Switch 2 Game-Key Card tracker
51% of Switch 2 physical games don't have the full game on the cartridge
Of the 107 Switch 2 physical games released so far, 52 have the whole game on the cartridge. 50 are Game-Key Cards (the card is a key and the game is a download) and 5 are just a download code in a box. Among other publishers' games, 63% aren't full cartridges; for Nintendo's own it's 5%.
Updated 13 October 2026 · Counted live from our catalogue
What’s in the box
49%
Full cartridge
52 of 107 games · see the list →
47%
Game-Key Card
50 of 107 games · see the list →
5%
Code in a box
5 of 107 games · see the list →
Full cartridgeGame-Key CardCode in a box
95 of the 107 play without internet once they’re set up. Which Switch 2 games work offline
Keep track of what you own
Put your Switch 2 games on a shelf you can walk around, and keep a wishlist of the ones still to come. Free.
Quarter by quarter
Physical releases by the quarter they came out in.
Publisher by publisher
Every publisher with two or more Switch 2 physical releases.
| Publisher | Games | Full cart | Key card | Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nintendo | 21 | 20 | 1 | 0 |
| Sega | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Bandai Namco | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Square Enix | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Koei Tecmo | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2K | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Atari | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Capcom | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| EA | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Inti Creates | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Konami | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Marvelous | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| NIS America | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| PM Studios | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Atlus | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| D3 Publisher | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dragami Games | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Spike Chunsoft | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Ubisoft | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Warner Bros. Games | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
What’s coming
Of 53 announced Switch 2 games, 21 are confirmed as full cartridges, 14 as Game-Key Cards and 0 as codes in a box. 18 haven’t said yet. The release calendar
Using these numbers
You’re welcome to quote this page. Please link back to it so readers can see the numbers as they are today. Every game behind them is in the tracker’s data (CSV), one row per game, each with a link to its page.
Shelf-Lives, "Switch 2 Game-Key Card tracker", https://shelf-lives.com/shelf-lives/games/switch-2/game-key-card-tracker (updated 13 October 2026)
What counts: Switch 2 games released on a physical card or in a box, as sold in North America (Europe or Japan when there’s no Western box). Games with no physical release aren’t counted. “Nintendo’s own” means games Nintendo or The Pokémon Company publish.
Questions people ask
How many Switch 2 games are Game-Key Cards?
50 of the 107 Switch 2 physical games released so far (47%) are Game-Key Cards, and another 5 come as a download code in the box. 52 (49%) have the full game on the cartridge.
Do Nintendo's own Switch 2 games use Game-Key Cards?
20 of Nintendo's 21 Switch 2 physical releases we track have the full game on the cartridge (95%). Among other publishers' games, 63% are Game-Key Cards or codes in a box.
Where does this data come from?
Each game's box is checked against the publisher's or Nintendo's own listing and retailer listings, then kept in the Shelf-Lives catalogue. The numbers on this page are counted from that catalogue every hour, and the rows behind them are in the CSV linked on this page.