Elden Ring on Switch 2 is an $80 Game-key Card and fans are not happy

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition on the Nintendo Switch 2 will apparently cost $80 at launch, and the game comes on a Game-key Card instead of shipping the full title on a ROM cartridge.

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The cost of doing business for video game companies is rising higher than ever, and that means higher prices for consumers. Nintendo has tried to fight the rising costs of physical media production and distribution with Game-key Cards, which are dummy cartridge authenticators that unlock digital versions of a game. In other words, the game doesn't ship on the cartridge--Game-key Cards only hold your license to download a game, not the actual game itself.

Game-key Cards were theoretically expected to keep prices down for consumers in exchange for the trade-off of no physical ownership. Fans are bristling after Amazon lists the Switch 2 version of Elden Ring for $80, confirming that the game will ship on a Game-key Card instead of being included on a cartridge.

Predictably, gamers aren't happy about paying $80 for a Game-key Card. Then again, the Switch 2 Tarnished Edition will add new classes to the game, and also includes the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion. Both of these things together could be seen as a means to justify the new higher price tag.

It also brings to mind another question: Will FromSoftware's other game, the Switch 2 exclusive Duskbloods, also cost $80 at launch? Perhaps not, given that game doesn't come bundled with an expansion.

There's a slim possibility that this was a pricing error on Amazon's part. A bit ago, Amazon tried to sell Pokopia, one of the hottest Switch 2 games of the year, for $80. The game was originally listed for the new baseline $70 MSRP for games, but Amazon apparently raised the price to $80 for a period, possibly indicating some sort of dynamic pricing lever being put in place.

This doesn't seem likely, though, considering a similar version of the game costs $80 on all other platforms, which includes the base game plus the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion.

We've reached out to Bandai Namco for clarification on the pricing and will update the post if we hear back.

It's possible that more details about the Elden Ring Tarnished Edition will be revealed in an upcoming Nintendo Direct sometime soon.