Nintendo Direct March 2025 was not the barnstorming newsfest that many were expecting, but there were some huge announcements. Perhaps the biggest was the announcement of Nintendo Virtual Game Cards. Nintendo Virtual Game Cards allows gamers to lend their digital games to friends and family. It’s a bit like handing over a physical copy but with a hefty dose of terms and conditions.
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Virtual Game Cards transforms digital games into ‘game cards’, which can be easily shared across accounts and systems. Whoever holds the card can download and play the game – for a period of two weeks. After the two week loan period is up, the Virtual Game Card returns to the account on which is it was purchased. The game card is then ready to be loaned or played again.
Virtual Game Cards – How to Share
When you purchase the digital version of the game, it will be installed on your system as a virtual game card, enabling you to play that title. Your digital games will then be organised as virtual game cards on a dedicated management screen. You can load and you check your virtual game cards and manage which games you can play on your system.
If you have two Nintendo Switch systems, you can eject a virtual game card from one and load it onto the second. This allows you to play the game on the second system wherever and whenever you want, just as if you had inserted a physical game card. With virtual game cards, you can freely load and arrange which games you want to play.
Two Systems at Once
You can play on up to two systems within local communities. This is required only the first time, after which you can lend the cards to your Nintendo account. Family group members can connect to your family group member system via local wireless.
When you want to lend a game, select the title you are lending and the person you are lending it to. They can now play on their own system. You can only lend one game at a time to a particular person. Games can be lent out for two weeks, after which they will automatically return to you, making digital games even easier to use with game cards.
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A virtual game card feature lets you swap games between Nintendo Switch systems, as well as Switch 2 systems.
