Nintendo appears to have a cloud save system in place for Switch that only the company itself can access
Reddit user Patsuann sent their Switch out to Nintendo for repairs, and upon receiving and booting up the console, they noticed that while their account was on the system, none of their game saves were stored on the system memory. However, on starting up The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Patsuann noticed there was a small cloud icon next to the game.
Download icon to restore Zelda: Breath of the Wild save data
The user was then prompted to download an update, and after the download was complete, all of the their saves were restored on the system. Patsuann uploaded footage of the process here, screenshots of which you can find above and below.
Download prompt to restore save data
Nintendo has yet to announce plans to add support for cloud saves. It appears only Nintendo currently has the ability to freely transfer save data, and if players are to retrieve their game data in this manner, they'll have to be granted access by Nintendo.
According to Nintendo's official Data Management FAQ for Switch, "game save data is stored on the console's System Memory" and it "cannot be saved or copied to a microSD card." Additionally, the Nintendo Accounts FAQ for Switch states that a player's "save data cannot be transferred from one system to another." It's worth noting that in the aforementioned instance, it was a repair made by Nintendo. The user did not buy another Switch console.
It's unclear if the data transferred is an isolated case or a common practice for Switch repairs. We've reached out to Nintendo for comment and will update this story when we receive a response.
While Nintendo Switch's online service is currently free, a paid service is coming later this year. In addition to online play, voice chat, and a monthly game download, perhaps cloud saves will also be included as another feature for paid subscribers.
---
