Lucky Enough To Snag A Switch 2 Preorder? Your Old Switch Is Getting Ready To Transfer Your Data

The hype for the Nintendo Switch 2 is still going strong, and unless you’ve been very lucky, Switch 2 preorders have been quite hard to secure. So if you managed to snag one, congratulations! Everyone’s quite envious of you. With the hard part out of the way, you can now focus on the next important step — getting your current Nintendo Switch ready to transfer all your data.

Nintendo just released a new system update on April 29, and this is a big one. The most important addition with this update is the capability to transfer all of your data from that Switch over to the Switch 2 once you get it. The update also brings support for virtual game cards, as well as the GameShare feature that requires a Switch 2 to work. But there’s a catch to how some of the new additions work, according to Kotaku.

Some of the smaller, but still notable, changes in the update include the ability to simultaneously transfer save data from multiple games, which can be a huge time saver for those with large game libraries. Select Nintendo character icons have also been slightly modified to show off new designs from upcoming games.

When Nintendo revealed the Switch 2, one of the new features of the console is GameShare. This allows a Switch 2 user to share a game with nearby users and allow certain games to be played on separate consoles simultaneously, including previous Switch models. The Switch 2 transfer tool also lets players temporarily store game data in the cloud in case they’re trading in the old system and won’t have both on-hand for direct transfer.

Virtual game cards is a new feature that changes how games are shared between users in family groups. Previously, one could access a digital game download across all Switches that had that user’s profile. But virtual game cards are similar to physical game cards, in that one has to “eject” a virtual game card from one system and “insert” it into another. The catch for this is that it limits who can play that game at any given time.

Nintendo says that the virtual game cards feature is optional, however, so if you want to continue using the old method, you can do so by turning online license settings back on, bypassing the virtual game card system. But the old loophole for playing games online together is patched, which means both players have to buy their own licenses to play online.

Despite some modifications to sharing games on a Switch, the latest update is a necessary one if you plan on upgrading to a new Switch 2. And if you still haven’t grabbed one, good luck in the hunt.

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