Engadget: Nintendo seriously needs to fix multi-Switch game sharing

[BradGrenz]

well they will never play on my switch so that's a non issue and if they need to I just go online and switch my switch to the primary it literally takes less than 30 seconds

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You are not able to switch primary devices at will. There are limitations on this. And just because you don't share your Switch with your kids doesn't mean other parents won't want to be able to.

What reasons? Why would they buy his kids a Switch if they were just going to use the originals and not their own? You're just creating weird edge cases.

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Weird edge cases? Like two kids wanting to play two different games at the same time? Have you ever met a child?

 

[sandboxgod]

I'm probably one of the few dummies that has problems with game sharing with my children lately. Problem is I was clueless and bought Donkey Kong Country on my main account. I put my profile on primary and secondary Switch. Now my child has like 15-20 hrs (I had no idea she'd love it so much) and I am realizing we cant both use my profile at the sametime. So now I need to make her a new "eshop account" and I'll prob jsut buy the game again. Whelp

Sometimes we get a verification error (I forgot the error code) if both switches are online. I could be playing Astral Chain on my profile while my daughter is trying to play DKC on her Switch using my same profile.

I'm gonna have to tell her I need to make her a new account and she's gonna have to start all over. It's better this way I guess in the long run.

I dont wanna buy her physical games cause she's real unresponsible and will lose the cart (I dont want to go into detail, but she's really really bad with keeping up with games but maybe I just need to work with her more on this). Also funny thing-- I thought she could play DKC from a different account? Because we get an error if she attempts to play DKC on a different profile since her Switch isn't primary. It tells her she cant play the game because she's not authorized to play

 

[dabri]

2 Switch at home and soon 3 for Animal Crossing, yes they need to fix this quickly.
Nintendo want multiple Switch per household but don't make sharing easier...

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Do any of the consoles work that way? I know it doesn't on ps4.

 

[MP!]

Engadget doesn't know that me and my kid played the last splat fest ONLINE on separate switches with just one digtal copy of splatoon 2...
It works great for families because if you get the family Sub for Switch online everyone in the household has access to switch online... and it's easy to maintain primary switches and secondary switches all located in one household.

I do sort of wish that all software purchased on my account would just be accessible on all devices on the family plan. Like how Apple does it with iOS.

 

[NateDrake]

I'm probably one of the few dummies that has problems with game sharing with my children lately. Problem is I was clueless and bought Donkey Kong Country on my main account. I put my profile on primary and secondary Switch. Now my child has like 15-20 hrs (I had no idea she'd love it so much) and I am realizing we cant both use my profile at the sametime. So now I need to make her a new "eshop account" and I'll prob jsut buy the game again. Whelp

Sometimes we get a verification error (I forgot the error code) if both switches are online. I could be playing Astral Chain on my profile while my daughter is trying to play DKC on her Switch using my same profile.

I'm gonna have to tell her I need to make her a new account and she's gonna have to start all over. It's better this way I guess in the long run.

I dont wanna buy her physical games cause she's real unresponsible and will lose the cart (I dont want to go into detail, but she's really really bad with keeping up with games but maybe I just need to work with her more on this). Also funny thing-- I thought she could play DKC from a different account? Because we get an error if she attempts to play DKC on a different profile since her Switch isn't primary. It tells her she cant play the game because she's not authorized to play

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Just have the secondary system or primary system be offline. The same account can be in use if one account has no access to the internet. Once she starts up DKC it'll do verification check, once that is complete put the system offline and she can play without issue.

 

[Deleted member 4037]

Yes, the portable nature of the switch makes it virtually unusable and crippling for both users. I remember trying to do this with my brother because my copy of smash was delayed, but he had a digital copy. Good luck trying to go anywhere and play your game, its completely backwards. It works for consoles because they are always wired in, it doesn't remotely work for a hybrid. I would love if they did something like steam has set up

 

[IamFlying]

I don't get it? What want the Engadget writer?

