Nintendo Will Let You Recover Cloud Saves Up to 6 Months After Your Switch Online Subscription Lapses

Authored by ign.com and submitted by thecornballer1
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Share. You will still have time to recover your saves should your subscription end.if you resubscribe. You will still have time to recover your saves should your subscription end.if you resubscribe.

Clarifying its earlier policy regarding Nintendo Switch Online subscription cloud saves, Nintendo has confirmed that, even if your Online subscription lapses, you still have a bit of time to recover cloud saves.

In a statement given to IGN by a Nintendo spokesperson, Nintendo has confirmed that, should a Switch owner resubscribe to Switch Online within 180 days, or six months, after their subscription ends, users can still recover their previous cloud saves.

"If a Nintendo Switch Online membership expires, users won’t be able to access their Save Data Cloud backups. However, Nintendo will allow users who resubscribe within 180 days to access their previous Save Data Cloud backups," the Nintendo spokesperson said.

Previously, a Nintendo U.K. FAQ mentioned "Save data stored with Save Data Cloud cannot be kept outside of the duration of your Nintendo Switch Online membership," suggesting cloud saves would be lost forever should a subscription lapse for any reason. While their is a timer on how long players will have to resubscribe, and players won't be able to access those saves without a subscription, Nintendo's clarified policy does give players 180 days to resubscribe and regain their saves.

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Nintendo has previously confirmed, however, that some Nintendo Switch games, such as Splatoon 2 and Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, will not support cloud saves. Nintendo explained that "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."

For more on the service's functionality, be sure to check out our wiki guide about how Nintendo Switch cloud saves work.

If you're curious to learn more about the service and haven't subscribed yet, be sure to check out everything we know about Nintendo Switch Online, including more details about the classic NES games that come with the service and that you can use My Nintendo gold points to pay for your subscription service.

Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's News Editor. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

TannenFalconwing on September 25th, 2018 at 20:38 UTC »

I'm still not sure why they couldn't have slipped this into the direct.

"And if something happens and you're unable to renew your Nintendo Switch Online Subscription, don't worry. Mario and the gang will hold on to your cloud saves for 6 months after your subscription ends, giving you time to sort things out. Nintendo will always be here for you."

Maybe a bit cheesy for a first draft but then again they illustrated cloud saves by dropping a Thwomp on Luigi's Switch so I think some cheese can be forgiven.

But this would fit in very well to their cloud save section and would still be a positive part of the pitch.

Bakatora34 on September 25th, 2018 at 19:07 UTC »

Nice to have confirmation about it.

thecornballer1 on September 25th, 2018 at 19:05 UTC »

"If a Nintendo Switch Online membership expires, users won’t be able to access their Save Data Cloud backups. However, Nintendo will allow users who resubscribe within 180 days to access their previous Save Data Cloud backups," the Nintendo spokesperson said.