It baffles me that a family targeted console fails at its first goal.

@diarykeeper

3 жыл бұрын

Well... Usually one should make the one console that stays home the secondary and the switch you take with you the primary to avoid all this. Physical copies and in extreme cases 'repurchases' on secondary consoles also mitigate that issue. All in all probably meant to get people to 'repurchase' multiple times. The switch is like this due to its hybrid nature. In the WiiU/3DS days this problem was well hidden.

@garroshhellscream5850

3 жыл бұрын

What's even crazier is that even Apple has done a better job about this than Nintendo. You can have a family group and share all the games (and applications) you buy in the App Store for iOS / macOS with all the family members. And you can install them on all your devices at the same time. And use them without restrictions. And if you have a game installed in macOS you can use it with any user account on that computer.

I spent 3 hours digging up information on gamesharing and its quirks before landing on this video. You sir, have touched on almost every point I'm aware of and made it much simpler. Thank you.

That moment when you finished the whole video and realized you don't even own a single switch.

@themadlad7051

3 жыл бұрын

Lol

I just bought my two kids their own switch lites, thinking I could share the games we bought and shared on our first switch console with them. What an expensive and frusterating mistake I made.

@benjaminfrankart7852

Жыл бұрын

Oh my gosh yes me too I cannot believe it's this difficult. I even bought the family version of Nintendo switch online banking we could all share and play the same game at the same time. To me this is a black mark on the Nintendo name and should be changed immediately.

Hence why I purchase physical games. I know I own it and don't have to jump through hoops or feel like I'm a convict for trying to play my own game. Great write up and tutorial.

I looked at this for my family too. Came to the same conclusion - buy hard copy games only and in some cases two copies (eg mario kart) if we want to play each other. Bit mental in this day and age...

Imagine if physical game cards were writable. Game updates, DLC content and saved progress could be written TO THE GAME CARD. Y'know, like back in the cartridge days. Oh the absolute bliss that would be.

Always nice to see how Nintendo somehow always make a mess of multiplayer and online....

Isn't it more logical to have the lite as primary? On the primary you can play downloaded games without constantly having it check online to see if you're double dipping; so good when you don't have internet. The big switch is at home, where there's always wifi. Right?

@stabinghobo57

Ай бұрын

💯 That’s what I do. My switch light is my primary since I travel with it. I made my OG Switch the secondary since it’s at home usually connected to the TV.

@MartinTedder

Ай бұрын

@@stabinghobo57 it makes much more sense...I do it too

Thank you Lon for what I consider to be a definitive guide and answer on something that I've been wondering about! It all made sense to me but you're right that juggling multiple members in a household will make it hard to manage. Hopefully Nintendo realizes there is a desire for having multiple Switches and streamlines the way it handles multiple people someday.

Nintendo is more concerned about the few people that may somehow find a way to get one over on them than the average consumer. I would buy a second switch if they would allow family sharing between two consoles.

SO glad i found this, i’ve been trying to configure my family account between two switches and didn’t know if it was that convoluted or i was just that dense. pretty sure it’s mostly the former, now, thank you!! i’m about to say heck it all and make ONE account that we all play under since a lot of games can save progress of multiple users within them. it’s all just so infuriating how something that’s advertised as being all inclusive is in fact so limited in functionality. i appreciate how thoroughly you dove into this, you have the patience of a saint 🙏

This is the only reason I haven't bought a Switch Lite.

@lovelorn88nick

4 жыл бұрын

Here at Nintendo we do NOT like money LOL. Havent we proven this already? LOL

@user-lc8xt2ru5s

3 жыл бұрын

im only interested in buying lite coz it looks like a collectors item the teal and coral were so pleasing in my eyes. i got the regular switch and i think its enough since joycons are removeable and able to connect controllers to play co op games.

It gets even MORE complicated when you have multiple accounts in multiple regions! My primary account (with my save data) is my Japanese one... but this means that any digital games purchased with my other accounts for other regions CANNOT be played on a secondary Switch with my Japanese account... I bought a Switch Lite. Had it for less than a day thanks to their policies... 😞

@divinestrength1774

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah I’m thinking about getting refunded

I have a switch lite and my kids share the new og switch. I'm the one buying games on my account and we've been playing digital games on the two switches without a problem.

