Topic: Nintendo switch Games

When Nintendo ends support for the switch and the switch eshop ends Will I still be able to play my physical games on my switch in 10+ years from now or will nintendo stop letting people play with the switch games completely? I been worried I won't be able to play switch games anymore when the service ends. Luckily I don't have many digital games

@Tay205 You will always be able to play physical games even when the service ends, the digital ones are the ones to worry about.

@Snatcher This, even if some games can't be updated, you can still play physical games. As for downloads, once they're downloaded you can still play them as long as they're not deleted from the system they're originally downloaded to.

I have a Wii, and I can still play my downloaded games despite the Wii Shop Channel being no more. I'm guessing the same should happen to Wii U, 3DS, and Switch.

@Sunsy I just hope this time, maybe, just a fat maybe, they will allow you to download all the games you own.

@Snatcher That would be nice, most likely it requires servers to host the download. Not on Switch, but I do recall backing up all my downloads for Wii and DSi to SD cards, and I have Wii U stuff backed up to USB drives (while using an external hard drive with power for using the system).

Maybe a way to backup games to an SD card, or just download them to a second SD card and keep it in a safe spot. Has me thinking.

@Sunsy At least, But maybe if they keep sticking with the switch we might not need to worry about that for a few more years.

@Sunsy so should I also put all my physical games onto a 2nd SD card too?

@Snatcher Hopefully, the system is popular enough, so I can't see them pulling the plug right away. Even the Wii U eShop is still online as of typing this post.

@Tay205 No need to for physical. Basically, when the time comes, I would just redownload digital games everything to a second SD card and keep it in a safe spot. Usually done by inserting the Micro SD card into the Switch, and just downloading from the home screen.

@Tay205 You should still be able to play your digital games if you still have the same Switch. After eshop ends, however, you cannot transfer digital games to a new console because, Nintendo doesn't allow it.

I thought I could save my digital games on my sd card to a pc, reformat the card to the new switch, and copy the Nintendo folder with the games back onto it (like we could with 3DS), but the Switch system wouldn't allow it. All digital games had to be redownloaded from eshop onto the new OLED.

@WoomyNNYes how about the physical copies? I have more physical then digital and it got me worried because lot of articles online are saying people are thinking nintendo would stop the switch in 2024 and make a new console. So I should be able to play physical games I hope in the future when Nintendo ends switch support and the eshop

@Sunsy I thought nintendo ended wii u eshop in Jan of 2019

@Tay205 I think that's the date of the Wii Shop Channel shut down. The Wii U eShop is still online, bought a game on it a couple of months ago too.

@Sunsy I just found out February or may 2022 nintendo is planning on shutting down the wii u eshop. Better get all digital games on sd cards lol

Physical games should be fine.

As long as you don't delete digitally owned games, they will work as long as you have that Switch console. When eshop ends, Nintendo doesn't take your digital games away from you. You can still play them. You just can't redownload them.

Regarding Switch eshop ending, all console eshops end at some point, but if you look at how long Wii, 3DS, Wii U eshops have lasted, I don't think Switch eshop will end as early as 2024. As Sunsy said above, Wii U eshop is still running, and it's been almost 5 years since the Switch released. Switch will be 5 years old on March 3.