Cross-Save Between Steam Deck and Switch / Switch 2: What Actually Syncs in 2026
Which games cross-save between a Steam Deck and a Nintendo Switch or Switch 2, which only pretend to, and how to check any game before you trust it with your save.
By Sam Okafor
Updated: 2026-07-04
Cross-save between a Steam Deck and a Switch only works when the game runs its own account system. Steam Cloud and Nintendo’s cloud never speak to each other, so owning both machines does nothing for your saves on its own. Around two dozen games sync properly. Most of the ones people assume will, like Stardew Valley and Hollow Knight, do not.
That last part catches everyone out, so it’s worth being precise about why.
For the broader buying decision between the two devices, our Steam Deck vs Switch 2 cornerstone covers the wedge. This piece is the mechanism-and-list resource you reach for when you want to know whether a specific game is going to carry your run from one to the other.
Why the platforms don’t sync your saves
Your Steam Deck saves to Steam Cloud. Your Switch saves to Nintendo Switch Online’s cloud. Those are two sealed boxes that were never built to talk, and no update is coming to change that. When a game “cross-saves” between the two, it is not the Deck or the Switch doing the work. It is the game itself, keeping your progress on its own servers behind its own login, then pulling it down on whichever machine you sign into.
So the question is never “do these two devices cross-save?” The answer to that is always no. The real question is “does this specific game run its own cloud account?” If it does, your save follows you. If it leans on Steam Cloud or Nintendo’s cloud, it stops at the device.
Once you see it that way, the list of what works stops being random and starts making sense.
The games that do cross-save (Steam Deck ↔ Switch / Switch 2)
These titles carry your progress between a Steam Deck and a Switch or Switch 2 through a developer or publisher account, not a platform cloud. Sign in on both, and you pick up where you left off. The common thread: every one makes you log into something that isn’t Steam or Nintendo, and that login is the cross-save.
Last verified: 27 May 2026. Cross-save support changes without announcement, so we re-check this list each quarter. Confirm on a game’s own support page before you rely on it.
| Game | Account that carries the save | Notes | Where to buy on PC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hades | Steam login on the Switch version | Mirrors both ways; works on Switch 2 too | Hades PC key |
| Hades II | Steam login on the Switch version | Same system as the first game; Switch and Switch 2 are the only consoles with this support | Hades II PC key |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | GOG account | Link it in-game; works across Switch and PC | Witcher 3 PC key |
| Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition | GOG account (CDPR account) | Switch 2 since launch (June 5, 2025); saves between Switch 2, PS5, Xbox, and PC | Cyberpunk 2077 PC key |
| Divinity: Original Sin II | Steam account | Cross-progression also covers iPad and Mac | Divinity 2 PC key |
| Civilization VI | 2K account | Use the cloud save slot, not the local one | Civilization VI PC key |
| Kingdom: Two Crowns | ”Continue Anywhere” account | The account is the thing that syncs | Kingdom Two Crowns PC key |
| Rocket League | Epic Games account | Rank and cosmetics travel too | Free-to-play |
| Fall Guys | Epic Games account | Free-to-play, account-based | Free-to-play |
| Fortnite | Epic Games account | Full cross-progression, but it won’t run on the Deck (see below) | Free-to-play |
| Minecraft (Bedrock) | Microsoft account | Bedrock only, not Java (see below) | Switch eShop / Bedrock launcher |
| Immortals Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft Connect account | Immortals PC key | |
| Brawlhalla | Ubisoft account (not Ubisoft Connect launcher) | Cross-progression and cross-inventory are mutually exclusive: pick one | Free-to-play |
| Dauntless | Epic / Phoenix Labs account | Free-to-play, account-based | Free-to-play |
| SMITE | Hi-Rez account | Free-to-play, account-based | Free-to-play |
| Paladins | Hi-Rez account | Free-to-play, account-based | Free-to-play |
| Realm Royale | Hi-Rez account | Free-to-play, account-based | Free-to-play |
| Rogue Company | Hi-Rez account | Free-to-play, account-based | Free-to-play |
| Dead by Daylight | Behaviour Account (account.bhvr.com) | Switch-specific gotchas: Auric Cells stay on Switch, DLC flows Switch ← only not Switch →, Bloodpoints and Iridescent Shards sync both ways | Dead by Daylight PC key |
| Warframe | Warframe Cross Platform Save account | Platinum bought on Switch stays on Switch; can’t trade Platinum between Switch and other platforms. Linking only: account merging closed January 2025 | Free-to-play |
| No Man’s Sky | Hello Games Cloud (Hello User ID) | PC, PS, Xbox and Mac live; Switch listed as “coming soon” by Hello Games. PC ↔ Deck sync works today through Steam Cloud anyway | No Man’s Sky PC key |
| DAEMON X MACHINA | Publisher account login | Fanatical | |
| Game Dev Tycoon | Developer cloud login | Fanatical |
A pattern worth seeing in that list: the games that sync are either account-based live-service titles (Epic, Hi-Rez, BHVR, Hello Games, the Warframe and Ubisoft logins) or single-player games whose developer chose to build a real cloud account (Hades, Civ VI, Divinity, The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk). If a game leans only on Steam Cloud or Nintendo’s cloud, it isn’t here, and it won’t sync. The mechanism is the reliable signal; any single entry can go stale, which is why the list carries a verified date.