Really useful information. I've been tempted to get a lite to use out of the house and I think if I do your tip of setting the Lite as primary will be best because my full sized Switch will always have an internet connection anyway.

This is ridiculous. If you purchased the game once you link the secondary system there should be no restrictions after logging in. If they need a two factor authentication method they have it simply use the credit card tied to the main account for the eShop. It is extremely frustrating.

So you can also play on the primary console as a different user and use the secondary console as the main user allowing you to play downloaded content on both devices at the same time. I have to do this with my daughter, I will use my account on the secondary console and she will use her account on the primary console.

So wish I saw this before purchasing another switch lite. Thanks for the helpful video. Nintendo really need to look at family sharing.

I try to buy physical games whenever possible on Switch, never been easy to share digital libraries with Nintendo.

@Ang417

4 жыл бұрын

Yeah me too I buy everything physical I did buy Mario Kart digitally tho my husband gonna have to buy that one but everything else is physical

My brain hurts. Must keep watching till the ennndd!!!

Great video! Watched a few others on the same subject and the way you explained it was much more clear.

Nintendon't make sense sometimes 🤦

This is why physical games should never go away. All of this is a huge hassle, you shouldn't have to either jump through all these hoops or buy a game twice just to simply let your kid play a game you already have on their own console.

What about DLC for physical games?

@herohour6496

Жыл бұрын

lol, u can't.

AWESOME breakdown, I’ve search and searched for an answer to this topic.. I’ve even heard others say that if one console has physical and the other has digital..OF A DIFFERENT GAME.. it wouldn’t work but you proved that incorrect and so much more! Thanks for taking the time to dive into this..

This is super helpful!! Anything else I googled was confusing... I bought 2 switch lites so my son and I could play fortnite together... so I'll just create him his own account. A bit annoyed I paid for a family subscription though.

@Niki-vs7on

2 жыл бұрын

I have 2 switch lites. Purchased many digital games on my primary account. Now my younger child has 1 and his brother wants to buy a 2nd copy of a 2 player game for him. Everytime I sign in it says I am the primary😭

Hey! You have Solar Striker for the GB back there! That’s one of my favorite games on the Game Boy! Glad to know there’s someone else out there that likes this game! 😁

@LonSeidman

4 жыл бұрын

Loved that game. I think it was the first space shooter for the Gameboy!

What's very annoying is I have a physical copy of smash bros on one switch which works fine when my son plays digital games on the second switch. However, I purchased a dlc character for my smash bros game and now it recognizes my physical copy of smash bros as digital, and now I can't play it at the same time as my son. Super frustrating

Thank you so much for putting together all the info I've been confusingly picking up across the internet!

i transferred my nintendo account from my boyfriend’s switch to a switch lite so he could get his own animal crossing game. however he had a house on my island and wants to get the stuff he left there but now can’t. if i send his nintendo account over as a secondary user will that just bring over the save data from his new acnh game or will it load as my old acnh data since it’s my island and not his?? please help

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

ACNH islands are locked to the console.

I want a switch lite so bad as a secondary. Other people don’t really play on my devices and I buy mostly physical so I should be fine. Sucks that some of the games do no support cloud save data which is ridiculous. Oh well

I'm here in 2020, just bought the kiddo a switch for Christmas and thought my head was going to explode trying to figure this all out. Only question left now is it better to setup a child account under your account, or just have them make their own and invite them to the family group?

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

Depends on whether you both want to play the same game at the same time. If not just use one account, and lock it down. If yes then you’ll need a family plan.

Great video, Lon. Nintendo really needs an overhaul of their accounts system - it makes the other 2 look simple! Last year I swapped my 3DS with my daughter's 2DS (she got the better deal!) and moving content involved several emails to Nintendo!

Just crazy to me that people think, “oh it should be able to do this, and I have no idea if it does, and I haven’t done any research about it, but I’ll still get mad if it doesn’t do it.”