Nintendo should enable that you can buy a game once and than play it on as many Switches as you like?

That's insane and probably would destroy the company in short time.

The Switch already has the best game sharing option of all current consoles, but it seems some people can't get enough, even if it's totally unrealistic.

 

[jwhit28]

I can see this being tough for multiple kids but it has worked fine for just one adult with multiple Switch's. Primary console for on the go and a home secondary console always connected online. The same game can be played at the same time with both system online. I think it's much more generous than Steam where playing games shuts down the whole library to other people

2 people just sharing whole libraries is dead simple as long as you have a phone with tethering.

 

[RF Switch]

From what I am seeing the current digital share system is the same as Xbox and PlayStation which is awesome so I don't get the complaint

 

[Morisaki]

It's identical to Sony and Microsoft's sharing, so they aren't lagging behind them. It's just that the Switch is portable that adds an extra layer to this.



Easy solution for now is to make the Lite the primary console since it is always the portable system. And you can create a separate account for your kid/wife and make that the primary account on the original Switch. Then both people can play the same game online simultaneously but the original switch needs to be connected online. Nintendo should extend the checkin from 3 hours to like 12 hours or 24 hours.

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I don't think this works, as you would need to log in to the main account to play on non-primary Switchs for the main account.
So if you set account A's primary Switch to the Switch Lite, you would need to log into account A on any other switch to play games purchased on account A.

 

[JiyuuTenshi]

You are not able to switch primary devices at will. There are limitations on this.

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Which limitations do you mean? You just need to go to the eShop and deactivate your primary Switch, and as soon as you go to the eShop with your secondary Switch, it becomes the primary one. You can do that as often as you want.

 

[IamFlying]

Yes, the portable nature of the switch makes it virtually unusable and crippling for both users

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That's nonsense. The primary user can play whenever they want.

Game sharing works fine on Switch, but you can naturally not share your whole library with another person/switch without restrictions.

You can share your whole library with other Switches but only one person can play at the same time, and the secondary Switches need to check the status every three hours.

It's as good as it can get, unless you essentially want that Nintendo give away games for free.

 

[Deleted member 4037]

That's nonsense. Game sharing works fine on Switch, but you can naturally not share your whole library with another person without restrictions.

You can share your whole library with other Switches but only one person can play at the same time, and the secondary Switches need to check the status every three hours.

It's as good as it can get, unless you essentially want that Nintendo give away games for free.

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Dont cut out a piece and ignore everything else I said. Its not as good as it gets, dont be so obtuse and argue in bad faith

 

[Dremorak]

The fuck are they talking about? I buy every game once and my wife and I can play online together, no issues.

My nephew even plays the same games on his switch but just goes offline after launching them.

 

[Legacy]

They need to fix joycon drift before anything else

 

[Reinhard]

I don't think this works, as you would need to log in to the main account to play on non-primary Switchs for the main account.
So if you set account A's primary Switch to the Switch Lite, you would need to log into account A on any other switch to play games purchased on account A.

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On the Switch Lite set as account A primary, you can log on a second separate account and still play everything from account A, so that two people can completely share everything without having to use the same account / saves. On the original Switch, you would still have up log in as Account A to play games and would have online check.

 

[Dremorak]

Create an account. Set it as primary on your PS4 (for example). Purchase a game on it. Download it. Log out, log in to your main account.

Give the game share account login information to your friend/relative/whatever. Said person logs on, downloads it, and just like that, you just paid $30 each for the new Call of Duty.

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Thats exactly how it works on switch as well

 

[FantasticMrFoxdie]

Good lord didn't realize it was like this.

 

[Nano-Nandy]

I get the issue, but is no biggie. I currently have my account on:
1. My partner's Switch as primary so he can play any game any game in mine offline even
2. My Switch at home, always online
3. My Switch Lite: at home is always online, outside turn on my hotspot and to verify and then pit it on airplane mode (never play it 3 hours since is usually on breaks)

The only fix would be to add another primary user at least or tie the secondary Switch serial number to a primary account to allow using it.

