Rudolph Game On Switch 2 Unplayable Due To Missing Download

Published Oct 19, 2026, 3:03 AM EDT Josh Coulson is an editor at TheGamer covering breaking news on everything from colorful platformers to the latest Lego sets. Primarily a news writer since 2018, Josh has covered just about every major game from the past decade. Now an editor, their focus has shifted to being the leading affiliate expert at the site, building relationships between TheGamer and global brands including Mattel, Funko, and The Pokemon Company. A new Rudolph game was released last week. That’s unless you’re trying to play it on Switch 2. On that particular console, Game Mill’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer straight up doesn’t exist, even if you’ve bought a physical copy. A Game-Key Card Without The Game Game Mill A Reddit user who goes by AL_KATRAZZ appears to have been the first to notice the issue, or at least the first to share it online. They explained that, upon inserting their physical copy of the new Rudolph game, which is a game-key card, into their Switch 2, they were met with an error code. An error code that meant the game wouldn’t download, rendering the key card useless. Upon further investigation, they discovered that the digital version of Rudolph is only 82 MB on Switch 2 - it’s supposed to be a little more than 6 GB, as it is on other platforms. That seems to be the problem. There is no game to download, and since all a key card does is unlock access to the digital version of the game, that’s why the player is presented with an error code, even though they own a physical copy of the game. Physical Or Digital, You Can't Play It Game Mill It also means that, somehow, despite Rudolph’s release date coming and going three days ago, the Switch 2 version of it simply hasn’t been added to the eShop. That’s a big issue not only because people are buying physical copies that won’t work thanks to its key card nature, but since the game has technically been released, there are people paying for the digital version too, only to be presented with nothing once the transaction is complete. The OP of the Reddit post attempted to resolve the issue through Nintendo customer service, but employees seem to be as confused as they are, and why wouldn’t they be? If a publisher hasn’t uploaded its game to the eShop on release day, that’s on them, not Nintendo. In this case, that publisher is Game Mill, a studio that doesn’t exactly have the best track record, although this is the first time I can recall it taking money for a game that’s unplayable in the literal sense. Hard to believe, and a little different in this case with physical copies of Rudolph unplayable too, but this has kind of happened before, and relatively recently. In August, Ubisoft added Heroes of Might and Magic 3’s complete edition to Steam. Exciting stuff for fans of the somewhat dormant series, until they quickly discovered, after buying the game, that Ubisoft had forgotten to add any of its files. Brand Nintendo Original Release Date June 5, 2025 Original MSRP (USD) $449.99 Operating System Proprietary Resolution 1080p (handheld) / 4K (docked) HDR Support Yes