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Nintendo Switch now supports digital game sharing amongst multiple consoles

suga41

suga41

Member
Jan 10, 2018
60
NateDrake said:
Been trying to figure that out myself. Seems there isn't a way to do so.
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So it took me awhile to transfer my saves over but I'm now fully game sharing with my wife. To get my saves over to her switch I had to manually backup my saves (+ the backup save to cloud) on my switch and then manually download from the cloud on her switch (+ then download from cloud). Working great so far!

Edit: unless you're talking about two accounts that are yours (two regional accounts) gamesharing to one other account
 

Colocho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
217
I have a question, if I login with my boyfriend's account on my switch then I can download and play xenoblade, now that the saving data will be on the cloud, will it get affected if I start a new game? will I delete his?
 

FantaSoda

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,992
Would some kind person explain this primary/non-primary terminology?

I have two Switches in my household, one is mine and one is my wife's. I have many digital purchases on my Switch and my account. My wife has a few digital purchases on her Switch and her account. In all use cases both of our Switches will be online at all times.

How would I make it to where my wife could download the games that I bought on my Switch and then use her account to play the games? Also, how would I do the reverse to where I could play her games with my account?
 
brick-a20b

brick-a20b

Member
Oct 25, 2017
181
It's not game sharing, it's simply allowing you to play your games on another switch. For example, if you're at a friends house and want to play super Mario party, then you'd log into your account on his switch, download the game, and play. With online saves I assume your progress would be brought in as well.
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,866
jred250 said:
Would some kind person explain this primary/non-primary terminology?

I have two Switches in my household, one is mine and one is my wife's. I have many digital purchases on my Switch and my account. My wife has a few digital purchases on her Switch and her account. In all use cases both of our Switches will be online at all times.

How would I make it to where my wife could download the games that I bought on my Switch and then use her account to play the games? Also, how would I do the reverse to where I could play her games with my account?
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You would put your account on her system and make her system the primary system for your account. Then you would put her account on your system and make your system the primary system for her account.
 

FantaSoda

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,992
Darknight said:
You would put your account on her system and make her system the primary system for your account. Then you would put her account on your system and make your system the primary system for her account.
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This is probably a dumb question, but how do you put another user's account on your system? I see an option to add user, but it looks like you are adding a user from scratch. Do you create a new user then link it to another person's account?
 
darz1

darz1

Member
Dec 18, 2017
7,104
Ok just to clarify, we have two switches. The family switch which will be my primary and my personal switch which will be my secondary.

On the family switch we can all access all the games no matter which profile and even when offline.

On the secondary switch we can only access the games through my account and only when onlince.

So since my kids like using separate profiles, can i link my account to different profiles on the same switch if they dont have accounts linked?
 
alundra311

alundra311

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,233
It would be really awesome if someone can confirm that, in a game like BOTW, you can have different saves on the primary and secondary devices if you don't backup your saves in the cloud.
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,866
xxbrothawizxx said:
I don't think you need to switch the primary system. Just connect the other's ID to a new user on each switch.
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I think you have to declare the primary system for the account in order for it to know how the content DRM is going to work on the system.

jred250 said:
This is probably a dumb question, but how do you put another user's account on your system? I see an option to add user, but it looks like you are adding a user from scratch. Do you create a new user then link it to another person's account?
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Not a dumb question, but something I don't know the answer to yet since I haven't done it.
 
Stoof

Stoof

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,807
So is it confirmed that playing any digital game on the primary console kicks out the secondary user or is it just the same game?
 
Hero

Hero

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,813
So can't the primary user just go offline and play a game and the secondary user can play any downloadable games?
 
xxbrothawizxx

xxbrothawizxx

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,233
Gainesville, FL
Darknight said:
I think you have to declare the primary system for the account in order for it to know how the content DRM is going to work on the system.



Not a dumb question, but something I don't know the answer to yet since I haven't done it.
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The original hardware is automatically the primary. It says you can access the eshop with the nonprimary.

jred250 said:
This is probably a dumb question, but how do you put another user's account on your system? I see an option to add user, but it looks like you are adding a user from scratch. Do you create a new user then link it to another person's account?
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I think so.

oatmeal said:
Does this have to be the FAMILY MEMBERSHIP or just regular?

This is great.
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I don't think you need a membership for this to work. The family membership doesn't activate this feature.
 

FantaSoda

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,992
Darknight said:
You would put your account on her system and make her system the primary system for your account. Then you would put her account on your system and make your system the primary system for her account.
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I haven't tested this yet (mainly because I don't really know how to even start this) but I don't think that this would fully work. My wife would be able to play my games with her account on her Switch (and vise-versa) but I wouldn't be able to play my games with my account on my Switch (and vise-versa).
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,866
jred250 said:
I haven't tested this yet (mainly because I don't really know how to even start this) but I don't think that this would fully work. My wife would be able to play my games with her account on her Switch (and vise-versa) but I wouldn't be able to play my games with my account on my Switch (and vise-versa).
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No it should work. If her primary account is on your system, that means any account on your system can play her games. In order to play your games, you would just have to be online as the two requirements for playing content on a secondary system is that the owner's profile has to play it and you have to be online.
 
