Some Nintendo Switch Games Won't Support Cloud Saves

Nintendo’s cloud save feature that’s part of the Nintendo Switch Online service won’t be [...]

By Tanner Dedmon

Nintendo's cloud save feature that's part of the Nintendo Switch Online service won't be available for every game so as to avoid cheating and manipulation of the save system.

Revealing the details in May, Nintendo's online service was said to include a Save Data Cloud Backup feature for anyone who paid the monthly or yearly subscription fee. While it would store backups of game data on the cloud service to prevent the loss of saved data, Nintendo said that it would only apply to "most Nintendo Switch games."

"By using Nintendo Switch Online, a backup of Nintendo Switch save data for most Nintendo Switch games will be stored online for easy access," Nintendo's summary of the Save Data Cloud Backup feature said. "This is great for people who want to retrieve their data if they lose, break or purchase an additional Nintendo Switch system."

Following the delay of Nintendo's latest Direct, some information that was expected to be announced during the presentation such as the reveal of Yoshi's Crafted World went live on Nintendo's site seemingly ahead of schedule. Game Informer noticed that one of these changes was the new warnings that showed up on various games' pages saying that the cloud save feature wouldn't be supported. Game Informer reported that the warning showed up on several prominent games like Pokemon: Let's Go, Pikachu and Eevee, Dark Souls, NBA 2K19, Splatoon 2, and more.

Soon after the discovery was made, a representative from Nintendo responded to Game Informer's quest for a comment and explained why certain games don't support cloud saves. The company said that the absence of cloud saves on particular games was to "ensure fair play" with the full comment seen below.

"The vast majority of Nintendo Switch games will support Save Data Cloud backup. However, in certain games this feature would make it possible to, for example, regain items that had been traded to other players, or revert to a higher online multiplayer ranking that had been lost. To ensure fair play, Save Data Cloud backup may not be enabled for such games. To ensure that Save Data Cloud backups cannot be used to unfairly affect online multiplayer rankings, the feature will not be enabled in Splatoon 2."

Nintendo Switch Online and the Save Data Cloud Backup feature are expected to launch in September with online play and special offers included, more on that likely coming during the rescheduled Nintendo Direct.

Trending Now: