Major Outage Affecting Nintendo Switch Online, Pulls Games Offline

If you’ve been having trouble getting the games on your Nintendo Switch to run this morning, you’re not the only one.

Update 12:15pm AEST: Nintendo may have just gotten on top of the situation, with reports that services are slowly coming back online. If you’re unable to connect, keep trying, it’ll get through eventually. Original story continues below.

As spotted by local legends VOOKS, a server outage appears to be affecting services across the Nintendo Switch Online platform. Users currently can’t access the eShop or even boot certain digital games, which require online verification before they can launch.

What is the outage currently affecting?

Right now, it’s a bit all over the place.

The eShop is down. You won’t be able to access it, make new purchases, or redownload your old games.

[Server Down]

The servers for “Nintendo eShop” are down. Please wait until the issue is fixed.#ServerDown #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/0PpU3AUQzn

— NinStatusBot (@NinStatusBot) June 5, 2022

Some games, like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, for example, require online verification to use DLC. This means you’ll still be able to play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but any DLC tracks will be inaccessible. The same goes for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or Fire Emblem: Three Houses. If it has DLC, you probably can’t access it right now.

[Server Down]

The servers for “Use of downloadable software” are down. Please wait until the issue is fixed.#ServerDown #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/fynCOtNMWK

— NinStatusBot (@NinStatusBot) June 4, 2022

Games in your Nintendo Switch Online libraries, like those in the NES, SNES, N64 and Mega Drive emulators, may not load if your Switch hasn’t been active in the last 7 days to touch base with its home server.

Those with multiple Nintendo Switch consoles may also be having trouble. Those using the non-primary Switch console (that is, any extra Switches that have your account and have not been nominated as your main console) may find things very locked down indeed. Whenever a game is booted on a non-primary Switch console, the system performs a server check-in. If it can’t do that, well, they become a bit of a paperweight.

When will the outage end?

The outage affecting Nintendo Switch Online has persisted most of the morning, kicking off at around 8 am AEST. Nintendo appears to be across the issue and is looking into it. When services will be restored is, for now at least, unknown.

[VOOKS]