Though the games just released, fans are claiming that a Pokémon Sword and Shield save glitch is corrupting Nintendo Switch system data.
While still unconfirmed by Nintendo, there have been fans stating that using the autosave function in Pokémon Sword and Shield is in some way, shape, or form corrupting data on their Switch console (potentially only in the eShop versions of the titles).
Fans caution that anyone playing Pokémon Sword and Shield turns off the game’s autosave function, so as to prevent the following from happening.
Game crashed on an attempted autosave (or at least I assume so), I then the game crashed on boot to I put in my smash cart to test, smash crashed on boot too, so I rebooted my Switch.
Now everything on my Switch looks like this, even the cart games are asking for a redownload… pic.twitter.com/OEFHZErLCx
— DeathChaos (@DeathChaos25) November 15, 2019
What seems to be the case, according to Polygon, is that Nintendo Switch owners have formatted their SD cards in a way that the Switch doesn’t jive well with. While players encountering Pokémon Sword and Shield save glitches may currently have their SD card formatted using exFAt, formatting SD cards as FAT32 makes them more compatible with the Nintendo Switch.
It appears as though the save files themselves of Switch games are safe, as they are saved on the console (or better yet, on the paid Nintendo cloud service). The games that users have downloaded on an SD card might need to be redownloaded, with screenshots and videos on the Switch remaining the only data truly at risk. For the time being, it seems as though the issue isn’t widespread.
The cause of it may be autosaving mixed with SD card formatting issues, but the specifics of the Pokémon Sword and Shield save data glitch remain unclear.
This is not the first time the Pokémon series has encountered a major save glitch. Back in 2013 when Pokémon X and Y released for the Nintendo 3DS, saving in Lumiose City would corrupt the game’s save data file, forcing players to restart their adventure completely. As Nintendo released a patch update for X and Y, it is likely that if there is an issue with a Pokémon Sword and Shield save data glitch, Nintendo will follow suit with a patch.