but a piece of plastic.

Except (1) Switch 2 game servers will not likely go down for at least 2-3 more decades. You can still redownload Wii games purchased, even though the Wii eShop closed down in 2019; which means that the store has already been available for past purchases for 20 years already. (2) Some of your old disc-based games are already kind of just a piece of plastic. I have 3DO and Sega Saturn games that have developed disc rot despite carefully looking after them, and in many cases your old video games console is no longer working. My Game Gear is no longer working because caps blew and leaked - a very common problem with some Sega systems, especially the Game Gear. My Amiga 600 floppy disks are also no longer working - they have long been demagnetised, with expected life spans of 5 to 35 years, I can no longer play Return to Atlantis or Lotus Turbo Challenge 2. I also have Tornado on DOS CD-ROM which also suffers from disc rot.

The only meaningful and realistic and guaranteed game conservation method is to rip your games onto an ISO/ROM and maintain them this way via emulation or via a flash cart. 

Game key cards solve for me one key problem of digital content: Transferability. Not being able to sell any of my hundreds of Steam games - this is a much more real problem for me than having to worry about whether or not my copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga will still work as-is on my Sega Saturn in 2040.