A new Nintendo Switch system update just rolled out, but fans aren’t happy with some of the changes.
This update is a big one, adding features likeGameShare to prepare for the Switch 2 releaseas well as theVirtual Game Card feature announced in the March Nintendo Direct.
The update also changed the appearance of some icons, especially for Donkey Kong, to reflect the characters’ new designs, as well as addingthe ability to transfer console settings and data to the Switch 2.
The Virtual Game Card feature is what’s causing problems with fans, as they say it shut down a popular loophole for sharing digital game purchases between multiple consoles.
The Online Game Sharing Loophole
According toEurogamer, the original method of playing one game purchase on multiple consoles involved the owner logging in to one Switch and playing the game while someone else launches it on the one designated as the account’s primary console.
Now, the Virtual Game Card system treats digital game purchases like physical game cards, and while one is being played on another Switch that’s connected to the internet, the game will be inaccessible on the original console.
However, buried in the user settings, there’s also the new Online License option, which, if enabled, will allow the account used to purchase a game (but not any others on the console) to play it while connected to the internet, even if the Virtual Game Card is not loaded, as long as it is not currently being played on another console that’s also online.
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Notably, it does not restrict the console with the Virtual Game Card from playing offline at the same time as the original account plays online with the Online License feature, according to Eurogamer’s testing. So there’s still a loophole there, just a more restrictive one.
Users onResetErahave been unsurprisingly disappointed by this news, calling Virtual Game Cards a “downgrade” from the previous system, but there also seems to be a fair bit of confusion about how the system works.
In any case, Virtual Game Cards are a clear attempt by Nintendo to crack down on digital game sharing with a more restrictive system. Even if there are currently workarounds by not connecting to the internet, it’s still a lot more limited than the way it worked before, and the old loophole seems to have been closed, at least most of the way.
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