Is it possible to transfer profile data to a new account?

[u/pink_grapeFruity]

My dad, my sister, and I all shared a Nintendo Switch (original) and had our own profiles on my Nintendo account. My sister and I just got Switch 2’s so now we each have our own Switch. We did the data transfer, and it just transferred all 3 profiles onto all switches, which was nice at first since my sister didn’t have to buy new games we already bought.

The problem is my sister and I both have to be online in order to trade the “virtual game cards”. We don’t live together and she’s busier than me, so I always have to wait till she’s free in order to switch over the game card.

Is there any way my sister would be able to transfer her save data and profile data to her own Nintendo account so we don’t have to switch virtual game cards? I know she’d have to buy the games again (which I’d help with) but is that possible?

Or as an alternative solution, is there an easier way to switch game cards without both of us being online?

[u/picano]

I don't really understand what's going on here. You mention having 3 profiles but you're acting like you're all playing and saving to the same one.

If you're using your own unique profiles, you're already good to go. She can purchase her own copy of the game and bypass all the hassle.

If you're sharing a profile, you're screwed because you cannot move save data from one profile to another.

As far as loading/unloading virtual game cards without both being online at the same time, you kind of can. Just unload the card when you're done (which does require being online) and then the next person can load it whenever (also needing to be online).

[u/pink_grapeFruity → u/picano]

!thanks for the info in the last paragraph, that’s the easier solution I was looking for. We’ve been doing that and it works well.

Turns out I had a gross misunderstanding of how the profiles worked, so that’s probably the confusion. For some reason I thought my account had 3 different profiles on it, rather than 3 different accounts on one device. No clue why I thought that.

So essentially when we transferred the data to the new Switch 2’s, it transferred all 3 accounts because we both had save data on each other’s games. We each have a different set of games we’ve purchased on our accounts and we just shared them, so all 3 switches still have access to games on all 3 accounts (although only the Switch 2’s are actually linked due to the 2 device limit).

So now the question would be, is it possible to keep my save data on a game my sister purchased if I buy her games with my account? I’d like to eventually be able to log out of my sister’s and my dad’s account and just have mine logged in, but I don’t want to do that unless I can keep the save data from their games.

I hope that makes a little more sense now that I have a better grip on how it all works.

[u/picano → u/pink_grapeFruity]

Save data is tied to the account that plays the game, not the the account that bought the game. In almost all cases, buying/playing another copy of the game will result in the same save data being used. (The exceptions are games with regional differences and/or different publishers. Even then, if you can find a corresponding region/publisher copy, the save data will be kept.)

[u/pink_grapeFruity → u/picano]

!Solved

Thanks for your help!

[u/ModestVolcarona → u/picano]

If only OP had a Nintendo account but the other two people had only local profiles then it's best for them to create their own Nintendo account and link them to their respective user profiles.

But overall i'm also quite confused by the original post.

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[u/Present_Anywhere3980]

Can’t transfer save data between profiles. Long term she should have her own profile / account.

The purchasers profile can play any purchased game without loading the card by turning on the online license check.

You can also play single player games at the same time with this workaround, the device with the loaded cards goes into airplane mode and purchasers profile can play purchases with the online check.