Virtual Game Cards are changing how you share digital games on Switch
In the middle of the recent Nintendo Direct, Nintendo took a moment to stop talking about the games you can play soon, but instead talked about how you can share games. This will be done via Virtual Game Cards, which will arrive on Switch 1 in April and likely be on Switch 2 at launch.
The basics are that if you have two Switch consoles, either two Switch 1 units or a Switch 1 and Switch 2, or you are a member of a Nintendo Family Account, you can now share digital games, without needing to use the weird system now.
For those sharing between their own consoles, say a Switch Lite for travel and a Switch docked at home, the process is simple.
On the Switch with the game you want to ‘transfer’ to the other platform, you digitally eject it (much like what you would do with a physical cartridge)
In the system where the digital game is, you select that you want to transfer it and in the options that appear, select ‘Load on Another System’
On the new system, accept the game and load it up.
Play the game
The process is basically the same as you would do, if you were taking a cartridge from one console and putting it in another. For the other option it is slightly more complex.
This is how you share a Switch game to someone in your family:
Ensure both the source Switch console and the receiving Switch console are both connected to Wifi and are in range of each other
Digitally eject the game from your Switch game library (just as above)
In the system where the digital game is, you select that you want to transfer it and in the options that appear, select ‘Lend to Family Member’
Accept the transfer on the new console and enjoy your game.
The big step there is that, both accounts must be within the same Nintendo Family Account and they must be within range of each other, so no sharing online. Once the game has been shared, the console that has loaned the game will have it for 14 days, before it is removed and returned to the owner. Lenders can loan out 3 games at once, but a loanee can only receive one at a time.
There are some exceptions to the program, Nintendo Switch Online Exclusive games like Tetris 99 and F-Zero 99 are not able to be transferred. Game Trials and DLC’s are also not eligible for transfer, which makes sense. Also Switch games can be transferred to a Switch 2 console, but Switch 2 exclusive games and Switch 2 Edition games can not be sent back to a Switch.
The latter of that is important, because if say The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom gets a Switch 2 version, so it runs smoother or something, that game can not be sent to a Switch console, even though the original game is also on Switch.