The only other fix is to use your cellphone as a hotspot while traveling.

@mason9627

4 жыл бұрын

or have your switch lite as your primery console and using it to travel as your og switch is always going to be conected to wifi

@diarykeeper

3 жыл бұрын

Orrr, launch the game while on wifi, ingame use ap-mode. For as long as you keep the game on, it'll keep running.

Thanks, this is the best explanation I've found so far. I needed to learn how to do this since there are some games I'd prefer to play on my TV rather than using my Lite (which I actually use more often). I'm afraid of messing up th joysticks on the Lite when I play certain games. Plus, my eyes are getting bad. I need that big screen. But, believe it or not, there are some games that don't support cloud saves (Civilization).

It just comes down to that they want you to buy the games over again, I've seen so many people question how Nintendo can't get this right, but I'm sure they don't want to in this situation. I bought a lite for my partner and she just bought the games she wanted over again cause of this entire thing.

@electrosec

4 жыл бұрын

You guys got played by Nintendo.

For an Airplane trip i'll take my main Switch with me. For the Portable Switch lite I use it for work since I work in the night shift and just use my phone as a hotspot to check if I have internet connection to play my games. I do love my OLED more than my Switch lite but since I work long nights I am afraid of dropping my OLED or tapping it hard enough to break the screen.

quick question, what to do with all your kids/other users on the primary accounts that want to play on secondary console? do you have to play all over again to get the save games? or we have to create another exact user names and transfer the save games via micro SD? do you have a guide or video for it? Thank you

Buy digital and you can play the same game on 2 different consoles, as long as the Primary User plays on the non-primary console and the non primary user plays on the primary console... sounds weird, but it works!!!

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

I think he might have a single user online account, and improperly using his primary as the primary.

Thanks Lon, I needed to know that before buying a Switch Lite.

Great Video, thanks for this! Can‘t believe that nintendo did such a mess with the digital games… need to check out more on this topic…

Thank you very much for you sharing this info. I just got the dlc for acnh for christmas from my kids, but my son plays all my downloaded games on his console. His is registered as primary and I never had an issue prior for acnh because I use the cartridge, but with the new dlc it blocked me from playing...this is dumb it is only additional content I am still using the cartridge. But thank you for helping me figure out how to do this. I put his in airplane mode since it is the primary, and it finally allowed me into my game. Your a life saver, great share :). I think if you are all on the same family plan, I don't see why nintendo doesn't make it easy for families to share games. Hopefully they adjust this setting, but in the meantime your info came in very helpful. Thank you very much.

Thanks for information and all, I brought physical game for Pokémon Sword and Shield and upcoming Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. And when I playing one of version on secondary, it paused for one of primary cause I brought DLC.

SO basically. If you own 2 consoles, registered on the same account, all your games are digital, only 1 console can play ANY game at the same time. Yes i understand playing the same game twice is OKAY but any other games ? Now that's dumb. So basically for a family having 2 consoles better register them separately and you are force to buy each game twice.

@LonSeidman

3 жыл бұрын

That’s how it works unfortunately ! I buy physical whenever possible

@Kaynos

3 жыл бұрын

@@LonSeidman Yes i learned that a bit late, i buy all my game physically now.

so i have a switch lite and started my animal crossing and a few other games on there. i just ordered a regular switch yesterday. do i have to make a second profile on the new switch with its own online subscription to access my games even if its just me and im not sharing my switches with anyone?

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

@Hose2wAcKiEr Correct, islands are locked to the console.

Wow....I appreciate the heads up! I was assuming this would be easy...but I was foolish to think Nintendo would be consumer friendly.

I can understand having to have 2 copies of a game to play on 2 consoles, but not being able to play different games under the same account baffles me. I travel and if I’m watching KZread on my switch they can’t play anything at home. And not being able to go into airplane mode while docked further complicates things.

Thank you so much for this explanation. I’ve been trying to figure this out for hours. So frustrating, but I will just go buy physical games. Thanks once again.

