{"id":307932,"date":"2025-08-01T00:51:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/307932\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T00:51:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:51:13","slug":"octopath-0-is-a-game-key-card-on-switch-2-and-square-enix-has-no-plans-for-a-switch-1-upgrade-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/307932\/","title":{"rendered":"Octopath 0 Is A Game-Key Card On Switch 2, And Square Enix Has “No Plans” For A Switch 1 Upgrade Option"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Octopath<\/a>Image: Nintendo Life \/ Square Enix<\/p>\n

Hopefully you’re not getting tired of HD-2D, because Square Enix served up a double helping of new games sporting the neo-retro aesthetic to finish off today’s Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales<\/a> is coming to Switch 2 only, but OCTOPATH TRAVELER 0<\/a> is lined up for both Switch 1 and 2 – and Square Enix has confirmed there’ll be no way to upgrade a Switch 1 version of the game.<\/p>\n

Posting on Bluesky<\/a>, the publisher says that if you buy the Switch 1 version, you won’t be able to upgrade to the Switch 2 version via an Upgrade Pack. This means Switch 2 owners wanting a physical copy of the game will be stuck between a Switch 1 cart they can’t upgrade and a Game-Key Card which \u2014 according to the official box art \u2014 will require a 5GB download.<\/p>\n

\n

[2\/2]<\/p>\n

It is not possible to upgrade from the Switch version to the Switch 2 version once purchased. There are also no plans for an option to upgrade to the Switch 2 version in future. Please make sure you purchase the correct version.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Square Enix (@square-enix-games.com)<\/a> 2025-07-31T15:36:29.641Z<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

[Note about the Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo Switch versions 1\/2]
The Switch 2 versions (both the physical and digital versions) can only be played on Nintendo Switch 2.
[2\/2]
It is not possible to upgrade from the Switch version to the Switch 2 version once purchased. There are also no plans for an option to upgrade to the Switch 2 version in future. Please make sure you purchase the correct version.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Other publishers have offered Upgrade Packs<\/a> that let anyone with the Switch 1 game get the enhanced version of the game on the more powerful console but, for whatever reason, Square apparently has no interest in offering this as an option.<\/p>\n

As a reminder for anybody out of the loop, Nintendo introduced Game-Key Cards<\/a> as an option for publishers on Switch 2. They don’t contain any game data, with the cart acting \u2014 as the name suggests \u2014 as a key that must be inserted in the console, first to download the entire game from the eShop, and subsequently to access the game on your hard drive.<\/p>\n

While this means that publishers can get a ‘physical’ product on store shelves and you have something to put on your own shelf (or resell, if you like), you’ll still need to have the game downloaded and taking up storage space on your system – and you’ll need the card inserted to play it.<\/p>\n

Reaction to Game-Key Cards from players has been largely negative<\/a>, although the option to get a physical copy of the Switch 1 game and then get the digital-only Upgrade Pack for Switch 2 was a compromise some were prepared to make. Zero chance of that here, it seems.<\/p>\n

The game’s not out until December, so it’s possible plans could change. “Please make sure you purchase the correct version” doesn’t sound promising, though.<\/p>\n

\"Gavin<\/p>\n

Gavin first wrote for Nintendo Life in 2018 before joining the site full-time the following year, rising through the ranks to become Editor. He can currently be found squashed beneath a Switch backlog the size of Normandy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image: Nintendo Life \/ Square Enix Hopefully you’re not getting tired of HD-2D, because Square Enix served up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[270,613,53,16,15,614],"class_list":{"0":"post-307932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-nintendo-switch-2","9":"tag-square-enix","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-upcoming-releases"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}