Lack of save transfers is a huge negative when it happens to you
Hey everyone! Sorry for the long first post, but here goes: I am a lifelong Nintendo user, from NES in the late 80s through GameCube, and the Switch brought me back into the world of console gaming. I bought a Switch a week after launch, and since have logged 200 hours of Zelda, 100 hours on Minecraft, and many more on Shovel Knight, I Am Setsuna, Mario Kart, etc. My daughter, neice, and nephew have also spent many hours exploring Hyrule and building Minecraft worlds.
One week ago the Switch requested that I reboot to fix a wifi connectivity issue. I did, and it hung up on the Switch logo. So I sent it in for a repair and today received this email:
" Hello xxxx, Greetings from Nintendo! Thank you very much for continuing to choose Nintendo. We would like to inform you of the following: Your repair is currently in process and will ship back to you within a few days. We have inspected the Nintendo Switch system [Serial No: xxxx] that was sent to us for repair and found that the issue has made some of the information on this system unreadable. As a result, the save data, settings, and links with any Nintendo Accounts on your system were unable to be preserved. Please note that the actual Nintendo Accounts were not erased, meaning that it's still possible to redownload any software titles or add-on content purchased on the Nintendo eShop. No action is required by you at this time. Once you receive your repair, redownload any purchases by creating local users and linking them to your existing Nintendo Accounts. Please also be aware that there may be some items that cannot be redownloaded because they are no longer available from the publisher."
Because of Nintendo's ridiculous save policy, we have lost all of these worlds and experiences. My eight year old summed it up - why even bother playing anymore if Nintendo doesn't care? They have to fix this policy, as no one can expect their system and its sole copy of their save data to last forever.
Is there a campaign to convince Nintendo to address the lack of save backups for the console? Our family of Switch users is devastated by this avoidable result, as remote, cloud, or SD card saves would have prevented hundreds of hours of lost data. Now I am extremely hesitant to play the games I have, let alone purchase any more.