Nintendo introduces Switch cloud saves as part of paid online subscription

Just a few more months...

First, the good news: Nintendo will finally begin offering a way for Nintendo Switch owners to back up their currently vulnerable game save data starting in September. Now, the bad news: that feature will only be offered to players who spend $20 a year for Nintendo's first-ever paid online subscription service.

"Nintendo Switch Online," which the company has been teasing for well over a year, will include an unexpected "Save Data Cloud Backup" feature, the company announced Monday evening. A Nintendo PR e-mail promises the feature will be "great for people who want to retrieve their data if they lose, break or purchase an additional Nintendo Switch system." But it also warns that cloud saves will only be available "for most games," with no details about the ones that will be left out. More details of how cloud saves will work will be available at a later date.

The subscription service will be required to play any Nintendo Switch games' online modes from September onward. Games like Splatoon 2 and ARMS can currently be played online for free; that will change once Switch Online launches later this year.

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