Recently, some Nintendo Switch owners found out that their playtimes for Switch launch titles have been reset, such as for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In that case, the counter says "First played 0 days ago" instead of showing the total playtime in hours. A Reddit user provided the following possible explanation:

Looks like Nintendo's code is only looking for the day and month you last played the game and figuring out the time since then. It's ignoring the year. It doesn't know you started March 3rd 2017, just March 3rd, so 0 days ago.

The Switch shows the "First played X days ago" message for 10 days after you first launch a game. This means that, in theory, the correct playtime should return on the 11th day. In the meantime, Nintendo provided the following statement on twitter, acknowledging the reset as an issue and expecting more information on the matter soon:

Some Nintendo Switch owners' play activity information is displaying incorrectly. We are aware of the issue and we expect to have more information to share in the near future.

Source

 

[chirogan]

Does this bug affect playtime activity log only or it corrupts game saves as well?

 

[Jacklack3]

*blocking updates intensifies*

 

[chirogan]

*blocking updates intensifies*

Nintenso be like: Gotcha!

 

[Jacklack3]

Nintenso be like: Gotcha!

Nah Nintendo would be like "Gotcha for a month or two!".

 

[chirogan]

Nah Nintendo would be like "Gotcha for a month or two!".

I feel like this will be a quick minor patch but no major changes. If you know what i mean.

Thats why iam curious if it somehow corrupts game saves as well.

 

[TehCupcakes]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is a UI-only bug. It certainly does not affect save files. It could be that your play time was reset, but I don't think that's the case either. Instead, the Switch looks to see if you first played a game more than X days ago (I forget how many days it is). If it's less than that, display the number of days. If it's more than that, display the number of hours. I expect your playtime is still being maintained and you will have your total hours once again after you surpass that window of X number of days.

Knowing about software development, this is what would make the most sense.

 

[Chizko]

This.

 

[Xyphoseos]

All my playtimes are bugged since the first day than I have my switch execpt one : MK8D
others tell me for exemple :
TLOZ BOTW : first time 10 days, I've it since 25 december 2017
same for Mario Rabbit kingdom battle
And my others games too

 

[leon315]

does this bug affect saves in any negative ways??

 

[GilgameshArcher]

Nintendo console bugs.

What's new about that?

 

[Madridi]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is a UI-only bug. It certainly does not affect save files. It could be that your play time was reset, but I don't think that's the case either. Instead, the Switch looks to see if you first played a game more than X days ago (I forget how many days it is). If it's less than that, display the number of days. If it's more than that, display the number of hours. I expect your playtime is still being maintained and you will have your total hours once again after you surpass that window of X number of days.

Knowing about software development, this is what would make the most sense.

This is exactly what I think it is

 

[thekarter104]

It's a 0day for sure.

 

[DarkWork0]

Play time activity is only a UI feature and has no access or bearing on any saves. That would be like opening the steam icon on your desktop that not only opened steam but also changed your background image to dogs playing poker.

 

[GerbilSoft]

Rule of thumb: Don't write your own date/time libraries. You will always screw up.

Other examples: PS3 leap year bug in 2010, iOS always getting scheduled events wrong after DST changes, etc.

 

[Justinde75]

Same

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

Silly oversight, but seems like it just effects what displays in the activity log and not the actual saved play hours. Should fix itself in 10 days per game, until a patch comes along with a new FW.

 

[Hells Malice]

...of course it's a bug. What the hell else would it be.
Really?

 

[DrkBeam]

...of course it's a bug. What the hell else would it be.
Really?

Well, the cellphone app voice chat exclusivity is not a bug...

 

[the_randomizer]

Serious question, tell me, what's more important, you knowing you spent 200+ hours on Breath of the Wild, or other people knowing you spend 200+ hours? I honestly don't see this as that big of a deal, if you know you spent that much time, then okay.