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Will you be willing to buy Virtual Game Cards, or would go all digital instead?

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Kairon:
Assuming a full on-cartridge physical copy isn't available, would you be willing to buy a game on a Virtual Game Card, or would you just bite the bullet and get a full digital copy if it came to that?

I'm thinking I might just go full digital at that point... my Switch 1 collection is primarily physical, and I had fun lending stuff out that way. But in reality I didn't do a lot of lending... Sometime I'd lend games to my brother, but he's on my family account and I could lend him a digital copy that way if it came to it, or we'd just buy a second copy completely. And with a Digital Copy I sort of have the license tied to my account wherever I take that account in the future, and I don't have to worry about "losing" the physical copy.

It's neat that the Game Key Card preserves a way to lend (or sell) the game to ANYONE outside my family account (or "second console"), but it feels icky to have a whole physical thing that's basically just a license to download the actual real thing.

Oh my god, are Game Key Cards just NFTs???

NWR_insanolord:
I don't own a single physical Switch game, but every once in a while I decide to resubscribe to GameFly for a little while to try things out, so having physical versions that would theoretically still work with a service like that, even if they require downloads, is a plus.

Ian Sane:
I mostly buy physical but it's to have a copy that will in theory work long term, like if 10 years from now my Switch broke I could still play those games on another system.  I have not been perfect at keeping up on what patches are needed and how crucial they are but I don't have any code in a box games or anything that requires a download to work.

I also own some digital titles.  Some are digital exclusives and some are games I didn't become familiar with until physical copies had become out-of-print and hard to come by.  I also got Tears of the Kingdom digital because my brother bought it physical and I figured having two copies in the family was redundant.

I actually prefer the experience with my digital games because I can swap between them very easily in the menu.  I find it to be kind of a pain to swap carts on the Switch.  I chew my nails so they're always very short and I literally cannot open the little flap to get the cart out.  I keep a broken guitar pick handy specifically to swap carts.  So in that sense a Game Key Card is a waste of time.  It wouldn't be as convenient as a proper digital download but lacks the permanence of a proper physical copy.  It lacks the benefits of either format.

Part of why I support physical games is that their continued existence keeps things honest.  Once we get 100% digital I assume we'll have always-online DRM and games getting removed from our systems, not just the digital store.  They don't want you to "own" the game you bought.  They want the remote off-switch.  In a world where there are current games that you can own copies of they can't quite go that far because there's an alternative.  So I don't want to hasten this bleak future that I figure will eventually arrive in my lifetime.

ThePerm:
Long term the biggest quality of life things have been things with custom batteries. They are terrible. DS. PSP, and the Wii U controller have had problems with their old custom batteries. My Sega Saturn's battery dies every few years, but it has never been a problem to replace a cr2032 battery. May they produce these forever.

BeautifulShy:
I always prefer physical mainly because it is tangable and there needs to be a balance between digital and physical.  Not only because of choice but also becasue of the practices the game industry has done with Seasons Passes, DLC and loot boxes would be a boon for the higher ups in VG companies but not the developers or gamers. 

Most of my Switch Libraries although I have a few Digital games like Tears of the Kingdom.  Basically games where I could see playing on the bus or just loading up right away.  Physical games I would want so I can sit down and enjoy for long stretches of time.

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