With Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade having finally made its way to the Nintendo Switch 2, and a port of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth also being in the works, director Naoki Hamaguchi has once more spoken about the need for Game-Key Cards. In an interview with Automaton Media, he noted that the use of Game-Key Cards is essentially unavoidable due to the transfer speeds of a typical game cartridge.
Hamaguchi revealed that the difference in loading speeds when a game is pulling in data from the Switch 2’s internal storage is “roughly double” when compared to pulling it off a game cartridge. This is a big reason for the use of Game-Key Cards for Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade.
“There’s simply no way around key cards in certain respects,” said Hamaguchi. “If you compare loading directly from a game cartridge (containing all game data) to loading from the Nintendo Switch 2’s internal storage, the load speed difference is roughly double. Some have expressed concern that multiplatform development may impose constraints not only on graphics, but even on game design itself. However, this is precisely why we didn’t choose a cartridge.”
He went on to note that the game wasn’t built around the idea of loading in all of the required data right at the beginning. Rather, data is constantly loaded in and out in the course of gameplay, which means that the speed at which data can be loaded in becomes an important consideration for the developers. Along with this, Nintendo Switch 2 cartridges also offer lower storage than what the studio needs.
“Our game design isn’t built around loading all data upfront, with nothing further being loaded afterward,” Hamaguchi explained. “Even during gameplay, data is constantly swapped in and out, and given that premise, the loading speed from a game card would inevitably be insufficient, leading to stress for the player. In addition, with currently available cartridge capacity, there is the practical limitation that the full game data simply wouldn’t fit in the first place.”
“However, as long as we can secure the high-speed storage read speeds such as SSD or UFS (on Switch 2), the design we’re aiming for becomes achievable within the scope of optimization for each platform. For the third game in the trilogy, we’re proceeding with development with the goal of delivering a large-scale experience similar to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, so please rest assured on that point.”
Ultimately, Hamaguchi noted that Game-Key Cards are a major reason for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 at all. Load speeds and storage capacities simply weren’t high enough in the past. Now, however, the combination of Game-Key Cards lifting these restrictions and the Switch 2’s “impressive” performance has allowed the team to start bringing the trilogy to a new audience.
“In the past, when faced with practical issues related to load speed and storage capacity we couldn’t resolve, we had to decide not to release on Nintendo systems. However, Nintendo Switch 2’s performance is impressive, and with a key card format like FFVII Remake, releasing the games became possible,” he said.
Hamaguchi had made similar comments about Game-Key Cards back in October, noting that while he understands why some may not like it, the technology is simply not one that can be avoided. Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick, on the other hand, has called the system “disheartening” from a video game preservation standpoint.
In the meantime, check out our review of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade on the Nintendo Switch 2.
