Nintendo Clarifies Reasons For Disabling Cloud Saves In Splatoon 2 And Pokemon Let’s Go

Nintendo has finally made an official statement regarding why some of its first-party games will not support cloud saves.

After news outlets reported that popular games like Splatoon 2 would not support cloud saves, the company responded:

“The vast majority of Nintendo Switch games will support Save Data Cloud backup. However, in certain games this feature would make it possible to, for example, regain items that had been traded to other players, or revert to a higher online multiplayer ranking that had been lost. To ensure fair play, Save Data Cloud backup may not be enabled for such games. To ensure that Save Data Cloud backups cannot be used to unfairly affect online multiplayer rankings, the feature will not be enabled in Splatoon 2.”

The comment on regaining ‘items’ appears to allude directly to Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee. Traditionally, Pokémon games have been restricted to one save per cartridge to prevent the cloning of items and rare pokémon. Nintendo and Gamefreak are likely keeping cloud saves away from the series to prevent such exploits.

While this is unfortunate for many Nintendo fans, at least there’s an important reason for the company’s decision.