UsoEwin

UsoEwin

Banned
Jul 14, 2018
2,063
Currently testing this, downloading a game from another persons account. Will post results when its done.
 

Deleted member 1476

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,449
Finally, only took them what, half a decade to get a decent account system.

And they didn't even mention it before it happened.
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,866
Pablo Mesa said:
on eshop in your account there is an option to make what account is primary, any other will be secondary
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Right, I was pointing out it was necessary to define which accounts are primary on each system. The other poster was stating you didn't have to for the scenario we were talking about working.
 
ozfunghi

ozfunghi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,175
So, if i put my account also on my daughters Switch, she can play the games i purchased through the e-shop, but only by using my account on her Switch (meaning she can't use her account on her Switch to play the games i purchased with my account, even if my account is also registered on her Switch as a secondary console)?
If then, she uses my account on her Switch to play a game, i can still play another game on my own Switch, using... her account (if i also link hers to my Switch as secondary)?

This is how it is, right?

Furthermore, if she plays on her Switch using my account... will time played by her get logged on my account on MY Switch as well?
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,866
ozfunghi said:
So, if i put my account also on my daughters Switch, she can play the games i purchased through the e-shop, but only by using my account on her Switch (meaning she can't use her account on her Switch to play the games i purchased with my account, even if my account is also registered on her Switch as a secondary console)?
If then, she uses my account on her Switch to play a game, i can still play another game on my own Switch, using... her account (if i also link hers to my Switch as secondary)?

This is how it is, right?

Furthermore, if she plays on her Switch using my account... will time played by her get logged on my account on MY Switch as well?
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She can only use her account if you set her Switch to be the primary system for your account otherwise you have it correct that she would have to use your account to play the game and be online too. You can play another game on your Switch using your account; there's no need to use her account unless you want to play a game that was bought on her account.

UsoEwin said:
OMG YOU DONT HAVE TO SET THE ACCOUNT AS PRIMARY


We PS3 sharing now my dudes
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You do if you want to use another profile to play the content and/or you want to play while not connected to the Internet.
 
UsoEwin

UsoEwin

Banned
Jul 14, 2018
2,063
Darknight said:
She can only use her account if you set her Switch to be the primary system for your account otherwise you have it correct that she would have to use your account to play the game and be online too. You can play another game on your Switch using your account; there's no need to use her account unless you want to play a game that was bought on her account.



You do if you want to use another profile to play the content and/or you want to play while not connected to the Internet.
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This does not bother me, I do not bring my Switch anywhere.
 
eseqko

eseqko

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,390
Road to 20 million. Buy two Switches for the home, play the same games with just one account.
 
justiceiro

justiceiro

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
6,664
Never thought that would actually do it. For those who don't have Nintendo in the country, this feature is essential. Maybe I will actually buy a switch now... Depending on the price.

And guys, this features exits for you to access your account in different devices, not for someone else to do it.
 
BoxManLocke

BoxManLocke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,158
France
Shame it doesn't work for online games. What makes having two PS4s at home so great is that we can play any game online together at the same time with a single PS+ subscription and digital game.

Well, I guess it's a start.
 
Powerofthecloud

Powerofthecloud

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,433
I mean this is cool. Even though it is limited it still effectively allows users to have two games at once which is cool. Anyone know is there any option to not save games remotely on your primary switch?
 
DXB-KNIGHT

DXB-KNIGHT

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,191
I can't believe they focused on the background noise distraction oh I'm mean the feature of everyone talking in one room through the app voice chat and not this in the Direct.
 
xxbrothawizxx

xxbrothawizxx

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,233
Gainesville, FL
jred250 said:
I haven't tested this yet (mainly because I don't really know how to even start this) but I don't think that this would fully work. My wife would be able to play my games with her account on her Switch (and vise-versa) but I wouldn't be able to play my games with my account on my Switch (and vise-versa).
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They're right. For her to be able to use her own account to play those games, you'd need to make her system the primary for your account. Without that step, she could play your games on her system, but not without an internet connection and using your account.

The trouble there is that you'll be the one that's kicked for your own games if there's a conflict. Not difficult to coordinate for partners though.
 
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MouldyK

MouldyK

Prophet of Truth
Banned
Nov 1, 2017
10,118
What I wouldn't give for them to let me play on a Secondary Switch Offline as long as I logged in Weekly haha.

That'll solve the Portable Issue.
 
chocobalt

chocobalt

Member
Apr 2, 2018
66
Darknight said:
I believe you couldn't have two instances of the same game purchase on two different systems when using different profiles. Both being online would neutralize one instance.
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I just tested this out. The same game was open on both Switches, but the accounts were different. Both were connected to the internet, didn't get booted.
 
ZeroX

ZeroX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,266
Speed Force
Wait has it been tested/confirmed that both players can play online simultaneously if the person with the sharing account set as primary uses a different account to play on the primary Switch?

If so, that's both cloud saves and online restriction solved.

chocobalt said:
I just tested this out. The same game was open on both Switches, but the accounts were different. Both were connected to the internet, didn't get booted.
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HUGE!
 
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