Hey Nintendo fans, got a Pokemon question I hope someone can help me with. My son has beaten Pokemon Shield and is asking if he can get the expansion pass. One thing I’m curious about - I have a Nintendo account, if I buy the DLC on the switch on my account, will he be able to access and play the DLC on his account? Second - looks like the DLC is split in two just like the game is. I’m assuming that if he’s playing Pokemon Shield (as opposed to sword) that he needs to buy the Shield expansion and not the Sword expansion. Is that correct, or does it matter?
CraigM
3450
It has been my experience that, yes, this works. All downloaded games and DLC have worked across all users on my Switch.
I believe, and @Knightsaber would know better than I, that the DLC is a universal SKU. It is just the in game content that is split.
Kadath
3451
Congrats, will give this a look. I love Peggie!
I just installed the Hori split pad. So far loving it.
Rock8man
3452
It sounds like Shield should buy Shield expansion, yes.
Calelari
3453
Since there is only one Switch involved, no worries. Things get… interesting… if you each had your own Switch.
OK cool, I think I have it all figured out and I’m ready to buy. Or at least I thought I was, holy crap $29.99?? I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t that!
CraigM
3455
So question, is there ways to share digital games across multiple Switches? How easy would it be to explain and set up remotely for a family member who is not as tech savvy?
Basically my nephews are getting a Switch and wanting to know digital or physical games and the prospect of having multiple devices is real for them long term.
Thraeg
3456
It’s possible but a hassle. Physical game cards are easier for that purpose. Don’t have to be tech-savvy, but have to be able to follow some steps (my 6-year old handles them with no problem after being shown the first couple times)
Basically, each Nintendo account has one designated “home Switch”. That account can play its digital games even while offline, and any other user profiles on the system can share them.
For all other systems, you have to use the Nintendo account that bought the game, and it phones home and checks that the account isn’t currently logged in playing on another system.
So the upshot is that if Bob wants to play Alice’s digital game on his Switch, he has to be online and use her user profile, and she has to either not be playing at the moment, or put her Switch in airplane mode to avoid kicking him off.
If you have multiple Switches, get Physical game cards whenever you can. Everything else will just lead to an incredible amount of hassle.
For two Switches, it’s convoluted but possible:
Alice sets the Switch in Bob’s possession as her “home” device.
Bob sets the Switch in Alice’s possession has his “home” device.
Alice can play hers and Bob’s games on the Switch in her possession.
Bob can play his and Alice’s games on the Switch in his possession.
I leave how or if it can scale up for 3 or people as an exercise for the reader.
Yeah, it’s way worse than sharing on Playstation or Xbox. Really sucks considering how much Nintendo wants multi-Switch households to happen.
Well they want multi Switch, with multi game copies. Never enough!
Unless Alice or Bob want to play Splatoon 2 or any other games that don’t have cloud saves and require them to play on their “home” device.
That only matters if Bob and Alice are going to be swapping back and forth between devices and want their save data to follow them around. You absolutely can play (in general, there may be weirdness with specific titles) games that don’t support cloud save on your non-“home” device.
newbrof
3463
Bob and Alice came a long way. At a better time in history, they were used to explain general relativity, black holes, quantum erasers and now they are desperately needed to explain Nintendos digitial licensing nonsense…
Sounds like it works the same as it does with Steam?
True. I was coming from the point of view that two users had been using a single Switch and one of them was migrating. For Splatoon 2, Arms, Pokemon, and some others, you have to migrate your “home” account to the new Switch if you want to keep your progress. If you don’t mind starting over (or you have two brand new Switches), then the Alice/Bob configuration should work.
I just called Video Games Etc. and confirmed my OLED Switch Pre-order should available for me to pick up on Friday, AND they put down the color (White) that I wanted, so fingers crossed I have access to a Switch again this weekend.
Awesome! I would love one, and had one pre-ordered, but came to my senses and cancelled because I play docked 90% of the time. But man it looks nice…
I used to play docked 90% of the time, but I spend a lot more time upstairs with my wife and we like to play games on our phones or iPads while we watch TV together - just something we started doing the last 4 or so months with the kids moved out, spending more time with each other, but that means I’ll have A) more Switch time and B) more undocked time, so the OLEDs timing is incredible here, and I can still dock and play on my nice TV when I’m not upstairs, to boot.
