FFVII REMAKE director again defends Game-Key Cards, talks optimization and resolution in the Switch 2 port

Square Enix is bringing the entire Final Fantasy VII REMAKE trilogy to the Switch 2, and it starts with Final Fantasy VII REMAKE INTERGRADE on Jan. 22nd, 2026. We’ve heard a ton about the upcoming port over the last few weeks courtesy of director Naoki Hamaguchi, but apparently he’s not done spreading the good word yet.

Naoki Hamaguchi spoke to Press-Start about Final Fantasy VII REMAKE on Switch 2 specifically, and shed some light on decisions made and the work put in. You can see a collection of responses from Hamaguchi below, with topics like Game-Key Cards, resolution, optimization and more discussed. (h/t Genki)

I think the Game-Key Card format is in some ways very important. The loading speed on the old cartridges can make it difficult for a developer to make the modern, high-definition, quality-rich games that are common now. If we have to rely on the cartridge’s loading speed, it becomes difficult to make games that work properly.

Having the Game-Key Card, which is close to downloading a game, allows us to make games in a way that works for us. It means we can provide players with deeper and richer experiences, so I really hope that fans come around to it. I understand from a gamer’s perspective that there are some negatives to it, but it simply wouldn’t be possible for us to put these richer experiences out there on traditional cartridges. I hope that some people can see the advantages of this format in that regard.

[Naoki Hamaguchi, Director]

A lot of the optimisation done for the Switch 2 version is new and is dedicated to the Switch 2 only. Mainly, things like fog effects and other post-processing effects were done from scratch to minimise the processing burden. All of those calculations were done to be as similar as possible to the other versions without putting too much weight on the processor. That worked well for some of the effects, but there were some things we felt it was vital we kept the same, like the lighting.

I would say the Steam Deck version is a good comparison in terms of graphical quality. We wanted to have as few differences as possible when playing in the Switch 2’s different modes. We started with a 2K resolution, which is what you get in docked mode, and it’s solid and stable. If we tried to do the same thing in handheld mode, we’d end up with some problems. We opted to leverage DLSS upscaling to simulate as close as possible to 2K output, and it really does look very similar. There may be small differences, but we’re pleased with the result.

[Naoki Hamaguchi, Director]