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>What prevents us from getting into Sword and Shield early?
Three layers of protection.
-The game content needs to be uploaded to the CDN.
-The game content needs to be owned by an account.
-The game titlekey needs to be made available (this is equivalent to saying the games must be released).
>What's a titlekey?
A titlekey is a 128-bit number, used to decrypt content that has been downloaded from the CDN.
Titlekeys are stored in Tickets, which your console receives once a title it has been purchased has been released.
>What does "needs to be owned by an account" mean?
Starting in system version 9.0.0, Nintendo has enforced serverside anti-piracy techniques on the CDN. Downloading a game now requires authenticating with the server with a Nintendo account that owns what's being downloaded.
This means that the game content cannot be downloaded until an account can own the games -- effectively, they cannot be downloaded until they are pre-purchasable.
