Topic: Bizarre Play Time Tracking Error - Have You Encountered It?

I've stumbled upon a recent error on my Switch. Nothing big, just peculiar, and I was wondering if anyone else has encountered it.

On the "All Software" menu, I always have my games ordered by "Play Time (Longest First)" because I enjoy seeing the games I'm currently playing climb the list. In the past month, I've noticed my oldest games drop on the list. For instance, in my "Play Activity," Blaster Master Zero is listed as having five or more hours logged on it, but on the "All Software" menu, the game icon is hanging around the games I've played for about an hour or so.

So far, the other games that have dropped are Breath of the Wild, 1-2-Switch, Snipperclips, and Super Bomberman R, all games I purchased during the first month of the Switch's lifespan. My theory is the system is gradually "forgetting" my playtime from seven years ago. I think more games will fall as time goes on, especially if I haven't played them since 2017.

A few more notes (if they're relevant):

• I purchased my Switch on launch day, and it's the only Switch I've ever had.
• I have a huge library of games, all of them digital downloads.
• Most of these games are on a 1 TB micro SD card, and I haven't eliminated any game icons from my Switch, apart from demos.

I don't know if anyone has my exact set of circumstances, but it'd be interesting to hear if others are experiencing this same issue.

I was experiencing this with a few games before I got my OLED in November 2022 and everything was reset for me as a result (my actual play time displayed on my profile has been retained, but when sorting, everything was reset). It's probably gotten worse since then, as the old console's still kicking as a hand-me-down for my little brother, but I haven't checked in a while. I believe my physical copies of Pokken Tournament DX and Rayman Legends were affected, and I had both games within a year of picking up my Switch, so it was a comparable situation to yours. I don't think games I'd actively played more recently or for longer were impacted, though, like Super Mario Odyssey.

Yeah, I've noticed this as well. Strange how imprecise the playtime tracking is on Switch compared to 3DS and Wii U.