thats a good question oO

your interest in switch has just skyrocketed hasnt it?

Why is this news?

I would expect every company to have a data clean-up policy. Are they also going to remove my access to the free games I get when I let my subscription lapse? lol

Of course it costs them money but that does not necessarily mean that they have to charge us for it.
Microsoft does not charge you anything for cloud saves, Valve does not charge you anything for cloud saves, hell even Ativision-Blizzard does not charge you anything for cloud saves.

Exactly. Don't know why people are getting so bent out of shape about cloud saves. PS4 apparently does the same thing, despite costing three times as much. Why? Because it makes sense. It costs money to store data, so if a user isn't actively paying for an online subscription it makes sense the company will eventually get rid of that data.

So is Nintendo's neglected online infrastructure the justification for their poor service?

Microsoft gets a bad rap but they're pretty good when it comes to cloud saves. I bought Tomb Raider Legend for like $3 a month ago. When I played it on Xbox One, my save data from a decade ago was already there.

I posted this question elsewhere but:

Q:Why do you want cloud saves?

A: In case something happens to your console OR if you want to log into your account and play on another console.

Having the option to copy your saves to an external HDD, SD card, or USB drive would be nice, too.

So, what if something happens to your console? What if it's lost, stolen, or damaged? You'll have to buy a whole new Switch. Those things cost $300. That's not a lot of money to ballers like you and me but somebody might not immediately have that kind of money to spend to replace a Switch. When they do finally get the money, there's a possibility that their saves will be deleted by Nintendo. They'd have to keep paying for Nintendo online for a system they don't even have to keep that from happening.

I agree that this is no easy situation if something happens to your console. I can definitely understand that. But there are two things that cross my mind.

1) This is something that must happen just around the time you stop paying for the service, otherweise you would probably have enough time to get it repaired/replaced. Consoles can break or get stolen at anytime during the year, so the chances are not too high that this may be a matter fo concern. It's still possible, sure, but it's not the likeliest scenario. This goes under the assumption that the service is bought for the entire year. If it's paid for just one month, yeah well *shrugs shoulders*

2) The service will expand itself for the next period by default unless the user disables this manually. So it is the purposeful decision to stop paying for it. If you truly want to stop paying for the service, you must be sure to know about the risks yourself. The terms and conditions are plastered everywhere.

Can you imagine the backlash if Sony or Microsoft displayed this kind of incompetence with their PS4/X1 chat interface? Like, people would be pulling their hair out in disbelief and frustration - but somehow Nintendo gets a free pass...

Nintendo's online gaming infrastructure is so bad that it's embarrassing. And it pisses me off that Nintendo fanboys 'choose' not to hold them accountable and subsequently act as Nintendo's enablers for lack of being modern.