Can You Get A Copy Of A Digital Game That You Own On The Switch?

Have you wondered if you can get a digital copy of a game you already own on the Switch?I wondered this myself, so I researched the internet trying to answer this question.

Having a physical game does not give you a free right to a digital copy, as this would be highly exploitable as you could buy a game, download it then immediately sell the game for a discount. But you can use the same save data from the physical game if you buy a digital version, should you buy physical or digital games? Learn the truth in my article, should you buy physical or digital games? Learn the truth in my article, should you buy physical or digital games? Learn the truth in my article.

I know it’s annoying but it wouldn’t make sense for game publishers to give you a free digital version like with Blue-ray discs just because you bought physical, I will explain the reasons why below.

Want the best Switch accessories? Treat yourself or a friend to the best Switch products on Amazon by clicking here or the button below

Why You Do Not Get A Free Digitial Copy Of Physical Games

I’ve spoken about the advantages and disadvantages of physical games and which one you should buy here, but for Nintendo free digital games is just not a smart decision.

Game Companies Would Make A Lot Less Money If You Got Free Digital Games

A physical game is not attached to any account so if every physical game resulted in a digital copy, all you need to do is purchase the game and then either give it to someone else or sell it/ get a refund on the game! Nintendo is not in the business of giving away their software for free!

There would be no incentive for anyone to buy Nintendo E-shop games if you always got free games with a physical copy, as Nintendo would go out of business. Want to know which Nintendo E-shop is the cheapest? See my article.. Want to know which Nintendo E-shop is the cheapest? See my article.. Want to know which Nintendo E-shop is the cheapest? See my article..

Remember that video game companies do not make money off hardware sales, most of their money comes from software such as games from the Nintendo E-shop. Nintendo joy-cons themselves cost 45$ each to produce! Read more about why Joy-cons are so expensive here.

Why Blue-Ray And Video Games Are Different

With Blue-ray if you buy a physical copy of a disc you can get a digital code that allows you to get a digital copy, so why don’t video games get the same treatment?

The differences are Blue-Rays are not sold with specific hardware or platforms in mind like games, many different systems can play Blue-ray like the Xbox One, so movie companies have an incentive to get people to buy digital as it is more profitable.

With games what is new is hot, unlike movies not many people will play old games, as new games are the most expensive since they have the largest demand. Physical Switch games are still selling very well therefore Nintendo doesn’t have any incentive to change their business model like giving free digital games with physical purchases, unlike Movie companies

This is why Nintendo still doesn’t have Netflix, as they don’t need to. To learn the other reasons see my article.

This is why Nintendo still doesn’t have Netflix, as they don’t need to. To learn the other reasons see my article.

This is why Nintendo still doesn’t have Netflix, as they don’t need to. To learn the other reasons see my article..

The Physical Movie Market Is Very Weak

Unlike 20 years were even in 2005 95 million Americans still owned VHS VCRs the physical movie market is on its last legs. It is a lot easier to torrent or streams a movie/TV show online compared to torrenting games, so buying a game digitally doesn’t scream value.

The market exists for collectors who love owning physical discs of their favorite movies, so adding the free digital movie incentive makes sense as it seems like your getting more value.

Games are different as if Nintendo offered a digital download code whilst collectors would keep the game copies, everyone else would sell them on the used market. Nintendo first-party copies still hold amazing value used, if you want to know why please check my article here.

Nintendo hates the used market and would prefer everything to go digital, but if they take anti-consumer measures and tried to make games tied to one console like Microsoft tried to do with the Xbox one(read more here) this would be very anti-consumer which could cause people to stop buying Nintendo products altogether; very bad for business.

If Nintendo connected cartridges to accounts and allowed one free download with per cartridge purchase, this will devalue the used game market with tons of games, Nintendo would lose too much money with this model.

After all the Switch was the fastest-selling console ever in the USA when it launched selling 52.48 million companies in three years, so why fix something that is not broken?

Can You Copy Nintendo Switch Games To A Micro SD?

In The 10.0.0 firmware, Nintendo released the feature of transferring downloaded games to an SD card, although only downloadable software, update data, and DLC are supported, as update data and user save data cannot be transferred.

This is a welcome option as before Switch owners had little options if their system run out of storage space, transferring game data to a Micro SD such as the fantastic Sandisk Ultra 256 SD Card(Amazon Link) is a way to still use local storage space with the ability to still buy games online.

How to Transfer Nintendo Switch Games to a Micro-SD Card 

Remember this is just to free up space in your Nintendo Switch, these don’t completely copy the game’s files, as you still need the cartridge to play them if you bought physical

Want the quickest internet for your switch? See my article on how to set that up

Want the quickest internet for your switch? See my article on how to set that up

Want the quickest internet for your switch? See my article on how to set that up

  1. Install Your Micro SD Into The Nintendo Switch
  2.  System settings-data management-Quick archive- click on the game you want to transfer- archive data-archive
  3. You will see your game has a cloud over it-click download and the game will download to your Micro SD

Can You Save A Switch Game From The Cartridge?

Switch cartridges only read data so save data cannot be saved to them, save data is either saved on the Switches 32 GB of memory of a micro SD card. Although you can transfer save data from one switch to another in the switches system settingsor saved into the cloud.

If you want to know if physical games take up any storage, and the reasons why they do check my post here.

Can You Transfer Saves From One Switch To Another?

You cannot transfer individual files from one console to another, but you can transfer users with included save data from one console to another, or using Nintendos cloud data service by logging in to another console with your user and download your save data.

How To Transfer Save Data From One Switch To Another

  1. On your menu go to the game you want to transfer save data
  2. Data management-transfer your save data
  3. Send save data to another console-choose the game you want

Protect your switch with the tile mate and learn more about the best switch accessories and receive unless fun down below on Amazon

[amalinkspro_table id=”2767″ aff-id=”undefined” new-window=”on” nofollow=”on” addtocart=”on” /]

Recommend Products

Sandisk Ultra 256 SD Card(Amazon Link)