Following today’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons Nintendo Direct, further information has been revealed surrounding the game’s save data and the possibility of data backup or transfer.
Much to fans’ dismay, it had already been announced that Animal Crossing: New Horizons would not support the Save Data Cloud functionality available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Nintendo then later revealed that the game’s save data would also not be able to be transferred to another console via the Switch’s profile transfer process. This left fans speculating as to whether an Island would be permanently tied to one Switch system even if the console gets lost, damaged, or stolen, with no process to transfer the save file if you buy a new Switch.
Thankfully, Nintendo put some of these concerns to rest during the Animal Crossing Direct and additional updates that came afterwards. Although the game is not compatible with Nintendo Switch Online cloud saves, Nintendo will offer a one-time service to Switch Online subscribers that can recover their save data in the event of console failure, loss, or theft. It was also announced that in the place of the profile transfer process, a function specific to Animal Crossing: New Horizons will eventually be made available that allows players to move users and save data to another Switch console.
While these solutions are definitely not perfect, fans looking forward to Animal Crossing: New Horizons can finally take comfort in knowing that their precious save files will have some degree of protection and recovery options in the event of a lost, damaged, or new Switch console.
Nintendo hasn’t revealed any more details, other than that these features will not be available at launch, so be sure to keep an eye out for further information.
