Nintendo's new console has a critical flaw that Nintendo refuses to address

pulse

June 16, 2017 3:09 PM

Speaking in a recent interview, Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime says he knows of the problem but can't say whether it's being fixed.

Exactly.

The Nintendo Switch has a huge problem: If you break yours, all your save files die with it.

The 70 hours you spent in "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild"? Gone, like it never existed.

And given the nature of the Switch, as both a handheld and a home console, it's entirely possible that you'll drop the Switch and break it. It's basically a little tablet; it's like 90% screen. And that's before we start talking about how Nintendo consoles are primarily aimed at younger gamers — exactly the kind of folks who are prone to accidentally dropping things.

There's a simple solution to this issue that Nintendo's competition figured out long ago: cloud saves. On both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, your game save files can be backed up to the cloud. If your box breaks, your game saves are safely waiting for you in a cloud server. Convenient!

But, for some bizarre reason, Nintendo chose not to adopt this kind of system with its Switch console — a game console released in the year 2017. Nintendo also doesn't allow you to manually back up save files to a microSD card.

Even more bizarre? When asked about this problem, Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime seemingly disregards it as an issue.

"I can’t say there’s a solution coming, but we do hear the message," he told Kotaku in an interview from the annual E3 trade show in Los Angeles. And that's it! He moves on.

It's this type of blasé disregard that infuriates Nintendo fans. "We hear you, but I can't say if we're doing anything about it," isn't a response — it's both an acknowledgement and a deferral. It's an especially baffling response considering that Nintendo might actually be doing something about this issue, but it's the kind of non-response that Nintendo fans are no doubt accustomed to hearing.

For now, try your best not to drop your Switch.

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