 

[gblues]

There needs to be some more flexibility.

We have two switches, and anything the entire family might want to play, we buy physical. The current digital framework just doesn't work:

• If my Switch is set as primary, I can play my games on the go, but the other can only play on my profile.
• If the other Switch is set as primary, now any profile on that switch can play the game, but now I can't play my games unless I have an internet connection, which I won't if I'm traveling.

With a cart, I can play on either switch with any profile without any internet check-in. So the only time we buy games digitally is when only one person is interested in the game (like my son and Smash).

Options Nintendo could do:

• allow a fixed number of activations per game, after which it reverts to the current behavior
• sell a "home license" bundle DLC or NSO add-on (something like $x/yr/switch to effectively add additional "primary" systems)
• use the same once-a-week check-in process that NES/SNES use, so that e.g. I could check in right before a business trip and be good the whole week

 

[Cilla]

Yep! I was going to get a Lite but now I am not because I download US games on sale and get a lot of US review codes but I always play on my AU account. So I won't be able to do so on the Lite.

 

[JiyuuTenshi]

Yes, the portable nature of the switch makes it virtually unusable and crippling for both users. I remember trying to do this with my brother because my copy of smash was delayed, but he had a digital copy. Good luck trying to go anywhere and play your game, its completely backwards. It works for consoles because they are always wired in, it doesn't remotely work for a hybrid. I would love if they did something like steam has set up

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What has Steam set up that makes it better? The online verification is also necessary and you can't use a shared library at all if the owner is playing anything on his account. If I don't miss something obvious here their solution is more restrictive than any of the console maker's.

 

[Morisaki]

Wait, can you point me in the direction of a guide where I can do game-sharing and play games online simultaneously with my partner without loging in as the other person? I'm failing to find that method. I see YouTube videos of people playing one copy of Smash Ult online with two units, but it has the account flip I said I was uncomfortable with, where as on Xbox my SO and I and never touch each other's account while enjoying all of my games. That was my primary hangup of what you quoted rather than being able to play a single copy online together being possible, however minor that might sound.

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Let's call your account A and the other person's account B.
And your Switch is Switch 1 and the other person's Switch is Switch 2.
If you want to play online, the account used must have NSO.

To play on both Switch 1 and 2 simultaneously using one copy of the game purchased digitally on account A.
Set account A's primary Switch to Switch 2. This means that any account on Switch 2 can play games purchased on account A without a check.
For Switch 2, use any account other than Account A to play games purchased on Account A.
For Switch 1, you will now need internet connection and logged in as account A to play games purchased on account A on Switch 1.
Also there is a verification check every 3-4 hours, so you'll need internet connection for those checks.

To play online at the same time, both account A and B will need to subscribe to NSO. Use account B to play the game on Switch 2, while you play on Switch 1 logged in as account A.

 

[Transistor]

On one hand, I can completely understand wanting to share games in the same household. I'm hoping they sort it out someway that will work better by the time my kids are old enough.

However, I can't blame them for restricting things and making it a little difficult. Remember how on the PS3 you could share games with 5 PS3s? People abused the hell out of that.

 

[Cyanity]

I feel like the part that no one ever talks about with this is it's easy if you just buy the games physically...

Like on the Beastcast last week Dan going nuts talking about buying a third switch just so he can share games with his wife.

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Yet another reason why I'm gonna buy physical games till either they or I die

 

[JiyuuTenshi]

Yep! I was going to get a Lite but now I am not because I download US games on sale and get a lot of US review codes but I always play on my AU account. So I won't be able to do so on the Lite.

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You could have just switched your AU account to the US, get the games there and switch it back and they would stay tied to your AU account. You could even download them from the AU eShop.

