My family was excited most the Couch Co-op Multiplayer feature of Fauna Crossing: New Horizons, but once the game finally downloaded we faced a couple days of frustration and disappointment due to the console announcing "This user cannot play this software" whatever time one of my kids attempted to play the game.
Afterward a lot of web searching and poking through forum threads we're finally able to play this game as a family, and I wanted to draw how I fixed information technology in case other people out in that location experience the aforementioned problem.
Nosotros own two Switch consoles. The showtime 1 we got is the Nintendo Switch with Gray Joy-Cons, which belongs to the kids, and the second one is the Nintendo Switch with Neon Blue and Neon Red Joy-Cons, which belongs to me.
I purchased Animal Crossing: New Horizons on my Switch. Later a very painful download process (information technology took three re-tries and some Internet settings tweaks before the game finally downloaded), I was able to play the game just fine. I reached the point where my character became the "resident representative," which is an apparent requirement before other users are able to visit your one-and-only island. Withal, subsequently I quit my game and handed the console to my girl, when she launched the game and selected her user profile, the switch said "This user cannot play this software," and that she would demand to purchase a re-create at the Nintendo e-Shop. My son had the same results when attempting to play using his profile.
The Cause: My Switch was not my "Primary Console"
Here are some quick details about our setup, so y'all can compare confronting your own state of affairs to see if the solution that worked for me volition work for you lot:
- My copy of New Horizons was a digital purchase (non a cartridge).
- My user profile on that console (the one with blood-red and blue Joy-Cons) is a linked account, with full east-Store privileges. My kids' profiles on that panel are not linked; they're just local accounts.
- Although this was "my" Switch, information technology was not the first Switch I had created a linked profile on. When we showtime bought the other Switch for the kids, I created a profile on that device and linked it to my Nintendo account so I could buy games for them to play on it. This is important: Since I had already created a linked profile on my kids' Switch, as far as Nintendo was concerned, their Switch was my "Main Panel."
Then here's what was happening: Even though I was the user who purchased New Horizons, since my Switch was non registered equally my primary console, I was the only user allowed to play e-Shop-purchased games on that device. If I had downloaded New Horizons onto my kids' Switch instead, we would all have been able to play the game.
The Solution: Registering my Switch as the Master Console
In society to make information technology so we could all play the game on my console I had to de-register my kids' Switch from my Nintendo account, and then annals my own Switch as the primary. Hither's how I did that:
- On a web browser I logged into my Nintendo Account.
- In one case logged into the principal
Nintendo Business relationship
folio, I clicked the
Shop Menu
link. - On the
Shop Menu
page, I scrolled downwards and then clicked
Deregister Master Panel. - Adjacent, I got onto my Switch, and nether my own user profile, I opened the Nintendo eShop app. Nothing obvious happened; I didn't get any bulletin saying, "This device is now your chief console" or anything. But obviously this was enough, because according to Nintendo, after de-registering from one Switch panel, simply launching the eShop on another Switch where you accept a linked profile will automatically register that device as the new primary.
As I write this my son's Animal Crossing character is running effectually and pulling upward weeds on my island. I do hope this helps others running into the same issue. It would be nice if the Switch's error letters were more articulate most what the real problem was.
Update: I forgot to add when initially writing this that if your Switch frequently says, "Checking if software can be played" when you lot launch a championship, that's an indication that y'all are non using your registered primary console. I used to see this all the time when launching my digital downloads, but did not realize it was a hint that something was wrong. Now that my personal Switch is my chief device, my downloaded titles launch instantly.
