Topic: Inaccurate Switch Playtime

Hey guys, I've been having an issue for the past several months where my Switch isn't correctly displaying my games. I have my menu configured where my games are supposed to be ordered from most- to least-played. However, games I've owned since 2017 are starting to fall in their placement day-by-day, even though they should still be at the top. It's as if after four years, the Switch just starts erasing play time, one day at a time.

Breath of the Wild is my most-played Switch game at around 200 hours. However, it's now listed all the way down with games I've only played for 30-40 hours. The same can be said for other games like Mario Kart 8. I put maybe around 30 hours into Shovel Knight, but since I've hardly touched it since 2017, it's all the way down now with demos I've only played for a couple hours.

If I go to my user account, play time will still display correctly there, saying "played for 200 hours or more" for BotW, for example. It's only on the Switch menu where I select my games that this is a problem.

This may seem silly for most, but I love being able to track my play history and see where they all rank. I loved the Activity Log on 3DS for this reason. It's always fun for me to see new games rise through the ranks, and I'm always curious which one will take the lead. I even press the "Home" button when I'm not playing to keep the time as accurate as possible. (Yes, I do suffer from OCD, lol.)

This wouldn't be as much of a problem if you could view every game's play time under the user account settings and not just the most recent 20 you've played. If anyone knows how I can fix this problem, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much!

@Not_Soos My BotW tile was one of my most played, and it, too, was out of order for about 6-12 months, circa 2020. It resolved itself around last spring, I think. - I'm not aware of a fix. Doesn't mean there isn't one, I just never looked too hard. Nintendo support has a page for "Play Activity Does Not Display Correctly", which is kind of related, but it just has generic directions, update the console & reboot. https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a... (I don't think this is a solution, just pointing it out)

Pretty sure we went through at least three Switch updates while my BotW tile wouldn't sort correctly by play time. And I shut down my console at night. So, it's rebooted plenty.

@WoomyNNYes MH did this to me to, It was 500, to 100 hours, like what?

@WoomyNNYes Well if it sorted itself out for you, maybe there's hope for mine. Yeah, I've read it before on their official site and it wasn't particularly helpful. I appreciate the effort, though! I even tried calling customer support yesterday, but they had high traffic volumes.

The playtime number for The Binding of Isaac and Splatoon 2 drop for me whether they drop out of my most recent 20 played games. They were at 1000+ hours at one point but now they're both like half that so I think it might only be keeping track of the last three years or something.

Sorting by most played also becomes pretty useless if you ever transfer to a new Switch as it's the system's most played titles rather than your profile.

@BenAV Ah, that's disappointing to hear if I ever upgrade to the OLED. I hope Nintendo changes this somehow.

@WoomyNNYes @Snatcher @BenAV

Hey guys, I know this is an old thread, but just letting y'all know I got up with Nintendo customer support about the issue. This was their first time hearing about it. They took my information and called me back for additional questioning, so they're actively trying to troubleshoot it. They told me they would contact me if they needed anything else from me or when they find a solution. Hopefully, they get it lined out.

I also mentioned the thing you said, @BenAV, about play time resetting if you get a new Switch. This is something they were aware of, and they said if you pass the threshold of time you put in on your other Switch, it would start displaying correctly after the transfer. So basically, if you played Mario Odyssey for 15 hours on your old Switch, it will be down at the bottom once you transfer to a new one until you put in another 15 hours to match the original timr. Then, it will put it with all your games you've played for 30 hours and remain normal from then-onward. Hope that makes sense. It's a bit absurd, and if you've already put hundreds of hours into Breath of the Wild, you're probably never gonna play it enough to get that fixed. They said they didn't know whether this was a glitch or if it was intentional, but it's something they would also forward to Nintendo for review. So that could be getting a fix as well, hopefully.

Unless this thread gets locked, I'll try to keep you guys updated if they put out a patch or anything. Lastly, I asked them about the possibility of the Nintendo app that released in Japan a couple years ago to come out here in the states, which shows you your cumulative play times for not only Switch games, but also Wii U and 3DS all in one convenient place. They also said they'd let Nintendo know there's a demand for it. Would seriously love that, although I know it's literally the nerdiest thing on the planet.

@Not_Soos Out of curiosity did you ever get this problem solved? This has been happening on my switch lately and it's lowkey starting to annoying me 😅

@Vortexeo

Unfortunately, no. They contacted me at least one more time since my last update for more troubleshooting. They explained that Nintendo was able to replicate the issue, though. The glitch is not that play time is being erased after you've owned your Switch for a certain period of time, as I initially thought. Instead, they told me the problem is that the Switch I guess basically has an internal clock that tracks your total number of hours, and once it's passed a certain threshold, it starts deleting your oldest play time to make room for the new ones. I know this doesn't exactly help you, but it's at least a good sign they're taking it seriously.

I was a little discouraged that it's taken so long, and when I asked the representative if he thinks Nintendo is actually gonna do anything about it, he basically said, "They wouldn't keep having us call you back if they weren't interested in figuring this out." So, I suppose a firmware update could drop any time to fix the problem. That last correspondence with them was probably back in like February or something, so it's still taking them a while. Fingers crossed that one day soon we'll boot up our Switches and the menu will be back to normal after updating. I doubt they'll be back in touch with me since I'm pretty sure I can't be of assistance anymore at this point. I'll update you if they tell me that we have to do something specific on our end to fix it, but I'd imagine it will be in a firmware update.

@Not_Soos Ahhhh dang, well I appreciate the response! I'm glad it seems like they're doing something about it. I'm hoping that they get this fixed soon 🤞

I'm afraid of this happening as well, which is why I made a Google Doc for myself that I use to keep track of all my times just in case. If the game itself has an in-game clock, even better. For example, my most played games include:

• Pokemon Shield (445 hours)
• Smash Bros Ultimate/Mario Maker 2 (290 hours each)
• Pokemon Legends Arceus (190 hours)

I've had a similar problem with my switch, I had 115 hours on Splatoon 3 and now it's all gone. Says I only started playing a few days ago and I'm not getting anything back from Nintendo's support services

It seems that the playtimes have been reset for some of my games too.

I played Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers a couple of weeks ago, and it shows as if I have played for under an hour, as has another game that I haven't played in quite a while. It's not as if I've played the hell out of USF2, but I recall putting at least 5 hours into it.