The big Switch update with Virtual Game Cards, Switch 2 features is here

Nintendo has pushed out a major system update for the Switch that enables its new Virtual Game Card ownership system for digital games, as well as several Switch 2-related features, including GameShare. Using Virtual Game Cards, now you can easily swap digital games between multiple Switch consoles, as well as lend them to family members.

System version 20.0.0 is the most consequential update to the Switch firmware in some time. As well as adding Virtual Game Cards and GameShare to the main menu, it introduces the ability to perform system transfers to Nintendo Switch 2, either locally between consoles or using a cloud backup.

Shockingly, the icon colors for the News and Nintendo eShop icons have been changed to green and red respectively — and when you load the eShop, it’s now fully branded in fierce Switch 2 red rather than the previous orange.

However, the headline features are definitely GameShare and Virtual Game Cards. But you can’t use GameShare yet. The feature allows some multiplayer games, starting with Clubhouse Game: 51 Worldwide Classics, to be shared locally between multiple consoles using just one copy of the game (rather like the Nintendo DS’ old Download Play system). But it only works if a Switch 2 user is doing the sharing. Additionally, Switch 2 users will be able to use GameShare online with some games, via the new console’s GameChat feature.

So, for now, Virtual Game Cards are the most exciting change. Selecting Virtual Game Cards from the menu takes you to a neat menu of all your digitally owned games and DLC, represented as little cards. From here you can load and eject them from the current console, load them to another console, or lend them (for 14 days at a time) to a member of your Nintendo Account Family group.

For people with just one Switch, the Virtual Game Card menu is just a neat new way to view and manage your digital game collection. For people with multiple Switches, and for families of Switch users, it’s a massive quality of life update that allows for much more flexible use of digital games.

I’ve played around with lending games to a family member and collecting them back this morning, and as long as the consoles are near each other it all works quite seamlessly, with a satisfying, almost physical animation that visualizes the Virtual Game Card ejecting from one system and dropping into the other. One confusing thing about Virtual Game Cards, though, is that a card being loaded is not the same thing as it being downloaded to the console; it can be downloaded but not loaded, or loaded but not actually downloaded to the Switch.

The restrictions are a little fiddly, but Virtual Game Cards are still a hugely significant update for many Switch owners. That this latest system update also makes your Switch ready for the imminent arrival of Nintendo Switch 2 is just the exciting icing on the cake.