@herohour6496

Жыл бұрын

I can't. Many of us live in rural areas or don't have English versions. Please be sensitive to us

I have a original switch that I play with my kids who are under 10 years old. Neither has emails or their own Nintendo accounts. I recently bought the OLED model so my kids can play their physical copy games on the original one and I can play different physical copy games on the new OLED one ( mine). Most of the time that I play it, I do not have access to wifi. I am now setting up my new OLED and it is asking me if I want to establish a new account or transfer an existing one. I basically want to use the old switch for family use and keep the new only only for my use. If I transfer my account, what happens to the info on the older switch? Do my kids lose progress on all of the games that they have been working on? Is there a reason that I should I establish a new ( second) Nintendo account for the second device? If so, should I get the family plan and create accounts for my kids? I am really not sure what to do or what problems any selection might create for me. I went to Nintendo's site but it was unclear. I do not need to play the same game on 2 different machines and am okay with saving my process on one console only. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Great breakdown on sharing/playing games on multiple consoles with the same Nintendo online account and possible workarounds. I'm good with physical games. What about both consoles playing online at the same time? More specifically, can 2 consoles on the same Nintendo Online account play online against/with each other on the same game (2 physical copies of the game)? Are one or both of these possible or am I looking at needing a Family account?

Thanks for your insight. I am in the same boat as you.

Thank you very much. You put a lot of valuable information out and have a talent for sharing it

Physical games are the way forward. Most of the time they are cheaper anyway and can be found 2nd hand or swapped/lent.

Great video. Answers most of the questions by going into all of the different situations. Next, I need to find a video that does this and compares with having an NSO family plan, and how all of that interacts. I would assume that all of the points/quirks in this video still stand, except if other users are part of your family plan, then those users would have their own licensing specifics to deal with. So if they have purchased a game, then it would use their license instead.

@LonSeidman

2 жыл бұрын

Yes I have the family plan now and the same restrictions apply except for games that are part of the cloud subscription like the NES library.

@anthonycomeaux1804

2 жыл бұрын

@@LonSeidman Great, thanks.

@Edward-Plantagenet

Жыл бұрын

@@LonSeidman So the family subscription is great only if you want to play 30 year old games on multiple devices. Way to go Nintendo, pass!!

So if on my current (primary) switch I have the account, added my two kids with their own profiles under my account and have the family online plan I will still have issues. How bout just transferring their profiles and cloudsaves at least?

Hey Lon it's about to get worse The Switch Pro 2020 is coming

@a.e.i2409

4 жыл бұрын

Nope

@diarykeeper

3 жыл бұрын

This. I wish people would stop repeating this. It's been three years...

How does this work with physical games and dlc courses characters like Mario kart and super smash brothers ultimate

omg after a day of trying to find a solution I finally got it!

I put one account in 2 switches but I want to delete one. I can just go to eshop from there I can just go to non register and remove one?

I have my Main Primary Switch as the Nintendo Switch Lite and I have the regular Nintendo Switch as the secondary console since it will always be at home connected to the TV.

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

Same

Do you have to put primary switch on airplane mode if you have a physical game inside, so your secondary switch can play a digital game?

If both the Primary and Secondary console is playing physical games, can both use the online functionality (with just the one online membership for the account) at the same time? Like going online in the pokemon games?

JESUS airplane mode is all I needed to hear. God bless you!

Has there been an update to game sharing? Back when the Pokémon games came out we could not play at the same time with different profiles but now my son and I can play games at the same time on our own profiles. We still can’t play the game on a third switch though.

Sorry i did watched the video but have one question, can the secondary console make users (linking their Nintendo acct) and play ur downloaded primary console games, or do they have to play under ur acct? If yes they have to play under my acct, can I deregister my primary console which has all the different user accts and make the secondary the primary and set up their acct there but will I lose their accts on the now secondary console? (If this makes sense)

Wii U > Switch in many ways but mostly in the ease of multiplayer and availablity of multiplayer games

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

The only thing that was wrong with the Wii U was the game pad.

