PSA: Transferring Data From The Switch To Switch Lite May Reset Play Times For Games

With the Switch Lite finally officially released to the public, we have some important information for those of you “switching” over to the new purely portable console, especially if you greatly value your play times for games.

As is common to most videogame consoles, the Switch has a feature which records the amount of time its users have spent playing each individual game. However, when transferring data from one Switch to another, the console will “reset” the play times of every game that is not on the user’s “recently played” list. Furthermore, the play time will remain reset even if the user transfers their data back to the original console.

While this will likely not be a big issue for most users, many Switch owners see long play times on games such as Mario Odyssey and Breath Of The Wild as a source of pride and accomplishment. To ensure that your valued play times are not reset when moving data to a new Switch, be sure to start the relevant games on your old Switch so that they are logged into your “recently played” list. This way, your play time data for those important games will not be reset.

Did you pick up a Switch Lite this week? What are some games you would want to keep play time records for? Let us know in the comments.