Nintendo Switch owners with the console’s latest system update have noted that it is no longer possible to play the same digital game online across two systems simultaneously.
Previously, a Switch designated as a primary console could load up a digital game and play online alongside the owner of that game logged in via a second Switch.
TLDR: You could share bread as long as they are in the same store, now you have to either lend your bread priviledges to a friend or make them buy it for themselves.
actually forget this tldr, no one will understand it, not even myself, I don’t own a switch.
Interesting – I thought they always restricted it to only one user playing the same game online at a time!
I thought that as well, otherwise the whole world could just use one account to play. Where was the limit?
You can only set one Switch as primary account.
you can play with your own account in your own switch, while your friend plays in his Switch that is set as your account’s primary. Previously both can play the same game at the same time (I did a while ago to play MH rise with my friend, using one game and one NSO subscription). Seems this is no longer possible after the new update
Did you both play online, i guess MH Rise only works online. If that was possible i’m surprised. On ps4/5 it’s for sure not possible, but i never tried it on the switch.
Yes, we did play online on the same party. In contrast, we can’t play local network party together so need to be Online
Well, families on NSO have a limit of 8 users. So I thought 1 could play online, and 7 offline at most.
It might depend on the game, but I could play Splatoon 3 with my kids online at the same time. We’d play on the same team and everything. Now I have to buy another virtual copy. Which I guess is fair from Nintendo’s perspective, but fuck $80 a game in today’s economy and they won’t even let me play with my kids when:
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the game has no split screen option
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I pay for a family NSO account
Pretty shitty.
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Previously:
You have a Nintendo account. Under your account is your primary device. You buy a game under your Nintendo account. You can then play on any device that you’re signed into. Or any account on your primary device can play the game. (Xbox had this same setup for years.) Working example: you buy Mario Kart. Your friend comes over. You sign in on your friend’s Switch, and hand them your switch and they use any other account on the device (including local). You then can both play the same copy/license of Mario Kart.
Now there are two options: virtual game cards, and online licensing. VGC is what all of the noise/confusion is about. Online licensing is very similar to the old method, but they closed the loophole I outlined above.
The “loophole” that they included on their website?
If multiple users want to play the same game at the same time:
The user that purchased the game should play on a system that is not the shared console (a non-primary console). This console will need to have an active internet connection. The user that did not purchase the game should play on the shared console (the primary console for the user that purchased the game).
Yes but in that site it’s also this:
Error Code: 2819-0003, “Play is being suspended.” This error code usually indicates that your Nintendo Account is being used to play your digital content on another console. You cannot use your Nintendo Account to access games on multiple systems simultaneously. For more details, read Error Code: 2819-0003.
I assume this will be a deeply unpopular opinion, but I don’t really see an issue with this?
If you buy a game physically you can’t have the cartridge inserted in two consoles at the same time. Why would the digital version work any differently?
That’s good marketing on Nintendo’s part. You could play on two devices before.
But, again, this is physically impossible with an actual cartridge. The fact it worked with digital copies was just a loophole that they have now closed, surely?
Hard to call it a “loophole” when it was listed on Nintendo’s own website less than two weeks ago.
You can check it by making these choices:
Click “How to share games with other users”, then “Digital games”, then “Multiple users”, and finally “How to play the same digital game at the same time”.
I only own a single Switch so I never used this, but considering they listed this officially before I’d say the compaints about downgrade are 100% reasonable.
Depends who you ask. Users said it was a feature, nintendo says loophole.
Hows it a loophole when it’s on their site.
Like I said, it’s upto Nintendo what they wanna say. For users, it was a feature.
It sounds like a version of nintendo ds game share, though I never heard of it until now. I only own a wii
If we’re talking about the same thing, DS game sharing (download play I think?) did not share whole games and was not used for many games. Something almost identical already existed on GBA (though using a cable instead of wifi).
The idea was to upload a stripped version of the game to other DSs and let them join a limited multiplayer. Like, you could play Mario Kart, but players without the cartridge had only one character or you could only select certain tracks (on GBA at least). Sometimes game sharing was used for multiplayer minigames, while the main game was only playable with the cartridge.
This sounds more like the new thing they’ve advertized with Switch 2 being able to share select multiplayer games with other Switches, not the virtual game cards stuff. Though I don’t know whether those will be limited like GBA and DS did.
Yeah, fuckin knew it the moment they announced this.
I know many Nintendo consumers that will likely just buy multiple copies of the same game
I realize I’m in the wrong place to say it but it is true
Yes it can be true, but there is a chance someone was sharing that game through a legitimate feature.
No shit, anything that isnt the full game with all bugfix patches on a physical cart is a downgrade compared to what they had to do in the past. Literaly could send your cartridge in and get the patched one back.
I think you misunderstood, Virtual Game Card is fully digital, new system, to lend diigital games to another switch.
Maybe you’re thinking about Game Key Card? Which is a physical key without game file, so need to download the game itself
Previously, a Switch designated as a primary console could load up a digital game and play online alongside the owner of that game logged in via a second Switch.
I’m under the impression that the old method is still available, so you could still use this “trick” to play the same copy on two devices.
There’s a NintendoLife article detailing how to perform the loophole
However, there is a loophole that will let you play the same game on two Switches. To do so, head into the ‘User’ section of the System Settings and select your profile. Then, head down to Online License Settings and turn it on.
This allows you to play digital games whilst connected to the internet, even if the relevant Virtual Game Card is loaded onto another system.The previous method actually allowed both users to play online/multiplayer games together, so this is still sort of a downgrade.
Well TBF, it was a loophole. Not surprised they patched it out.
Sharing and trading games is just about the only thing I absolutely miss about physical media. I’m not playing X quite as much anymore and I want to check out Y. My friend has Y and has never played X. We swap carts. Life is good.
Can’t fucking do that shit anymore… 😮💨
You can with cartridges. That’s why me and my friends get them. We swap.
What people are complaining about are apparently a feature digital games had, which I never knew about since I use physical media. I get why they’re salty about it, but it does sound like a weird loophole they never fixed and apparently even mentioned it in some web page of theirs it was possible, so like an officially sanctioned loophole?
This reminds me of what Xbox tried to do all those years ago, but Nintendo is actually getting away with it.
Except the thing XBox tried to do required a permanent online connection to play your own games, which was what caused the most backlash.
I certainly hope it’s not the case for Switch (2) and you can still start your games offline, since, you know, it’s supposed to be a handheld too.
Also XBox tried to apply their DRM to physical media too, whereas this only changes how downloaded content works.