My question is what if you have a physical copy of a game like animal Crossing that the family uses on multiple switches using their own profile on their own switch. All switches use the same account on h to e Eshop under my profile. Can they use the paid dlc on each switch under their own profile? This makes having these systems more work than they are worth.

U can transfer the save data for each account its simple actually. Just login in the kids account and transfer for there save data to each of there switches.

Nintendo has always been lacking in the accessibility department... But anyway thank you for this video, it's super helpful!

Can I have multiple secondary consoles ? so one primary and two that have to check the internet whenever I use digital games ?

Thank you! That was extremely helpful and well laid out!

This is very helpful. The Vita was way better at this. You could use your digital copy of a game on up to 3 Vitas and even a PS3/PS4

Do my children need their own email addresses to open accounts ? They have lites & I just got the OLED switch. I don’t really want them to have emails yet as they are young. I’m So confused because I only want to buy coded games for them

Thank you. You answered my questions. Liked

Excellent video! I haven’t set up an online account yet. I have two sons and I just purchased a Lite for them to each have their own. The main thing I’m trying to figure out is whether or not it’s possible for my two sons to play a physical game on the OLED (hooked to the TV), and then take that same physical game and play it on their Lite with the same save data? I’m really not sure the best way to set up their two Lites. Would it be easier to create separate Nintendo accounts for both boys? I didn’t realize this was going to be such a painful process. That’s the whole reason I was only buying physical games.

@LonSeidman

Ай бұрын

Yes if you have the online account you can sync saves across devices , so that should work

@macatron69

Ай бұрын

What is the best way to set up their Switch Lites? Do I set up child accounts or is it easier to just create their own Nintendo Accounts for each of their Lites? Either way, I’d need to link my account with their accounts to allow for them to use the online functionality, correct?

@LonSeidman

Ай бұрын

​@@macatron69 So what I have for my kids is child accounts - I did the family online subscription and gave each kid their own account so their games wouldn't interfere with each other. The cloud syncs up so if they jump from one to the next generally the save games follow. One note with animal crossing is that it has its own backup functionality - so the separate accounts on each switch are attached to that switch's island. Each kid has their own house, etc. The other switch has a different island.

@macatron69

Ай бұрын

Ok thanks. Do I need to link their child accounts with my account on the primary OLED Switch, or are their child accounts automatically linked to my account just by creating them? I mainly just want to be sure they can play their physical games between the OLED on the TV and their Lites. Are the child accounts associated with their profiles on the primary Switch and that is how the cloud saves work? Thanks for all of the quick responses! 😃

@LonSeidman

Ай бұрын

@@macatron69 Yes if you have both switches logged in with the primary account owner's ID I think the kids and other family members will show up. You do need to attach the child accounts to the family plan and I forget how to do that since it's been awhile :)

Hi, need help! I have 3 users on a regular Nintendo switch, 2 are my kids and 1 is mine. My kids have been using the regular one a lot so I want to get a lite, so I was wondering if there’s anyway I can get a lite, transfer my data over from the regular one and to delete my user from the regular one to make the lite a primary? Is that possible? I just want one that my kids aren’t gonna use but I would like to still transfer my other games on the regular one to the lite.

So I bought family membership for switch online. 1 son has the main account on switch. The other son has switch lite. How does the switch lite use my switch online family account so he can play snes games etc

This is such a pain in the ass digital game sharing bullshit... Thanks for the info man

the issue is with the subscription you have it likely only covers you for 1 user rather than multiple users on the same home network And the other issue with nintendo is always paid for console function Note this issue also exists on the ps4 and xbox1 not sure if there is is a family setting on those platforms going from 1 user account it isn't going to work unless there is a root hack you can perform to lock your primary system as a server node meaning you would likely have to set yourself secondary user account to play on multiple switch consoles other you live in an either this or either that affair I know of no console vendor to date that allow you share the entire games content between multiple users at once as you get this exact same problem as dlc is locked to the user accounts and is not shareable between users this problem also exiists oin the xbox and ps4, given the lockout that exists on the switch if you don't pay a monthly or yearly subscription you essentially are lockout out of gaming system the only thing you share with other users is the base games mods and dlc is locked unles the other users have them on their accounts.

