Spike Chunsoft has announced that its retail editions of Danganronpa 2×2 will no longer be released on a proper physical cartridge on Switch 2 when it launches early 2027.

Instead, the game will be made available on a Game-Key Card. As such, pre-orders of the Danganronpa 2×2 Psycho Tropical Vacation Package from Spike Chunsoft’s US store will be cancelled, with customers receiving a notification to pre-order the game on GKC. For those in the UK and Europe, your orders will remain in place, but it’ll be on a GKC.

Here’s the official announcement from Spike Chunsoft:

“Spike Chunsoft, Inc. today announced Danganronpa 2×2 for Nintendo Switch™2 will be released on game-key card in all regions including North America and Europe.The company emphasizes that this decision was not taken lightly and follows careful consideration. The company does not have any additional details to share at this time.”

So the question is: what happened? Could it be that the game is simply too big to fit on a proper Switch 2 cartridge? Maybe..? Honestly, that seems unlikely to us given that Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Anniversary Edition only takes up a measly 3.8GB on Switch.

Chances are this is a cost-saving measure, possibly to offset the production costs of the Psycho Tropical Vacation Package. Either way, it’s not great news for fans of Danganronpa and physical media.

As a reminder, Danganronpa 2×2 will tell two stories: the original scenario with enhanced presentation along with the new ‘Slayhem Mode’, which revamps the story with new culprits and victims.