Nintendo Switch just made borrowing games from friends easier in free update

Nintendo has just announced a brand new feature that will make downloading digital games on multiple consoles much easier, and will also let players share digital games with friends for the first time ever. Announced in a Direct livestream today, the video game company revealed a new software feature called 'Virtual Game Cards' which will soon arrive on the Nintendo Switch, and most likely the upcoming Switch 2.

At the moment if you purchase a game digitally via the Nintendo eShop, you're limited to downloading the game on the console you're logged into. Now, any game you purchase digitally will become a 'Virtual Game Card', managed from a new menu on the Switch's home screen.

If you're logged into multiple Switch devices, you'll see all of your Virtual Game Cards located here, and you'll now need to 'load' each cartridge digitally to play the game. Your save data will carry across each time, just like it would if you were to use a physical cartridge.

It appears that this move from Nintendo is to limit how many consoles you can have your digital games installed on at any one time. For example, if you've loaded your Virtual Game Card into a second console, you won't be able to play that game on your first console until you load the Virtual Game Card back across.

The real benefit here comes with sharing your digital games with friends. This previously hasn't been possible, but the Virtual Game Card system makes this a reality.

To lend a Virtual Game Card to a friend, they'll need to be part of the same Nintendo family account. You'll then need to establish a local connection to each Switch device, choosing which game you want to lend them.

That Virtual Game Card will then be placed on loan to the other person for two weeks