It is a fact that Nintendo has just revealed a new trailer for the new Pokémon title Pokémon Pokopia. The game is set to come out on March 5 for the Nintendo Switch 2, and the official tweet showcases an odd, overgrown, somewhat abandoned building that seems to suggest it is Pokémon Center due to the sign at the entrance. The tweet poses the question, “What is this? A Pokémon Center?” and it invites you to discover what has caused this situation. Sounds wonderful! A mystery? Is it possibly post-apocalyptic? However, gamers didn’t even reach the mystery stage. They only noticed one thing, and that was the main reason for their excitement. The pre-order shows that it is a Game Key Card. It is not even a physical game card! Just a piece of cardboard with a code! And the internet is buzzing!
Let us encapsulate it. Pokémon Pokopia is the next major title for the Switch 2 that will be available on March 5. The teaser image hints at a fascinating and possibly destroyed landscape that has led many gamers to predict a post-apocalyptic Kanto region. Still, the release has been very controversial as the game will come as a $70 Game Key Card only, meaning no physical cartridge, which is the starting point of the discontent among the players.
So, the very major thing that was actually pretty much new about the whole Nintendo event was nothing but a new Pokémon game. Wow, the image is mesmerising! Nature seems to have taken control. One user called Sheeple even remarked, “It’s almost confirmed that this game is set in a post-apocalyptic Kanto,” though somewhat uncertainly. Another user, CrimsonSkySM, also supported that when referring to the leaking of it being “post-apocalyptic Kanto” possibly with Cinnabar Island as DLC. What a brilliant idea! A Pokémon game in a scenario after a catastrophe? With a world that is both explored and ruined? Count me in! There were a few users, one was E who said, “It looks like slime ranchers! I love it!” and another one who connected it with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon lore, who were riding on the same wave. The potential is enormous.
However, the conversation then went completely off the tracks. It went so astray that it met its end in a crash and burn scenario. Thus, the details of the pre-order eventually came to light revealing that the physical version is nothing more than a Game Key Card. For a large part of the gaming community, this is sufficient to label it an immediate deal-breaker. The reactions have been nothing but negative, a huge wave that has been directed towards that very point.
The situation was like a line of users following each other proclaiming: “No way I’m buying it!” “Game key card no buy,” was Melo’s comment with a GIF of someone shaking their head as an addition. “It’s a game key card aka I refuse to buy this game,” posited Pokeboy890. DynoYosher avowed, “I will never find it out because it’s a game key card!” This was also the case with Cody Bentley: “We don’t want a game key card!! This game will do bad in sales because of it.” Not only refusal but also principled position was the way Eric McDonald put it: “Seems like the remains of your HQ if you keep forcing Game Key cards on people. This is the first Pokémon game I am skipping. Physical Copy ONLY.”
The fury was not just about the format but also the cost. The $70 price tag made it seem like an insult. “What is this? A game key card? $70 game?” inquired kilb3n. COMPsmith was more blunt: “70 fucking bucks for a game made in Roblox engine.” Ouch! MaahirMomtaz12 pointed out the regional issue: “That means $100 in Canada 😢😢😢.” So essentially, you are paying the full premium price for nothing more than a box with a slip of paper inside. This is indeed a huge disappointment for collectors, for people with unsteady internet connections, and for anyone who actually values having the game data on a card.
Nonetheless, some gamers argued that this is just the natural direction the industry is going. A whole thread was created where the likes of TheOslith, Brayden, and Nu_Merick engaged in a discussion concerning the practices of other publishers, citing Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed Shadows as instances where the disc is virtually just a key. “Yes, and those ones make perfect sense since besides from getting big updates regularly they would already take up 2 or 3 discs,” reasoned Brayden9669. But Nu_Merick fired back, arguing that companies are intentionally inflating file sizes and the rationale for their practices is “pretty ridiculous.” The critics’ consensus was that just because others do it, it doesn’t make it right, especially for a major franchise like Pokémon on a platform like the PlayStation and Xbox.
