Marvelous USA talks putting full games on Nintendo Switch 2 cartridges, says it was “the right decision for us and our relationship with our fanbase”

Many third-party publishers are opting to launch their Nintendo Switch 2 titles as game-key card releases, but Marvelous is one of the few exceptions. Thus far, everything it has announced will be on a proper cartridge. That includes Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma, Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar, and Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion.

Ken Berry, co-founder and president/CEO of Marvelous USA/XSEED Games, haw now further discussed the situation in an interview with RPG Site. Although it wasn’t “an easy decision”, the company felt “our fans would much prefer the ROM option.”

Berry said:

“It has been very rewarding to see our titles mentioned as games that fans intend to purchase on Nintendo Switch 2 since they know we went with the full ROM game cards. It was not an easy decision as it had to be made many months ago when things were very uncertain and we were still learning about how the game-key card option worked, but the more we found out about it the more I thought our fans would much prefer the ROM option.

There were many discussions with Marvelous Japan on how the ROM option would enable the ‘Nintendo Switch 2 Enhanced’ designation that would allow the game to be played on both the new Switch 2 as well as the original Switch hardware, and we finally had agreement that this was the most user-friendly option. From there it was a matter of making the numbers work, and having the $10 premium on our Switch 2 versions allowed us to do it without being fiscally irresponsible.”

Overall fans have indeed been very happy with Marvelous USA’s decision, but what happens in the future is slightly less unclear. According to Berry, “nothing is guaranteed,” though strong sales could lead to things continuing this way moving forward.

“We still wanted to go with the full ROM version in our Switch 2 release in the west and thankfully the development team at Marvelous Japan obliged, and though I’d love to say all Switch 2 releases from us in the future will go the full ROM route, nothing is guaranteed.

If our initial lineup sells well and we can make a clear association with its success being tied to being a ROM offering then that will greatly help our cause in the future, but may still not make financial sense on smaller releases that have a price point under $50 such as an indie title being offered physically for $39.99 or less.”

Berry ultimately said that going with full cartridge releases is “the right decision for us and our relationship with our fanbase.”

CD Projekt Red also weighed in on the situation recently, stating putting the whole game on Nintendo Switch 2 cartridge was the “right thing to do”. Read those full quotes here.