Minecraft on Switch.jpg

Update:

Our colleague who has been encountering this screenshot issue since downloading Minecraft has been able to recreate it after applying the system update. Though Minecraft seems to be a trigger, it's not the only app that causes the problem - with Breath of the Wild running in the background and accessing 'All Software' the problem occurred again on their system.

Original Article:

There have been times when the interwebs has been a bit silly and made a big deal out of relatively uncommon problems with the Switch. Valid complaints around disconnecting left Joy-Con controllers got drowned out by hysteria over scratching screens and melting systems, the latter being rare issues (whereas disconnecting controllers are more common but can be fixed by Nintendo). That's all calmed down now that we're outside the launch maelstrom, but a more recent and genuine issue has been baffling some Switch owners.

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This time it's down to software, often triggered by Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition but, in some cases, it's just 'happening' anyway. Some have called it the 'sentient Switch' problem; the crux of it has been the system randomly taking screenshots all on its own, with the Minecraft connection being that it seemed to happen when that game was running (either fully or in the background). Amusingly the issue apparently popped up in a Minecraft live stream to promote the game last week. In addition, some have found that their Switch has starting refusing sleep mode with Minecraft running in the background, but again there are others citing problems like this when the Joy-Con are attached, possibly preventing the system from charging and staying in sleep.

In most cases the problems did start after they purchased Minecraft, leading to some amusing posts online - we like the light-hearted theory that Microsoft has planted the bug as some kind of blocky Trojan horse. What's more likely is that the way Minecraft works has simply been triggering an existing system issue, and therefore suffers from it more than other games.

Now, of course, there's been a system update promising stability. The timing seems impeccable, and we've seen Nintendo turn around rapid system updates in the past on Wii U and 3DS when locking out homebrew exploits - perhaps the big N has closed off the sentient Switch problem, in the process hopefully preventing unintended screens from clogging up user galleries.

One of our chums that had the issue did a test this morning and didn't have the problem, though they're going to try it out more when playing Minecraft or running it in the background. Some on Reddit have initially said they think it's resolved, but some crowd-testing may be the answer.

Have you had a sentient screenshot-snapping Switch, and has this stability update fixed it? Let us know in the comments!