The Mystery of the 'Empty' Switch 2 Cartridge: Star Wars Outlaws Dev Spills the Beans (and it's not about the money, apparently!)
AI Gaming News Author · IGN South Africa ·
A Ubisoft dev has spilled the cosmic beans on why *Star Wars Outlaws* uses those 'half-empty' Game-Key Cards for the Switch 2, revealing it's less about cutting costs and more about the console's data streaming limitations for big open worlds. It turns out getting a massive game from a powerful console onto a handheld requires a bit of wizardry – and sometimes, a big ol' download.
Right, so cast your minds back a bit, mate. Remember those 'Game-Key Cards' popping up for the Nintendo Switch 2? Those physical cartridges that, rather than giving you the whole bloomin' game, just handed you a download code wrapped in plastic? Yeah, the ones that had players collectively grumbling louder than a Wookiee after a bad Kessel Run. Well, buckle up, because a Ubisoft wizard—I mean, audio architect—from the *Star Wars Outlaws* team has just dropped a defence so wild, it almost makes sense. Almost.
See, for many of us, the idea of buying a physical game only to then download 70% of it feels like getting a magic potion that's mostly water. What's the point, eh? It's like paying for a fancy spellbook only to find half the incantations are locked behind an arcane online update. Naturally, the collective gaming brain latched onto the most cynical, yet often accurate, explanation: cost-cutting. Those higher-capacity cartridges with more memory? They cost more to produce, and big publishers, bless their hearts, aren't exactly known for willingly spending extra quid when they don't have to.
Now, before you reach for your pitchforks (or, y'know, your digital refund button), let's hear the chap out. Rob Bantin, the Ubisoft audio architect who helped port *Star Wars Outlaws* to the Switch 2, took to the digital scrolls (social media, for you Muggles) to explain the *real* reason behind these seemingly half-baked cartridges. And fair dinkum, it's a bit more nuanced than 'Ubisoft being Ubisoft.'
Bantin explained that the game's engine, Snowdrop—a bit of a marvel, that one, especially for crafting vast open worlds—relies heavily on what they call 'disk streaming.' Think of it like this: your console isn't loading the entire planet of Tatooine into its memory at once. Instead, it's constantly pulling in bits and pieces as you fly past, explore, or get into a blaster fight. This requires a seriously rapid connection to wherever the game data lives.
And here's the rub, mate. While the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S boast super-speedy SSDs (Solid State Drives) that can stream data faster than a speeder bike on boost, the Nintendo Switch 2's bespoke physical cartridges apparently can't quite keep up with that pace. 'Snowdrop relies heavily on disk streaming for its open world environments, and we found the Switch 2 cards simply didn't give the performance we needed at the quality target we were going for,' Bantin wrote. Bloody hell, so it's a *technical* limitation, not just a money-saving trick? My brain just did a backflip.
This is where my gentle skepticism kicks in, just a tad. While Bantin's explanation makes absolute sense from a technical standpoint—modern open-world games are incredibly demanding on data throughput—it doesn't entirely erase the underlying cost factor in the wider industry's shift. However, for *this specific instance*, if the performance simply wasn't there from the cartridge, then going digital for the bulk of the data isn't just a workaround; it's a necessity to make the game *playable* at a decent quality on the Switch 2. If it means better load times and less pop-in, then perhaps it's a necessary evil.
Crucially, Bantin also addressed the cost angle directly, stating, 'I don't recall the cost of the cards ever entering the discussion – probably because it was moot.' If that's true, it throws a bit of a spanner in the works of our prevailing cynicism, doesn't it? It means that, at least for this particular port, the decision wasn't driven by the dark arts of corporate bean-counting, but by the even darker (and more mysterious) arts of technical optimisation. Who'd have thought?
It really highlights the challenge of porting a game built from the ground up for powerful, modern consoles (with those lightning-fast SSDs) to a different, perhaps less beefy, architecture like the Switch 2. Bantin himself noted, 'I think if we'd designed a game for Switch 2 from the ground up it might have been different.' That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? When you're crafting a game specifically for a platform, you build around its strengths and mitigate its weaknesses from day one. But when you're adapting an existing beast, you're constantly fighting against design decisions made for a completely different set of rules.
It's like trying to get a spell designed for a powerful arcane staff to work with a humble wizard's wand. You can probably *make* it work, but you'll have to tweak, compromise, and maybe even leave out a few flashy bits to avoid blowing up the wand (or, in this case, making the game run like a slideshow).
This whole kerfuffle isn't lost on Nintendo either, by the way. Just last month, the big N was reportedly sending out surveys to Switch 2 owners, quizzing them specifically about their thoughts on digital games versus boxed copies, and, crucially, those Game-Key Cards. It's good to know they're paying attention to the collective groan of players who just want their physical games to, y'know, actually *be* physical.
As for *Star Wars Outlaws* itself, well, its journey has been about as smooth as navigating an asteroid field. Launched to a bit of a mixed response and less-than-stellar sales, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot recently blamed its disappointing performance on the 'choppy waters' of the *Star Wars* fandom itself. Which, if you've ever dipped a toe into that particular ocean, you'd know is a fair assessment. Though I reckon technical compromises on a flagship portable port probably don't help matters, do they?
So, where does this leave us, eh? On one hand, it's genuinely refreshing to hear a developer pull back the curtain and give a technical explanation for a design choice that's largely unpopular. It certainly adds a layer of understanding beyond simple corporate greed. On the other hand, it reinforces the ongoing tension between the allure of physical game ownership and the ever-increasing demands of modern game development, especially on portable hardware.
Are these Game-Key Cards truly 'better for loading' on the Switch 2, or are they just a necessary evil for getting these massive, graphically intensive games onto a handheld? Probably a bit of both, if we're being honest. It's a pragmatic solution to a complex problem, even if it feels a tad… incomplete for those of us who cherish our physical collections. Looks like the future of portable gaming might involve a little less physical data on the cart, and a little more magic in the air (or, y'know, over Wi-Fi).
Thanks for joining me in this little dive into the digital tea leaves, mate. Always something to unearth, isn't there?
Original article by Tom Phillips for IGN South Africa.
Tags: Nintendo Switch 2, Star Wars Outlaws, Game Development, Physical Media, Ubisoft
Original article: IGN South Africa