This was so helpful and you described it easy.

Lon have u tried the following??? Set switch lite to primary then install games with primary account. Then after that log in with a separate nintendo account on the switch lite for a separate user. That way when you fire up a game on switch lite its running as a separate nintendo account. Not sure if u need that account to also have online subscription. I hear that may avoid the game pause issue and allow both switches to be online at same time. I would love a part 2 of this video validating if this works.

@LonSeidman

4 жыл бұрын

How would this work if the digital game was purchased on the other account ?

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

It works, this is exactly what I am doing with a Family Plan. You still have the online authentication on the deregistered/secondary console. The new primary console will have to use the primary account in the eShop tied to the purchases. The other accounts are for gameplay only on the primary console. The primary account cannot be used for gameplay on the primary console without creating issues seen in the video. The secondary console uses the primary account strictly for gameplay, and to redownload previously purchased titles in the eShop. Do not make purchases using the primary account on the secondary console as this will register it as the primary.

Basically what I'm hearing is A 20 minute public service announcement telling people to buy physical media and not use digital downloads ever.

Super informative and thorough

@LonSeidman

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

so. im trying to play breath of the wild across two switches at different households and even though ive linked the two accounts but its not updating the progress on both switches . one account is digital and one is a cartridge i dont know if that matters, and im really stuck. anyone know what to do??

Now how about if your kid has a PSN linked to Epic for Fortnite (he has an epic login) and you purchase him a Nintendo Switch. Does he have to be the primary on the Nintendo Switch in order to link to Epic and crossplay with his PS4 Fortnite account? I set him up under mine as a child account and i'm thinking that when I download Fortnite onto the Nintendo Switch it will want to link with the primary account maybe? idk and I don't want to mess it up, ugh...

I got one switch pre owned and it’s always checked if the games can be played, just found out today it’s not the primary console. What on earth do I do

@lmdsn

2 жыл бұрын

I’ve had it for three years

I mean I have 2 switches and 1 lite for my son. I have my regular switch as my home console so it is secondary while I have my lite as prime. I made a whole other nintendo account for my son and if he wants to play a game that's on my home switch I say to him that "he has to play on the home switch." But then when I have extra money get him the game on his lite.

How do you add another switch to your account? I wanna know before I get another one.

The cloud save issue seems pretty instantaneous on XBox One. How long do you have to wait until your save has been uploaded to a cloud, so that you can access it on another Switch?

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

1 to 2 minutes

If both units share the same account does the primary unit have to be powered up to play a digital game on the secondary switch lite unit?

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

I’ll check this out. I leave my primary console (Lite in sleep mode).

so if i understand correctly, you can not use one account to play co-op or vs games on two different consoles next to each other , right? :(

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

Correct

I have a multiple switch home and it's so hard to try and get around some of these blocks I was almost thinking what if I had two primary accounts....

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

We have three, and I wondered if this would work with two secondary consoles alternating gameplay. If you mean two different primaries with separate purchases, then yes. If you mean two different consoles sharing one primary account, yes as long as the primary account isn’t signed into on the new primary console. The same account cannot be used as a primary twice, unless you alternate console usage.

My girlfriend has a physical copy of super Mario delux and we both have Nintendo switch lite. Can we play together with her single copy ?

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

No

if I have the switch and a hard copy of mario cart. Can I link up my lite to the main switch so that me and my kids can race together or do they need a physical copy aswell? I'm new to this maybe make a video or link one for me.. thanks ur video was very helpful

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

They’d need a copy as well

I have a Question?? Can me and my Son play lets say... Borderlands 2 together online together under My account if one was Digital and the other physical copy?

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

You would need the family plan.

6:19 i just go offline with the primary. Then you fool them ... Or just Pirate the Game

This is so confusing. I am so lost. I have 2 Switches. OLED and Lite. I'm just gonna sell the LITE.

Can I have multiple users on one Nintendo Account? I am unable to access eshop one of my switches and when I try it says its already signed into that account. Then asks to sign into another account.

@zeroturn7091

3 жыл бұрын

No