Switch’s new Virtual Game Card system stops the same game being played online on two Switch consoles
Players with different accounts could previously play the same digital Switch game online together
The latest update to Nintendo Switch has reportedly removed the ability for two accounts to play a single purchased digital game on two different consoles at the same time online.
Today Nintendo released firmware 20.0.0 for Switch consoles, a significant update that adds new features in preparation for the impending Switch 2 launch.
One of the main changes in this new firmware is that digital games are now referred to as Virtual Game Cards, and essentially act like digital cartridges.
Players can “virtually load and eject virtual game cards” between two Switch consoles, meaning one console can have the game present at any time.
However, players are now reporting that this new system prevents two users with their own Switch consoles from playing the same digital game online at the same time, something that was possible before.
In the past, Switch games bought using a main player’s ‘primary console’ could be played by any other account signed in on that console, including online. The main player could then sign into a secondary console and install the game there too.
The idea was that if the main player signed into the secondary console, and another family member used their own account on the primary console, both could play the main player’s purchased digital game online at the same time.
The change to Virtual Game Cards no longer makes this possible, because there are no longer primary or secondary consoles. Now digital games are treated like physical cartridges, meaning they can technically only be ‘active’ on one system at a time.
Further reading
There is a potential workaround to this to some extent. As reported by a user on Resetera, the ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ system is now based on the Virtual Game Cards themselves, meaning the console with the card installed is the primary one, and the console without it is the secondary one.
There’s also a new Online License Setting which, when turned on, allows players to play downloaded software or DLC they’ve bought when their console is online, even if they don’t have the Virtual Game Card loaded.
Because of this, if the console with the Virtual Game Card installed is played offline (i.e. in Airplane Mode), the second console can load the game with the Online License, meaning two separate accounts can play the same game at the same time. Due to online checks, however, they can no longer play the same game online at the same time.
Since the Virtual Game Card system only launched a matter of hours ago at the time of writing, there are still checks ongoing to see how every permutation of the new system works. For now, however, it appears that in order for two family members to, for example, play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online together on two separate Switch consoles, they’ll need to buy a second copy of the game.
When Switch 2 is released this issue will be resolved for some games with the new GameShare feature. This allows a Switch 2 user to share specific games with other Switch or Switch 2 users via local wireless, and both players will then be able to play online together.
