Another game developer says Switch 2 ROM carts are too slow

More game developers are explaining why they don't ship full games on Switch 2 cartridges and exposing a potential weak spot in Nintendo's new platform.

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The Switch 2 is a big upgrade over the first console, but the game cartridges can apparently be a limitation. This is a major factor in why there are so many games shipping on Game-key Cards on the Switch 2, and we've heard two developers mention the limited performance of the cartridges. The main issue is that the game cartridges just aren't as fast as internal storage; the Switch 2 has built-in Kioxia flash storage capable of hitting 2.1 GB/sec speeds...but each individual Switch 2 game cartridge doesn't have that kind of performance. Essentially what it comes down to is that games that are installed to an SSD can be loaded faster than games that are stuck on an external cartridge.

Now another developer has spoken out about the speeds on the Switch 2 Game Cards. This time Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth game director Naoki Hamaguchi adds more context on why Square Enix games are shipping on the Switch 2's token digital authenticators rather than as full game ROMs.

In a recent interview with publication JPGames at this year's Tokyo Game Show, Hamaguchi essentially says that loading games from cartridges is inferior to loading them from an internal SSD, highlighting one of the Switch 2's potential faults.

He also says that some games couldn't arrive on the Switch 2 at all if it weren't for Game-key Cards:

"Among developers, the discussion about the format might be a little different than fans might expect.

"Perhaps the biggest issue for developers is, certainly for people like us who are developing high-end HD games, is the loading speed, because if you compare that to an [SSD] drive and the speed you get from that when loading, it's inferior.

"So that's really the bigger problem when it comes to developing games, high-end games for the Switch 2, and what's possible with it.

"This is just my personal opinion, but I would like it if Nintendo fans understood the key cards and perhaps accepted them as part of the gaming culture on the Switch because they offer more possibilities.

"It's an option that not everyone needs to use, but it's another way to make the games available to fans, and I think we could miss opportunities if we didn't have that option, because there might be people who wouldn't be able to play the game otherwise.

"I really understand why people are negative about it, and there are good reasons and arguments for it. But if people are more accepting of it, I think there are also advantages, and from a developer's perspective, it allows us to do things we might not otherwise do."