How to Play Your Games Across Multiple Nintendo Switch Consoles
Steps for sharing games across multiple systems in your household.
What to do
Game save data, your digital games and downloadable content are tied to your Nintendo Account. We recommend that you transfer your user data from the original console to your replacement console.
This will move your Nintendo Account, user profile, save data, and Nintendo eShop purchases to the replacement console.
Data is moved one user at a time, so you can keep other users on the original console.
What type of games do you want to play on the different consoles?
To play physical game cards with multiple consoles, insert the game card into the console you want to play on and select the game from the HOME Menu.
How many consoles do you want to play on?
Two
If you have two consoles you want to use to play your digital games or downloadable content, please follow the Virtual Game Card Guide.
Three or more
If you would like to play your digital games or DLC on more than two consoles, you can turn on the online license setting. When turned on, you can play downloaded software or DLC you've purchased while the system is connected to the internet, even if you don't have a Virtual Game Card loaded.
To enable the online license feature for your Nintendo Account and play on any of your consoles, follow these steps:Link your Nintendo Account to all of the consoles that you want to play your digital games on.
On one of the consoles, select your user icon from the HOME Menu.
Scroll down and select Online License Settings.
Update the " Use Online License " setting to On .
This enables the setting for your Nintendo Account on all of your consoles—you do not need to set it on each console.
Download the games or content you want to access on each console.
On any of your consoles, insert the physical game card or select your downloaded game from the HOME Menu to begin playing the game on that console. Note that you can also continue to use Virtual Game Cards on two of your consoles, even if you have turned on the online license setting.
Troubleshooting
“Checking if the software can be played…” message
If you have turned on the online license setting, this message may appear from time to time. When this setting is turned on and you start a game that is not loaded as a Virtual Game Card, you must have an active internet connection.
For more details, read “Checking if the software can be played…” Message When Starting Software.Error Code: 2819-0003, "Play is being suspended."
This error code usually indicates that your Nintendo Account is being used to play your digital content on another console.
You cannot use your Nintendo Account to access games on multiple consoles simultaneously.
For more details, read Error Code: 2819-0003.
Additional information
Game save data is associated with your Nintendo Account and the console you play on. If you want to use the same save data on different consoles, you can transfer the data or use the Save Data Cloud Backup feature if you have a Nintendo Switch Online membership.
How to transfer save data from one console to another
Transferring save data will remove the save data from the source console and move it to the target console. You can transfer save data as often as you need.
For details, read How to Transfer Your Save Data To a Nearby Nintendo Switch Console.
How to use Save Data Cloud Backup
If you have a Nintendo Switch Online membership, you can use the Save Data Cloud backup feature to back up save data from one system and download it on another.
To back up save data:
Using the Nintendo Switch system that has the save data you want to back up, open the game's software menu and select Save Data Cloud Backup.
Select the desired user, then select Back Up Save Data.
To download save data:
Using the Nintendo Switch system that you want to download the save data to, open the game's software menu and select Save Data Cloud.
Select the desired user, then select Download Save Data.
For more details, read How to Back Up Save Data on Nintendo Switch and How to Download Save Data Cloud Backups.
Will you be sharing physical game cards or downloaded games/content?
To share a physical game with another user, have them insert the game card into the console they want to play on and select the game from the HOME Menu.
How to use the same save data on multiple consoles
Game save data is associated with the Nintendo Account and the console, not the game card.
If a user wants to use the same save data on the different consoles, there are two options:
Save data can be transferred from one console to another nearby console.
If the user has a Nintendo Switch Online membership, they can use the Save Data Cloud backup feature to back up save data from one console and download it on another.
For more details, read How to Back Up Save Data on Nintendo Switch and How to Download Save Data Cloud Backups.
Digital games and downloadable content are tied to the Nintendo Account that purchased them. Other people can play your digital content if they are playing on a console where you have loaded the content as a virtual game card, and vice versa.
How to load a virtual game card
Select Virtual Game Cards from the HOME Menu.
Select your user.
If prompted, enter your user verification PIN or enter your Nintendo Account password.
Select the game you want to load from the list of your virtual game cards.
Select Load on This System.
If not already downloaded, the icon for the game will appear on the HOME Menu and it will begin downloading. Once downloaded, all users on the console where the game is loaded can play the game.
You can also lend members of your family group your virtual game cards, so they can play on their own console.
For more information about sharing and lending your virtual game cards, follow the Virtual Game Card Guide.