Earlier today, Nintendo revealed a lot about the upcoming Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. The cute life-sim sequel is set to arrive in April on Switch and Switch 2. But when it arrives, be prepared to take photos of your screen using your phone if you want to share anything online, as Nintendo is locking down screenshot sharing in the game.
On January 29, shortly after posting a new Nintendo Direct all about Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, people noticed new information about the upcoming game on the company’s official support site. Specifically, as shared by deals guru Wario64 on social media, people discovered that the life-sim sequel, which lets you create characters and get them into wild situations involving other NPCs, will make it difficult to easily share screenshots of all the silliness online on both Switch and Switch 2.
In a post on its support page for the game, Nintendo says Tomodachi Life offers plenty of “freedom” that can sometimes lead to “unpredictable moments.” And that’s a problem.
“While these moments are often fun for players, we recognize that out-of-context scenes may be misunderstood or may not reflect the spirit in which the game is intended to be enjoyed,” said Nintendo. “Nintendo is committed to creating experiences that are welcoming and enjoyable for everyone. To support this commitment, and in consideration of the unique gameplay in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, we have decided to place restrictions on certain image-sharing features.”
Which image-sharing features are blocked in Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream
While support page doesn’t go into specific detail about what these restrictions are, but if you visit the official Japanese website for the game, you can find this notice:
The console’s functions for transferring images to smartphones, posting directly to social media, and automatically uploading images (Nintendo Switch 2 only) will not be available.
The notice does confirm that Switch 2 players will still be able to use Game Chat to share gameplay of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. Still, it is annoying that Nintendo is placing such restrictions on the game, especially when you consider that anyone can just grab their phone and take a screenshot of the game and post it. Which people are going to do. So this won’t really stop people from sharing silly images of characters kissing or whatever Nintendo is afraid is going to happen in April.
It should also be noted that Nintendo is, at least from what we can tell, not blocking screenshots entirely, just the ability to share them easily online with others.
“We understand that some players may find these restrictions limiting,” said Nintendo on its support page. “However, they reflect Nintendo’s ongoing philosophy of creating experiences that bring smiles to everyone who plays.”
Some reacted to this news by suggesting that this is likely Nintendo trying to avoid another “Swapnote incident,” but that seems like a very different situation that involved people directly messaging young kids for nefarious reasons using Nintendo software. Taking a screenshot of something silly or weird in your game and then instantly sharing it online using a console’s built-in screenshot button and sharing options is such a great feature in most modern consoles. Nintendo trying to make that harder is odd and also ignores that, once again, everyone has phones and will share whatever they want online. I also can’t help but notice this is happening with the first Nintendo game to officially feature gay and non-binary Miis. Hmm…
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream arrives on Switch and Switch 2 on April 16. Don’t you dare share a screenshot of something weird happening, or a Nintendo lawyer will get you.