One of the more vexing revelations to emerge concerning Nintendo’s new paid online service prior to its launch on Switch last week was that cloud saves would seemingly be deleted immediately on a user’s subscription lapsing. Nintendo has now clarified that this isn’t the case.
News of Nintendo’s apparently draconian cloud saves policy came via the company’s official UK website, where a FAQ on the new online service stated that, “Save data stored with Save Data Cloud cannot be kept outside of the duration of your Nintendo Switch Online membership”.
Understandably, some fans weren’t please – not only had Nintendo elected to place the only means of backing up Switch saves behind a paywall, those precious backups would seemingly be automatically deleted on expiration of a Nintendo Online account. By way of comparison, PlayStation Plus cloud saves are stored for six months once a subscription lapses before removal and Xbox One’s subscription-free cloud saves are retained indefinitely.
Source: Eurogamer Nintendo says it will keep cloud saves for six months after an online subscription expires