 

[Morisaki]

On the Switch Lite set as account A primary, you can log on a second separate account and still play everything from account A, so that two people can completely share everything without having to use the same account / saves. On the original Switch, you would still have up log in as Account A to play games and would have online check.

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Sorry, looks like I mis-read your post as that's bascially what I was saying.

 

[ZeroX]

Switch works fine. People seem to really struggle to understand game sharing. I've been doing it since PS3. I pay $30 for games. It's great.

Yes, the portable nature of the switch makes it virtually unusable and crippling for both users. I remember trying to do this with my brother because my copy of smash was delayed, but he had a digital copy. Good luck trying to go anywhere and play your game, its completely backwards. It works for consoles because they are always wired in, it doesn't remotely work for a hybrid. I would love if they did something like steam has set up

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Hotspot on your phone, authenticate and play for three hours.

 

[sandboxgod]

Just have the secondary system or primary system be offline. The same account can be in use if one account has no access to the internet. Once she starts up DKC it'll do verification check, once that is complete put the system offline and she can play without issue.

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Huh that makes sense. It's a little bit awkward though. I did come to this conclusion and took my Switch offline til I can get around to buying her a copy of the game for her own account

 

[Cilla]

You could have just switched your AU account to the US, get the games there and switch it back and they would stay tied to your AU account. You could even download them from the AU eShop.

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Makes sense. I guess at the time though I never even considered the possibility of owning a second Switch so it was never even an issue.

 

[Deleted member 4037]

What has Steam set up that makes it better? The online verification is also necessary and you can't use a shared library at all if the owner is playing anything on his account. If I don't miss something obvious here their solution is more restrictive than any of the console maker's.

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I've honestly had no trouble playing games offline with steam. I used to bring my laptop around to places without wifi and play a game that was shared to me, I'm not sure how the verification specifically works for steam, but it has worked well for me.

Hotspot on your phone, authenticate and play for three hours.

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Naw, thats a band aid to the issue

 

[ZeroX]

Naw, thats a band aid to the issue

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No, it's a fair compromise.

 

[Deleted member 4037]

No, it's a fair compromise.

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compromise for who? Nintendo isnt my friend

 

[JiyuuTenshi]

Makes sense. I guess at the time though I never even considered the possibility of owning a second Switch so it was never even an issue.

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Yeah, kinda had the same problem with my old PS4 that I have at a friend's place, so we can play together without me having to take my PS4 Pro with me. I had quite a few games on my US account but played them with my regular Swiss one. This of course only works on one of the PS4s that is set to primary for the US account.

 

[ZeroX]

compromise for who? Nintendo isnt my friend

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They're also not obligated to give you a second copy to play infinitely offline. It's unreasonable to expect that.

Three hours is better than PS's 15 minutes. It's fine for portable play sessions. Hot spotting takes less than a minute.

 

[Atheerios]

That will never ever happen.

Nintendo has the most relaxed rules related to game sharing compared to Sony and Microsoft, allowing you to play 3 hours offline (Sony only 15 minutes) and changing primary consoles an unlimited number of times.

 

[Derktron]

More like fix their entire infrastructure in general.

 

[Mochino]

Yep, it's the only thing keeping me from getting a Lite. I know I can just make the lite my primary, but then every other user except me would get locked out of the "family" OG switch that would be in the living room. And if I do it the other way then I can't play on my lite while traveling which defeats the whole point. I know there's no real easy solution here besides allowing two switches to become primaries or something (which opens a whole other can of worms), but it's still kind of a bummer, especially given how great of a handheld the lite seems to be.

 

[Romanithegreat]

Wait, can you point me in the direction of a guide where I can do game-sharing and play games online simultaneously with my partner without loging in as the other person? I'm failing to find that method. I see YouTube videos of people playing one copy of Smash Ult online with two units, but it has the account flip I said I was uncomfortable with, where as on Xbox my SO and I and never touch each other's account while enjoying all of my games. That was my primary hangup of what you quoted rather than being able to play a single copy online together being possible, however minor that might sound.

