Nintendo Switch Online Won't Keep Your Cloud Saves If Your Membership Expires

TheGamer

By Scott Baird

Published Sep 14, 2018

A week before the launching of its Nintendo Switch Online service, Nintendo discloses you'll have to renew your subscription to keep your Cloud data.

Nintendo decided that the best time to release more information about their upcoming Nintendo Switch Online service was a week before it was set to launch.

The fans had hoped for some surprise announcements during the Nintendo Switch Online segment of the last Nintendo Direct, such as the addition of Super Nintendo games, or the promise of Nintendo 64 and GameCube games in the future, but they didn't reveal anything that we weren't already expecting.

It seems that Nintendo decided to dump a few noteworthy details about the Nintendo Switch Online service on the official F.A.Q. page.

One of the most attractive features of the Nintendo Switch Online service is the addition of Save Cloud Data, which will allow players to store their saved games online. This feature won't work with all Switch games (most notably the Pokémon Let's Go games) but it's still something that fans have been asking for for a long time.

You are going to have to be very careful about making sure your subscription is always renewed, as the F.A.Q. for the Nintendo Switch Online service has revealed that your Save Cloud Data won't be retained outside of your membership. If your membership expires, then you lose the files.

The F.A.Q. states that if you keep a backup of your files on the system, then it's possible to upload them again once you renew your subscription, but the original files will still be gone.

This applies to the saves from both your regular games and the Nintendo Entertainment System games that are provided as part of the service.

The Nintendo Switch Online's treatment of Save Cloud Data is nowhere near as good as the service provided by PlayStation Plus, as Sony will keep your files for six months after your subscription expires.

Microsoft also offers a better service than both Nintendo and Sony in this regard, as you can use the cloud saving feature without needing a subscription to Xbox Live Gold.

The Nintendo Switch Online service has come under fire for being inferior to the same kind of services offered by Nintendo's competitors, as well as some underwhelming features that have failed to get the fans excited.

Nintendo is still new to the paid subscription model for their online services, so it's possible that they are still working through a few teething issues, but they will need to resolve them quickly if they want fans to start signing up.

The Nintendo Switch Online service will become available on September 18th.