Pokémon Scarlet and Violet launched in an incredibly rough state last November, and it seems that the latest patch has introduced an even bigger problem for its players. Fans on Reddit have reported that connecting to the Pokémon Go app or downloading the DLC has caused them to lose their entire save files.
Here’s the worst part: There’s not one singular cause of this save-corrupting bug. Some people lost hundreds of hours of progress after syncing the game with Pokémon Go, a new feature that allows players to send postcards to one another. Others had their saves wiped by downloading the DLC. Another person lost shinies merely from buying the DLC. One person did all of the above and managed to send multiple postcards before their save file was corrupted. There were a lucky few who didn’t encounter either issue from sending postcards or downloading the DLC, but some players lost hundreds of shiny Pokémon after their save file corrupted.
According to one Reddit user who experienced the save error, their copy was still playable when they created a new Switch profile, which they opted for out of fear that their original file might be gone forever if they played on their first profile. The game just won’t recognize the corrupted save file, and even using the save recovery method hasn’t worked for the OP.
Some players tried to contact Nintendo support to get their Pokémon back. One support agent reportedly told a player that the publisher was “looking into it” before closing their ticket. Another redditor’s customer service representative reportedly brought up the possibility of transferring Pokémon from their corrupted save onto Pokémon Home (an app that allows you to send your Pokémon to the cloud) once the compatibility launches.
Kotaku reached out to ask Nintendo about whether or not a fix will be coming soon but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
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This bug only seems to have affected a small number of people, but it could theoretically hit anyone. And there’s not a lot that we know about this bug, so regardless of how excited you are for the Scarlet and Violet’s pre-order bonuses, it might be best to hold off on purchasing the DLC until Nintendo acknowledges and fixes the issue.
