NSOnline

Update: Since publishing this story, we've managed to speak to an anonymous source who has shed a little more light on the situation. Developers now reportedly have access to a tick box when submitting games to Nintendo, with 'Yes, support it' or 'No, don't' options for cloud saves. This box has to be checked one way or another to proceed, but that appears to be the only action developers have to take, with Nintendo then taking care of the rest.

With the option for cloud saves therefore being available to all, and with that box having to be ticked for a game to progress to the next stage in the publishing process, we see no reason for any developers to say 'no' and refuse the feature.

Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube765k
Watch on YouTube

This also suggests that a patch would be necessary for older releases to support the cloud save feature, although the process does seem relatively straightforward for developers. Interestingly, it appears that the 30-second video recording feature isn't as easy to implement, hence why many games are still lacking that support.

Original Article: The new, shiny Nintendo Switch Online service is just around the corner, and although we know that cloud saves will be a part of the package, we're still not 100% sure on how this will work just yet. It seems that one Japanese Switch owner has discovered something potentially telling about the service, however.

Taking to Twitter, @MIN428 has shared an image of Hakuoki Shinkai: Fuukaden's Switch case - a game that has launched today in the region. The photograph shows the back side of the case, with one section directly referencing the Nintendo Switch Online service. The text reportedly reads, “Compatible with Save Data Cloud Backup of Nintendo Switch Online".

This raises two interesting points. Firstly, it suggests that any newly issued packaging for Switch games will specifically state when cloud saves are supported. A handy feature, we're sure you'll agree. Naturally, though, this leads us on to question whether this means that not all games will be supported; if this game tells customers that the service is supported, others will surely say it isn't. Otherwise, there would be no need for the message at all.

Of course, until more details are revealed, we can't know any of this for sure, but it certainly seems like some games won't be compatible with cloud data backup. You'd expect all first-party titles to work just fine, but we'll have to wait and see exactly how this one plays out.

Will you be annoyed if not all games are supported, or do you think that it's understandable for some titles to skip the feature? Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments.

[source japanesenintendo.com]