Nintendo Switch Virtual Game Cards Will Let You Share Digital Games

Nintendo has announced a new feature coming to both the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 called Virtual Game Cards that will let users to treat their digital games more like physical ones, including lending them out to family members.

Announced via the most recent Nintendo Direct, buying digital games on Switch consoles will in the future (and on Switch 2) be treated as Virtual Game Cards that can be digitally loaded, ejected, and shared with other Switch consoles. Those who own multiple Nintendo Switch devices will be able to move Virtual Game Cards between accounts on up to two systems as if they were ejecting a cartridge and physically inserting it into another device. A local connection between the two consoles is required when moving Virtual Game Cards between two consoles for the first time, and an internet connection is required when loading a Virtual Game Card or moving it to another console, according to the Nintendo Direct presentation.

Accounts in the same Nintendo family group, which currently supports up to eight people, can lend copies of purchased games to other members of same group, although only one game at a time can be lent out to a particular person. Lent games are shared via local wireless connection and last for two weeks, after which they will automatically return to the original owner.

Virtual Game Cards will come to Nintendo Switch via a system update in late April, according to Nintendo's Shinya Takahashi during the Nintendo Direct presentation, and will be included as a Switch 2 feature when the console launches sometime later this year.