Feature: Limited Run Talks Switch 2 Game-Key Cards, Huge Carts & Difficult Pitches

Raidou Remastered CE isn’t a standard, numbered Limited Run Games release, but we were still surprised to see that the Switch 2 Collector’s Edition they’re offering retails for a whopping $249.99 USD and doesn’t include a full game on a cartridge.

This edition includes a Switch 2 Game-Key Card, which requires the customer to connect to the internet and download the full game on their console. This feels like it goes against the ‘Forever Physical’ motto of LRG.

Word out of PAX was that Limited Run’s numbered releases would continue to be “true physical” releases, and to get further confirmation and answers to a couple of other things on our mind, we got in touch with Josh Fairhurst, CEO of Limited Run Games, via email to try and get some clarity on a murky Game-Key situation, plus see how the current economic climate is affecting physical games publishing.

Nintendo Life: Limited Run Games has had a few fumbles here and there over the years, but we’ve always appreciated how much effort the team has put into making sure the best version of a game is included on the cartridge or disc. Was the possibility of releasing RAIDOU Remastered fully on a Switch 2 cartridge ever an option? If so, what made you and SEGA go the Game-Key route?

Josh Fairhurst, CEO of Limited Run Games: When our involvement on a game is limited to a Collector’s Edition only, as it was for games like Dead Space and Alan Wake II, we buy the standard edition games that go in those Collector’s Editions directly from our partner or their distributor. Unless otherwise noted, these standard editions will always match their retail counterparts. We don’t have any involvement in actually manufacturing those pieces – they just arrive at our warehouse when they’re ready. We’re really no different than a retailer in these situations.

When we are offering a Collector’s Edition for a game, we like to offer that Collector’s Edition across all of the available platforms. If we chose to exclude a platform for any reason, customers who wanted it there would be upset about not having that option. Thankfully, this means we’re always offering a mix of platforms, so if the distribution format for one platform doesn’t suit your needs, there are other options available.

What’s going to happen with Limited Run numbered releases for Switch 2? Is there a possibility you may release Game-Key cartridges in this format too? Is there any potential in seeing Switch 2 cartridges from Limited Run that also play on Switch 1, much like how Marvelous is handling their upcoming release of Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma?

If Limited Run is manufacturing the standard edition Switch 2 game, it will always use an actual cartridge. We have no plans to support the Game-Key Card format on titles where we are the manufacturer and publisher.

As far as dual Switch and Switch 2 releases go: yes, you can expect to see this with some of our releases. I don’t know all the technical details that have to happen to make this a reality, so I can’t promise it will always happen, but purely from a business perspective it makes more sense than fracturing customers between separate Switch and Switch 2 releases.

Can you help shed some light on why so many publishers are choosing to go the Game-Key route? We’d imagine it’s cost, but are there other factors you can help us understand?

I don’t think it’s purely cost. Releasing a game at retail requires an insanely long amount of lead time. This means games need to be completed and approved with platform holders three to four months ahead of their planned retail launch date. This is a colossal amount of time that publishers often don’t have and it’s what generally results in retail releases having early builds that require massive day one patches to function. Games these days often ‘come in hot’, so the luxury of a three to four-month lead time for retail is virtually non-existent. Game-Key Cards give publishers a way to prepare a retail product with the proper lead times required for retail, while still allowing them the opportunity for the game to ‘come in hot’.

Do you have any plans around proper, on-the-cart physical releases for any titles that publishers have already announced as a Game-Key Card release?

This is something that we are exploring and something I would like to do, but it’s been a surprisingly difficult pitch so far. To illustrate why: there are a few notable games that have had mostly digital retail releases on the original Switch and I tried to pitch true physical releases for them. Unfortunately, there was a fear that any new release might make it difficult to move the older pre-existing retail stock. I’ve run into the same issue here. That doesn’t mean I won’t continue to try, though! I’m sure some partners will bite.

Presumably, you’ll have to charge more for games coming on larger-capacity Switch 2 carts. Are you able to give collectors a ballpark idea of what a 64GB Switch 2 game from Limited Run might cost at retail?

I don’t know if many people are aware of this, but we’re part of only a handful of publishers that ever bothered to use a 32GB cartridge on the original Switch. Those were REALLY expensive. I can’t get into specifics here, outside of just saying there’s a reason most publishers couldn’t afford to use them. Those releases — Alien: Isolation and DOOM Eternal — really weren’t outside of the realm of our traditional pricing model versus both games’ digital price tags, despite the crazy cost of their cartridges. Based on our experience with those releases, I wouldn’t expect to see us deviating too much from how we typically price products even if the cartridges are more expensive.

With the current tariff uncertainty causing big problems for any publisher operating in the US, how much of an impact is it having on Limited Run’s business?

Not much, honestly, outside of making it extremely hard to forecast. Everything keeps changing so rapidly that nothing has really had a chance to tangibly impact us.

Do you foresee any potential product cancellations or delays due to tariff fluctuations?

Cancellations: absolutely not. Delays: it’s hard to say because the tariffs have pretty much universally caused manufacturers to hold their products in China. This means there is now an excess of product waiting to leave the country. Similar to the situation that happened during the pandemic, this means it could be hard to book shipping crates out of the country while everyone is scrambling to make use of the 90-day pause on tariffs.

Thankfully, we didn’t halt our deliveries during the situation and had continued receiving over the last six weeks. I just can’t definitively say that the situation won’t affect us somehow because it’s a very complicated global problem that involves forces that are beyond our control.

Finally, can you confirm for us what a Switch 2 cart tastes like?

Thankfully, I’ve heard it has the same great taste as the original Switch cart. I was personally hoping with the red cartridge there might be a bit of cherry twist added to the bitterant.

Our thanks to Josh for taking the time to answer our questions.