{"id":52343,"date":"2025-09-25T16:56:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T07:56:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=52343"},"modified":"2025-09-25T17:05:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:05:01","slug":"final-fantasy-7-remake-director-understands-players-qualms-about-switch-2-game-key-cards-but-for-aaa-devs-its-a-way-to-overcome-loading-speed-limitations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/final-fantasy-7-remake-director-understands-players-qualms-about-switch-2-game-key-cards-but-for-aaa-devs-its-a-way-to-overcome-loading-speed-limitations\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Fantasy 7 Remake director understands qualms about Switch 2 Game-Key Cards, but for AAA devs, they&#8217;re a way to overcome loading speed limitations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>While the Nintendo Switch 2\u2019s Game-Key Cards have garnered much dissatisfaction from players due to issues like <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendo-switch-2-game-key-cards-not-eligible-for-preservation-by-japans-national-diet-library-officials-say\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">preservation<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/nintendos-game-key-cards-and-pricing-are-not-about-greed-ex-capcom-dev-argues-they-are-acting-to-protect-the-industry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/xn--nintendo%20switch%202%20game-key%20cards%20not%20eligible%20for%20preservation%20by%20japans%20national%20diet%20library,%20officials%20say-vs83g\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a> and internet connection requirements, developers are looking at things from a different perspective. For <strong>Final Fantasy VII Remake<\/strong> director Naoki Hamaguchi, the decision to use a Game-Key Card instead of a physical cartridge for the title\u2019s Switch 2 version had to do with the latter\u2019s limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE \u2013 Release Date Announcement \u2013 Nintendo Switch 2\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Z4Adz7SlvT4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/jpgames.de\/2025\/09\/final-fantasy-director-hofft-dass-ihr-game-key-cards-eines-tages-moegen-koennt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">JPGames<\/a>, Hamaguchi says that he understands why players don\u2019t like Game-Key Cards and why they\u2019re annoyed with the situation. However, \u201camong developers, the discussion about the keycard format is perhaps a bit different to what fans maybe expect.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He goes on to explain that while <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/game-development\/the-nintendo-switch-limited-cpu-and-ram-but-it-also-made-optimization-a-fun-puzzle-to-figure-out-japanese-engineers-talk-about-difficulties-they-faced\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the 64 GB capacity of physical cartridges is limiting<\/a> too, the biggest issue for developers who make large-scale, \u201chigh-end HD\u201d games is loading speed. Much like <a href=\"https:\/\/twistedvoxel.com\/star-wars-outlaws-developer-explains-switch-2-game-key-card-usage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent statements<\/a> from Star Wars Outlaws\u2019 developers, he explains that the loading speeds of games running on physical cartridges are inherently much slower compared to titles loaded from SSD. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be inferior, it just has to be, that\u2019s the way the media works, physically,\u201d he comments. As such, the option to use Game-Key Cards allows developers to achieve smoother loading for AAA games being ported to the Switch 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1164\" height=\"655\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1164px) 100vw, 1164px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image_2025-09-25_165324510.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-52350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image_2025-09-25_165324510.png 1164w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image_2025-09-25_165324510-380x214.png 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image_2025-09-25_165324510-768x432.png 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While Hamaguchi is sympathetic to players\u2019 concerns, he hopes that they will come to accept Game-Key Cards as a part of Switch 2 gaming. To him, Game-Key Cards can give developers more opportunities to bring games to the platform. Not every developer has to use them, but it\u2019s nice for the option to be there instead of relying solely on physical cartridges.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Final Fantasy VII Remake is available for PlayStation 4 and 5, and PC (Windows). Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X|S versions are planned for January 22, 2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Final Fantasy VII Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi shares views on Switch 2 game-key cards from a developer&#8217;s perspective.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":52349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-52343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Final Fantasy 7 Remake director understands qualms about Switch 2 Game-Key Cards, but for AAA devs, they&#039;re a way to overcome loading speed limitations - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Final Fantasy VII Remake director Naoki Hamaguchi shares views on Switch 2 game-key cards from a developer&#039;s perspective.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/final-fantasy-7-remake-director-understands-players-qualms-about-switch-2-game-key-cards-but-for-aaa-devs-its-a-way-to-overcome-loading-speed-limitations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Final Fantasy 7 Remake director understands qualms about Switch 2 Game-Key Cards, but for AAA devs, they&#039;re a way to overcome loading speed limitations - 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