Apologies if this has been asked a hundred times before but I've read multiple articles and I think I get this but not quite sure. This is about using two Switches in the same household to play DIFFERENT digital download games at the same time, not the more complex problem of playing the SAME game at the same time.
So we currently have one device (Switch 1) on which we have two profiles (Users A & B). User A is the eshop account holder and makes the purchases. All games are obviosuly on Switch 1.
Switch 2 arrives. The plan then is to make Switch 1 the personal / permanent device for User B and Switch 2 the permanent device for User A. If I understand correctly all I need to do is register Switch 2 to User A and make it the Primary device. Download all games to Switch 2. I maybe don't need to add User B to this device but could?
User A can then play any game on Switch 2 and User B can play any (different) game on (the now secondary) Switch 1?
If User A then wishes to buy another game that User B wants to play sometimes too, purchase the game on Switch 2. Deregister Switch 2 as the Primary device and register Switch 1 as the Primary. Download the game. Deregister Switch 1 as the Primary and register Switch 2 as Primary again.
The main issue to bear in mind is that Switch 1 will always need internet access to play digital games if it is the secondary device so it can validate the account / player etc. Either device can play any physical game at any time without any restriction. Saves for any game will be on the device the User is playing on.
Am I right in thinking that if I bought a family Online membership, both users can access the older Online service games they need on either device given they will both be registered on the same Online Family membership?
Something I think I may have misunderstood. AFAIK most of the method I outline above is correct except that it's better for me to leave Switch 1 as the Primary device. This will allow User B (my wife) to play games on that device which were purchased by the account holder User A (me). I then leave the Switch 2 which I will be using as the secondary device which I, as the purchasing account holder can still play my games on.
What I'm still not 100% certain of is whether User A and User B can both play different digital games at the same time.
@Kraid Partial asnwer? If the nintendo account that buys the digital game deregister's from that console, that game will become unplayable on that console.
@Kraid Partial asnwer? If the nintendo account that buys the digital game deregister's from that console, that game will become unplayable on that console.
I don't think that's the case. I'm not talking about deleting the user from the console. Merely making one of the Switches a secondary device (that only the account holder can access and play digital content on and only while connected to the internet) and have the other Switch as the primary device that either the account holder or any other profile on that device can play digital content. Playing the same game at the same time is also possible AFAIK but is even more complicated.
You can't play the same game at the same time on both console with the same account on both Switch. That's Nintendo DRM doesn't allow that. You can play one at a time unless you have physical copy on the other console. This has been talked about before.
This can be done and it's not that big of a deal as long as you don't mind one Switch needing to be offline for it to work correctly. My sons and I each ended up with our own Switches over the years, and for games like TOTK, I hate buying multiple copies just because we all want to play at once.
We have a family NSO membership, but that doesn't authorize you to share digital purchases, unfortunately. The way we found around it requires minor communication though or we kick each other off our games. Here's how we do it:
My Switch is registered as my primary console, and his Switch has my NSO login added and is registered as my secondary console. This means MY personal hardware trumps his if he's playing a game on my account, ie a game we're "sharing" that I purchased digitally. But it's not really about sharing games, it's about sharing logins. My son can't be online and logged in as me playing my games at the same time I'm logged in online and playing as me playing my games. One will always kick the other off.
The way around this is that the primary Switch can have access to its local library offline without phoning home to make sure it's legit. The secondary console cannot do this. So the secondary console has to log in as me and verify online before it plays anything I've purchased digitally BECAUSE it's the secondary console. So I just turn wifi off on my Switch if we want to play at the same time, and I can even turn it back on if he leaves the house while he's playing and never reconnects to the network, and then there is no way for the verification to tell that we're each playing on our own saves on the same account at the same time, because one isn't connected.
It sounds like a convoluted process but really he just says "Hey dad, can you turn off your internet" and I know exactly what he means. Takes 10 seconds to delete my internet connection, and maybe another 10 seconds to add it back later.
@spiderman0616 If you made your sons Switch your primary console then he could play your digital purchases with his own user - or any other user on the Primary console. Your "secondary" Switch would still need to phone home, but you could play the same game online at the same time with this method and no need to mess around with turning off the WiFi.
@Switchforce You can play the same game with different users at the same time using the method above - no need for 2 copies of the game.
Only the account holder owns the license for the purchase so I dont understand how using different profiles to circumnavigate that licence requirement so someone else can play the games without paying is any different than downloading a pirated version if you own the licence on a different system.
@Chaotic_Neutral Nintendo's existing system allows us to do this. I paid for a legit copy and am playing on a legit NSO subscription. I'm not jailbreaking any hardware or using ROMs or anything like that. Just using the system that's been put in place BY NINTENDO.
The Switch FAQ on the Nintendo website points out that other users of the primary console can play your purchased games, so it's how it's supposed to work and not some shady workaround. In fact, if you access the eShop from the Switch it won't even let you buy a game that another user on the console already owns - it just shows as "Purchased" even if you are not the user that owns it.
@dmcc0 it's effectively profile sharing which is against the ToS, the OP wasn't letting other people play games on his console - he was exploiting a loophole so that other people could access his library on their consoles. Hence the need for the second console to have to be offline.
I can go on Ebay and buy a profile fully loaded with games for next to nothing which is pretty much piracy and is exactly what is happening here. He's letting other people access stuff without the need to purchase the license.
@Chaotic_Neutral I can't actually see anything about profile sharing in the TOS so I doubt the way they were sharing originally was against TOS - there's probably 1000s of users doing the same because using profiles on multiple consoles isn't exactly intuitive, but the way I explained how to do it certainly isn't against TOS. No need for either console to be offline and everyone is using their own profile - it's working exactly how Nintendo describe it in the FAQ.
Sharing Switch profiles within a household is in no way comparable to you buying a loaded profile on eBay. There's literally an article on the Nintendo website about sharing your games on multiple Switches in your household and selling your account most definitely is against the TOS.
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Topic: Two Switches with one purchase account - clarification question.
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