Switch users are discovering that the console has reset their logged playtime a year after purchase. Although the Switch didn’t come out in the U.S. until March 3, 2017, players who received Switches prior to then have been noticing an unwelcome surprise next to their Legend of Zelda “Profile” entries.
The Switch tracks users’ playtime in the “Profile” section. It’s not always accurate—if you’ve only played a little bit of a game, the Switch just handwaves with “played for a little while.” But usually, players can see that they’ve played, for example, 40 hours of ARMS or, if you’re Kotaku editor Kirk Hamilton, 145 hours of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild:
This morning, a ResetEra thread pointed out that early-adapting Switch users’ playtime data has reset. Dozens of Switch users piped up to complain that they no longer have hundreds of hours on Splatoon 2.Kotaku staffers who had the Switch and Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild prior to the Switch’s official launch confirmed it on their own systems, with Kirk’s 145 hours diminished to a sad “First played 10 days ago” (he got the Switch around a year and ten days ago).
Users presume that the Switch simply doesn’t track playtime after a year, but Nintendo has not returned a request for clarification by press time.
The sky isn’t falling; it’s just a very strange way to celebrate the Switch’s first birthday.
Update—7:50 p.m.: Nintendo has issued a statement: “Some Nintendo Switch owners’ play activity information is displaying incorrectly. We are aware of the issue and we expect to have more information to share in the near future.”