Nintendo’s Pokémon Game Is Just An Empty Box Now

According to Kotaku, Nintendo’s upcoming Pokémon Pokopia, scheduled for release on March 5, 2026, will be the company’s first first-party title to use “game-key cards” instead of actual game cartridges. These physical boxes contain no game data, just instructions to download the title from Nintendo’s servers. The Switch 2 only offers 64GB cartridges to publishers at $23 each, making them prohibitively expensive for smaller games like the 10GB Pokopia. Nintendo recently released an explanatory video using Pokopia as an example, essentially confirming the shift while trying to frame empty boxes as consumer-friendly. This marks a dramatic departure from Nintendo’s decades-long tradition of physical games that actually contain the complete game.

Why this sucks

Here’s the thing about physical media: it’s supposed to be, you know, physical. For generations, buying a Nintendo game meant you owned that thing. You could pop it into your Game Boy, your DS, your Switch, and it just worked. No servers, no downloads, no corporate permission required. That era is officially over.

And the reasoning is just baffling. Nintendo decided to only manufacture 64GB cartridges for the Switch 2, which cost publishers $23 a pop according to Digital Foundry’s analysis. For a 10GB game like Pokopia, that’s like shipping a single paperback in a refrigerator box. So instead of offering sensible 16GB or 32GB options, Nintendo is pushing everyone toward these fake carts. Basically, they created the problem and now they’re “solving” it by selling us empty boxes.

The bigger picture

This isn’t just about convenience—it’s about preservation. When Nintendo eventually shuts down the Switch 2 servers (and they will, probably way too soon), every single one of these game-key cards becomes a worthless piece of plastic. The games you “bought” will simply vanish. That’s terrifying for game preservation and completely breaks Nintendo’s legacy of systems where 30-year-old cartridges still work perfectly today.

So why would anyone buy these things? Well, you can still share them with friends or resell them, which is better than being stuck with purely digital purchases. But let’s be real—you’re paying premium physical game prices for what amounts to an elaborate download code with extra plastic waste.

Nintendo’s shifting priorities

It’s fascinating that Nintendo only felt the need to explain game-key cards now that they’re using them for their own marquee franchise. Their cheerful explanatory video feels like they’re trying to put a happy face on what’s essentially a cost-cutting measure that screws over collectors and preservationists. When even Nintendo’s abandoning physical media, you know the industry’s heading in one direction—and it’s not great for people who actually want to own the things they buy.