Nintendo Warns Switch Users That Latest Firmware Update Could Damage Consoles

Nintendo issued a warning that a recent firmware update could end up damaging people's Switch handheld consoles.

The news comes after some people reported experiencing a variety of issues with things like battery drain after they downloaded the latest console system update. The initial reports suggested that the new firmware could have been preventing the console from going to sleep.

Nintendo Switch Firmware Update Issue

The latest firmware update in question started rolling out earlier this month. It bumped up the Switch's firmware version number from 18.1.0 to 19.0.0. So far, the Japanese company has not yet released an official changelog about the contents of the latest firmware update.

Many users also said that the firmware update negatively impacted their Nintendo Switch consoles' battery lives. The majority of the complaints surfaced after Reddit user Yukarin started a new thread talking about the issue, according to Game Rant.

The Reddit user said that their Nintendo Switch console remained warm to the touch even when it was supposed to be in Sleep mode. This was true even if it was not used for hours since being put in this mode.

What this implied is that the latest firmware update made the device continue to run even when the screen was turned off. This means that it did not successfully enter battery-saving mode due to an error of some kind.

The issue was also not exclusive to the base Nintendo Switch and was reported among users who owned the Nintendo Switch OLED and Nintendo Switch Lite. Some people have had to resort to full power-offs even if they wanted to play a little bit later, Comic Book said.

Faster Battery Drain

Another user said that both of their consoles, a Nintendo Switch V1 and a Nintendo Switch OLED did not go to sleep properly. They came back to find both devices drained of their battery within a few hours.

Many people have raised concerns that the latest firmware update could permanently damage their consoles and are calling out to Nintendo to address the problem. While the reports are relatively recent, some people said that they have been experiencing similar problems in the past.

One user, ioev, said that they had noticed that their console felt pretty warm when pulled out of the dock long before the latest firmware update. However, they noted that their relatively new Nintendo Switch Lite's battery drained much faster now compared to before, according to LevelUp.