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well you will half to sign into the purchasers account to download the software on both switches. Minor issue IMO it will probably take less than a minute to put the software to download

 

[Deleted member 4037]

They're also not obligated to give you a second copy to play infinitely offline. It's unreasonable to expect that.

Three hours is better than PS's 15 minutes. It's fine for portable play sessions. Hot spotting takes less than a minute.

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Right now I just dont use it at all cause its way too much of a pain in the ass even though I would like to share games between myself and my brother. The PS and the switch arent the same and right now the switch's family share is garbage for me. It doesnt fit with what I need out of a portable system and if this system doesnt work they shouldnt use it. This is why I dont go digital still. Family share on switch is a huge pain and I am not hot spotting to accommodate them on their shortcomings

 

[Romanithegreat]

You are not able to switch primary devices at will. There are limitations on this. And just because you don't share your Switch with your kids doesn't mean other parents won't want to be able to.



Weird edge cases? Like two kids wanting to play two different games at the same time? Have you ever met a child?

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care to provide a source for limitations on the number of times u can switch your primary device? because there is literally nothing I found stating this on nintendos website stating how to game share. everything I've seen shows it can, in fact, be done at will.

 

[JiyuuTenshi]

I've honestly had no trouble playing games offline with steam. I used to bring my laptop around to places without wifi and play a game that was shared to me, I'm not sure how the verification specifically works for steam, but it has worked well for me.

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How long ago was that? It used to work offline in the beginning, but that's not the case anymore, Valve requires an online check now when you start a shared game.

Apparently there are still ways to somewhat trick the system by blocking the communication with Valve's servers after you started the game, but that isn't really practical in every situation.

 

[RoninChaos]

Nintendo lagging behind everyone else when it comes to digital?

I'm shocked.

 

[LegendofLex]

care to provide a source for limitations on the number of times u can switch your primary device? because there is literally nothing I found stating this on nintendos website stating how to game share.

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I've been corrected on this point before, too:

It seems there are only limitations when trying to change your primary console over the web.

Nintendo lagging behind everyone else when it comes to digital?

I'm shocked.

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Their sharing system is identical to other platforms. I think I've seen people say their offline grace period is actually more generous?

 

[JiyuuTenshi]

Nintendo lagging behind everyone else when it comes to digital?

I'm shocked.

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You should be even more shocked then that they're not lagging behind at all.

 

[FrakEarth]

I didn't know *any* sharing was possible, but do now thanks to this thread 🤯

So to summarise this in short, if I understand correctly:

- Primary console of an account: any user on that console can play the downloaded games
- Secondary console(s): the account owning the game(s) can play them, even at the same time as the primary console, but has to sign in every 3 hours

Is that right?

 

[Bjones]

Cel phone hotspot. I do it with my kids fire had tablets it's not heard and it doesn't use hardly any data.

 

[Deleted member 4037]

How long ago was that? It used to work offline in the beginning, but that's not the case anymore, Valve requires an online check now when you start a shared game.

Apparently there are still ways to somewhat trick the system by blocking the communication with Valve's servers after you started the game, but that isn't really practical in every situation.

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I dunno, like last year? Haven't done it as much now that I have started a new job. I just tried putting my laptop offline and launching a shared game and it worked for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[JiyuuTenshi]

I've been corrected on this point before, too:

It seems there are only limitations when trying to change your primary console over the web.

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Which web method do you mean? As far as I know there is no other way to change the primary console than going through the eShop on the primary console or calling the Nintendo support to do it.

 

[CloudCircus]

I got a lite in addition to my OG and redownloaded the games I want to play on it, also downloaded the cloud saves. I didn't have any issues at all, and it never asked me if I wanted to set one of the switches a primary or secondary. I am using the same account on both switches. Is this a different thing than what the OP is talking about?