Nintendo Just RUINED Game Sharing
- Smash JT
- Apr 30
- 3 min read
Please understand...
Nintendo’s latest firmware update (20.0.0) for the Switch is here - and already causing frustration everywhere. For good reason, I might add. In an aggressive push toward digital control, Nintendo's now quietly dismantled one of their most useful features for families and multi-console households: online game sharing. This is something I took advantage of often with my son, especially when playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online... But this update wipes that ability.
Great.
Thanks, Nintendo!
With the introduction of that new “Virtual Game Card” system they announced during the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct, Nintendo's now treating these digital games like physical cartridges. Sounds innocent enough on the surface, and something that I initially was ...we'll just say... curious about.
Until I realized it completely breaks the ability for two people to play the same purchased digital game online at the same time across different consoles. This was previously possible using the primary/secondary console system, where a game bought by one user could be played online simultaneously on both systems by separate accounts...
Now? That flexibility is gone. Why? Because Nintendo, of course. While some may call this method a loophole in an otherwise illegal usage of software, as pointed out by NintendoPrime on X, no... this was actually an advertised FEATURE by Nintendo themselves.
The new system implemented here now eliminates that whole concept of primary and secondary consoles altogether. Instead, only one console at a time can have a “loaded” Virtual Game Card. I guess the best way to explain it is as having only one physical copy that must be digitally “ejected” before another system can use it. Sure, there’s a convoluted workaround involving online licenses and putting one system in airplane mode, but the key issue remains: online simultaneous play is no longer allowed... and beyond that, it's over complicated to get it to work the old way regardless.
And let’s be real—this isn't a bug. It’s by design. Nintendo continues to hit new all-time highs in the stock market with each passing day... But in doing so, is pushing even further into those weird levels of greed, using every available option, pulling seemingly every proverbial level... Just to nickel and dime their own customer base.
While of course at the end of the day, they're a business and they're here to make money, the fact is, the goodwill built up in their customer base over the years is taking a major hit as of late. If it fails to pan out, they're going to look back at all these moves and ask themselves... was it all worth it?
It’s yet another example of the industry’s bait-and-switch tactics: aggressively push players toward digital purchases, then - as expected - strip away features post-sale to squeeze out more money. Now, if my son and I want to play something like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online together on separate Switches in the future, we'll need to buy a second full-priced copy.
Nintendo claims that the upcoming Switch 2 will fix some of this with a new “GameShare” features, but that 'fix' would only be for certain titles, and ... with the stipulation of only with local wireless.
That’s far from a real solution.
Bottom line: Nintendo didn’t just change the rules—they took away a massive feature people paid for.
...And they’re hiding it under the guise of “progress.”
Welcome to the future of digital ownership… where you own less and pay more. Isn't the future just wonderful?
~Smash
Scummiest and most despicable elitist gayme company on the face of the earth, and it's not even close to who's the second place to hold this title.
They deserve nothing short of piracy (they never deserved money to begin with knowing how despicable they always were), they haven't made a good game for like a decade now anyway, their latest games like BOTW/TOTK/Mario Odyssey etc. were nothing short of hot soy trashes that only these mentally ill trannies with a mindset of a pRedditor would call them "mAsTeRpIeCeS!!!" and never even played the original games (good games, not masterpieces by any means) and how they don't hold a candle to them for these lunatics to spew these ridiculous and unhinged…
That is very scummy. An update ruining a feature previously available on the system actively making it worse. If you already bought 2 Switches for your family you have paid them enough with the idea to use the game sharing. Combine that with the requirement to pay for online play on both consoles and things are suddenly very expensive for no reason other than greed. Between anti-customer policies like that and the return of Nintendo of America's cenosrhip, they can keep the Switch 2 and any potential games.