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PSA: You Could Lose Your Switch Games If You Don't Play Them For Multiple Years

By 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Joshua Robertson

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It's been a rough year already for video game preservationists, still desperately clinging onto the hopes that physical media will remain for a good long while (don't worry, I'm right there with you.) Not only has Nintendo thrown a spanner in the works with its🍎 Game-Key Cards system for the Nintendo Switch 2, but it seems as though Xbox may have s🍷topped selling physical discs altogether.

It's making physical collecto🌊rs worry a lot more about the future, and now we have a new worry to throw on top of the pile. Earlier this week, the popular video game preservation Twitter account Does It Play reminded everyone that not even our physi🐭cal cartridges for systems like the Nintendo Switch, DS, and PlayStation Vita are safe without proper care.

Switch Owners Urged To "Plug In" Games Every 5 Years To Avoid Data Loss

(), it's claimed that cartridges are capable of rewriting themselves over time, with only a certain number of write cycles allowed before the cartridge in question eventually dies. To stop this, systeꦯms such as the Nintendo Switch and 3DS refresh the data on game cartridges whenever they're inserted to make sure all of them are in good working order.

We don't🌳 have accurate information on exactly when cartridges will die if left alone, but it's been suggested that owners stick cartridges in their systems and leave them idle for a little while if they haven't been played in the past 5 to 10 years. That way, you can stop your cartridges from eventually degrading and becoming unplayable. So, if you've got any cartridge-based games you♎ haven't played since 2015, stick them in your Switch for a bit, otherwise you may find yourself down a game.

Of course, those that like to keep sealed copies of games are in another boat eꦏntirely. It's highly likely that Switch games that remain for over a decade will have 𝐆cartridges inside either on the brink of death, or have been dead for a while, so it may be worthwhile to crack them open and just pop them in your console the one time. It's a bummer, but I'd personally rather have a functional game than one that's essentially trapped forever in a film-wrapped coffin.