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Topic: Can you play Digital games on 2 different Consoles?

Posts 1 to 16 of 16

Jen10

My friend gave me his memory card with several digital games as he's not got his Switch anymore but when i put it in my Switch i get a message saying ' the card is linked to a different console & to use it i need to reformat or delete the data'. Is there anyway i can play his games please?

Jen10

Sisilly_G

MicroSD cards are formatted specifically to the Switch console it is used by and cannot be shared between various consoles. Either way, you cannot share games between consoles with different NNID accounts.

Unless your friend registers his NNID on your Switch and sets it up so that your console is recognised as the "primary console" for his account, then you cannot play his games.

Edited on by Sisilly_G

"Gee, that's really persuasive. Do you have any actual points to make other than to essentially say 'me Tarzan, physical bad, digital good'?"

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

Jen10

@Silly_G thanks for the reply. Oh that's a pain, do you know if my friend registered his NNID on my switch would it cause any issues with my NNID account ? Thanks

Jen10

Sisilly_G

@Jen10 : If your friend makes a user profile on your Switch and registers it with his NNID (with your Switch recognised as the "primary console" for that NNID) then you will be able to play his games without any issues, however, you will need to download the games yourself.

And if your friend procures another Switch console later and wants to register his old NNID on his console and make it his "primary console", then he will be able to do that as well, however, this will mean that any of his games on your console will no longer be playable (but you can pick up where you left off if you buy your own copies after the fact). Hope that makes sense.

"Gee, that's really persuasive. Do you have any actual points to make other than to essentially say 'me Tarzan, physical bad, digital good'?"

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

Jen10

@Silly_G thanks so much, that makes sense, i'll get him to do that. Thanks again

Jen10

Don

I’m hoping Nintendo would be graceful and take off the tied purchase to single console restriction right before they take down the Wii U and 3DS eShop and eventually on the last day of Switch eShop. I mean it doesn’t make sense to have that restriction once the shop is closed and the restriction removal would allow owners to have a backup on a potential second console in case the console with the downloads stops working. I don’t really understand what’s the point of people copying their downloads onto a hard drive if the console stops working there’s no way to play them, not as if you can just hook the hard drive to another console to get access to the games.

Edited on by Don

Don

SwitchForce

@Don That's asking alot. They will alway be tied to single console account purchased the eShop games. That's not going away anytime soon or in the future.

SwitchForce

Don

SwitchForce wrote:

@Don That's asking alot. They will alway be tied to single console account purchased the eShop games. That's not going away anytime soon or in the future.

I would say that’s not unreasonable if they are closing the eShop. I mean even if people make a backup copy of the downloaded games and someone else gets them, Nintendo isn’t losing money because there’s no place to buy the games if the purchase options are discontinued.

Don

Sisilly_G

But potential sales could be lost from games that have been ported/remade on modern hardware.

Either way, scenarios like these is precisely why many of us are not thrilled about digital purchases, especially as your entire library can go up in smoke with no chance for recovery.

"Gee, that's really persuasive. Do you have any actual points to make other than to essentially say 'me Tarzan, physical bad, digital good'?"

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

skywake

Silly_G wrote:

And if your friend procures another Switch console later and wants to register his old NNID on his console and make it his "primary console", then he will be able to do that as well, however, this will mean that any of his games on your console will no longer be playable

This is not entirely correct. You can share digital games across consoles, the licence is tied to your account not the console. The only thing setting a console as primary does is make that console the one that "leads". Basically, if you are playing a game on some other console and the primary console boots up? It'll kick the secondary consoles out of the game. Also the secondary consoles have to ask Nintendo before the game starts to check if the primary console is currently online. Primary doesn't need to phone home

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"

WoomyNNYes

@skywake Do you, or someone you know, share digital games on separate consoles? The caveats seems so awful, I have a hard time believing anyone does it, if people use their consoles daily.

Edited on by WoomyNNYes

Extreme bicycle rider (<--Link to a favorite bike video)
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Sisilly_G

@skywake : When making that comment, I made it under the assumption that the friend would remove his profile from the OP’s console altogether when reclaiming his NNID in the event that he procures another console for himself.

And like @WoomyNNYes pointed out, I didn’t want to suggest that keeping the friend’s NNID on the OP’s console as a secondary unit would be feasible, caveats noted. I’ve tested how it works in practice and I certainly wouldn’t recommend people trying to freeload from other people’s libraries. Nintendo even blocks you from using free software (such as YouTube) on a secondary console if the primary console is in use.

Edited on by Sisilly_G

"Gee, that's really persuasive. Do you have any actual points to make other than to essentially say 'me Tarzan, physical bad, digital good'?"

Switch Friend Code: SW-1910-7582-3323

dmcc0

@WoomyNNYes The only game I've shared is Mario Kart - my son regularly plays it on his Switch with my user. We don't have it cloud-sync'd or anything so he essentially has his own save file.

The Primary console (mine) does actually allow any user to play the game - the secondary only allows the game "owner" to play), so we can play at the same time as long as I use a different user. If we are playing together we either just play as each other, or just swap consoles (he still lives at home) so I play on his Switch and he plays on mine.

It's fine as long as your in the same house, but I think it would be pretty messy just sharing with a friend or someone that doesn't live with you.

Edited on by dmcc0

dmcc0

Bunkerneath

And this is why Physical games are better

I AM ERROR

Switch Friend Code: SW-5538-4050-1819 | 3DS Friend Code: 1633-4650-1215 | My Nintendo: Bunkerneath | Nintendo Network ID: Bunkerneat | Twitter:

skywake

@WoomyNNYes @Silly_G
Fair call, the shared library feature is mostly useful for when you own multiple Switches yourself or when sharing content within a household/family. I personally haven't used it much but I do have my sister's account on my Switch and mine on her's. Have only ever really used it for when I'm at her place or she's at mine and we want to fire up Jackbox or something, we don't use it to share bigger titles

It's not perfect but it definitely works

Bunkerneath wrote:

And this is why Physical games are better

Eh, not really. This is why Nintendo's previous restriction tying games to a console was horrible and also why the less restrictive systems other platforms have are better. With my Steam library I don't have to worry about which PC is my "primary" PC I just install and play the games on whatever hardware and technically if I wanted I could just stay offline indefinitely (excluding some third party DRM on some titles)

Physical ownership isn't automatically better, it has some natural disadvantages and barely any natural advantages. It's just that there are also some disadvantages added by some implementations of some digital stores

Edited on by skywake

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"

SwitchForce

Bunkerneath wrote:

And this is why Physical games are better

Guess people don't know much about why this is better and it's lost to the abyss when talking to them.

SwitchForce

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