Digital Nintendo Switch games potentially cannot be shared, locked to one console at a time

NintendoSwitch_hardware_Console_05-1.jpg

If you were hoping Nintendo had finally decided to step into the modern era of online purchases, you might be disappointed to hear that, according to a Q&A session at the NYC Nintendo World Store, digital Switch games will only be able to be played on one system at a time, and that multiple purchases will be needed to play your digital games on separate consoles. The context of this comes from a YouTuber asking Nintendo's GM of Planning and Development, Shinya Takahashi, if a Nintendo Account's digital games could be shared between two Switch consoles. The response is as follows:

Consumer: “If I want to take my system with me… if I were to buy a digital game, could I buy it once, or would I have to buy it multiple times so they can use those games?”

Takahashi: “Currently we don’t have a system like that in place for Nintendo Switch, but we haven’t made any final decisions about how we would approach that going forward in the future, so unfortunately I can’t provide any concrete answer for you right now.”

While this doesn't mean games are forever locked to a console, and you will likely be able to use a system transfer feature, this is a much less accessible way compared to how competitors Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam allow consumers to download their titles to multiple systems.

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Supster131

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Yeah, I knew people were taking that quote from the leaked Switch UI video out of proportions.
The same thing is said when formatting the Wii U. You are obviously allowed to relink the same NNID on the same system. I don't know where people got "oh shit this claims we will finally be able to use our accounts on any Switch and redownload games!"
 

ultramario1998

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Takahashi: “Currently we don’t have a system like that in place for Nintendo Switch, but we haven’t made any final decisions about how we would approach that going forward in the future, so unfortunately I can’t provide any concrete answer for you right now.”

wait, but... that's not confirming or disconfirming anything at all. They literally said "We're not sure about that yet, we can't give you a concrete answer right now."

why is this news again?
 

Xabring

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Takahashi: “Currently we don’t have a system like that in place for Nintendo Switch, but we haven’t made any final decisions about how we would approach that going forward in the future, so unfortunately I can’t provide any concrete answer for you right now.”

wait, but... that's not confirming or disconfirming anything at all. They literally said "We're not sure about that yet, we can't give you a concrete answer right now."

why is this news again?
EXACTLY!!!
WE DON'T KNOW!!!!! we are back to square 1 on the question "can we use same account on multiple switches for same game?"
 
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ultramario1998

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EXACTLY!!!
WE DON'T KNOW!!!!! we are back to square 1 on the question "can we use same account on multiple switches for same game?"
then why is there a big Temp article saying 'Nintendo games cannot be used on multiple consoles at the same time' when Nintendo has said nothing to that effect? This isn't news.
 

Xzi

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Wait, there are people that buy multiple PS4s/XB1s? What a bunch of suckers...the only good reason to do this is if your first one breaks due to some unfortunate circumstance. In which case a system transfer works just fine.
 
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Takahashi: “Currently we don’t have a system like that in place for Nintendo Switch, but we haven’t made any final decisions about how we would approach that going forward in the future, so unfortunately I can’t provide any concrete answer for you right now.”

wait, but... that's not confirming or disconfirming anything at all. They literally said "We're not sure about that yet, we can't give you a concrete answer right now."

why is this news again?
Rats...you beat me to it. I was scratching my head as to how what has been said matches the thread title in any way. It's also a bit of a strange question from the youtuber. "what if I want to take my system with me?"...does he really need to be explained that the switch is also a portable? :unsure:
What I THINK he wants to know is whether he has to buy his games again if his system breaks down, or whether his games are locked to his system rather than to an obligatory nintendo account, but I can understand the nintendo employee isn't going to answer these sorts of questions*, as they will be analyzed an misintrerpreted by the audience anyway. This thread is a clear example of this.

Nintendo: "unfortunately I can’t provide any concrete answer for you right now."
Chary: you guys! games are still locked to your account!!!!
gbatemp: *cancels preorder*
Me: :wtf: but...but...nobody said anything about actual consoles or accounts on that thing???




*the answer is pretty vague as well if you look at it:
Question: will it be system A or B?
Answer: we currently don't have a system like that.
Me: wtf does that "that" refer to? :unsure:
 
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In other words, they still deciding. "Currently we don’t have a system like that in place for Nintendo Switch, but we haven’t made any final decisions"
or that they could implement a system like they intended to.


the ambiguity: he did not specified if Both Him and his kid has their Own account, but there is a High chance takahashi did assume that they had their own account since that's what Nintendo want us to do (having space for 6 accounts on 1 switch).

Takahashi: “Currently we don’t have a system like that in place for Nintendo Switch, but we haven’t made any final decisions about how we would approach that going forward in the future, so unfortunately I can’t provide any concrete answer for you right now.”

wait, but... that's not confirming or disconfirming anything at all. They literally said "We're not sure about that yet, we can't give you a concrete answer right now."

why is this news again?

*the answer is pretty vague as well if you look at it:
Question: will it be system A or B?
Answer: we currently don't have a system like that.
Me: wtf does that "that" refer to? :unsure:

And now we are 3 that saw this!
 

Rockhoundhigh

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Eh, my policy now is to wait for the console to actually release before making any opinions. That and buying a console at launch is almost never a good idea. We'll see if their policy changes in the future but honestly it's not a deal breaker for me. Also, anyone else kind of thrown of my how little we really know even a week before launch? While launching in Q1 could be good for Nintendo it really feels like they're rushing the launch again like they did with the 3DS.
 
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Nothing new here.
With the portability of the Switch it's actually less of a problem than ever.
Wanna play a game at a friends house?
Bring your switch.

Pretty simple. The amount of times I needed to download things on multiple PS3's or Xbox 360s even when I was in highschool totals about 3 times in the consoles lifespan.
Whether you can or not really wont affect a majority of users. It sounds like you can probably re-download things on a new Switch if your first one were to break and that's the only instance where that would matter.
 

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Wait couldn't you just log out your NNID from your Nintendo switch and log back in another?

If you were to be signed into two switches at the same time, people will just share their games with friends and others.
 
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Astral_

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Wait couldn't you just log out your NNID from your Nintendo switch and log back in another?

If you were to be signed into two switches at the same time, people will just share their games with friends and others.

I definetely agree, the answer is quite vague, but I take it as 'you can't use one account to play one game on 2+ consoles'.
Which is already the case with PS3 (where you can't logon simultaneously), Steam (even with Family share) and so on.
 
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