Notable recent additions (and the new negatives)
Three things changed between the previous edition of this guide and this one.
Cyberpunk 2077 joined the Switch 2 cross-save list at launch. Ultimate Edition shipped on Switch 2 on June 5, 2025, and CDPR built cross-progression in from day one through the same GOG account that powers PC and PlayStation. Sign into GOG on the Switch 2 version, and your saves from any other platform are right there. The Switch 2 build runs at 1080p docked / 720p handheld at 30–40fps, on a 64GB cartridge. If you already played the PC version on a Deck, picking it back up on a TV through the Switch 2 is the move that works. See our cornerstone Switch 2 vs Deck guide for the broader version choice.
Dead by Daylight and Warframe both consolidated their cross-save flows. Both are live-service titles with major Switch and Steam Deck audiences, both use a publisher account as the bridge, and both have Switch-specific gotchas that catch people out (currency restrictions on what crosses platform boundaries). They’re listed above with the relevant caveats.
The negative examples reinforced the rule. Two big AAA releases in 2026, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and FF7 Rebirth, both ship on Switch 2 and both do not cross-save with a Steam Deck install. Indy uses Bethesda.net for PS5/Xbox/PC, which is technically a publisher account, but it’s never been wired into a Nintendo console. FF7 Rebirth doesn’t cross-save with anyone on anything, including its own predecessor on the same PS5. Both are useful negative confirmation: the mechanism is account-based, and if the publisher hasn’t built the bridge to Nintendo, the bridge does not exist no matter how recent the port is.
The two traps that look like cross-save and aren’t
Minecraft. Bedrock Edition syncs cleanly through your Microsoft account, and the Switch runs Bedrock. The problem is your Deck. Buy Minecraft the normal way on Steam and you get the Java launcher, which does not share worlds with Bedrock at all. So Minecraft only cross-saves with your Switch if you go out of your way to run Bedrock on the Deck, which is fiddly and not how most people install it. Treat this one as conditional, not a given.
Fortnite. Epic’s cross-progression is the gold standard: skins, V-Bucks, Battle Pass and all. It is also irrelevant here, because Fortnite does not run on a Steam Deck. Epic has refused to enable its anti-cheat on Linux, and SteamOS is Linux, so the game won’t launch. Your Switch progress is real and portable. There’s nowhere on the Deck for it to land.
I flag both because they are exactly the games someone reasonably expects to “just work,” and the disappointment lands after you’ve already put hours in on one side.
The games that don’t cross-save (even though half the internet says they do)
Here’s the one that starts arguments. Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Cuphead, Skyrim, Undertale, Disco Elysium, Don’t Starve Together, the Persona ports, Dragon Quest XI S, Monster Hunter Rise. None of these officially cross-save between a Steam Deck and a Switch.
You will find guides claiming otherwise. What they’re describing is manual save-file transfer, and on the Switch side that requires custom firmware to pull a save off the console and inject it back. On a standard, unmodified Switch, which is what nearly everyone owns, there is no supported way to move these saves in or out. So for practical purposes, on these games, your Deck save and your Switch save are two separate lives. Finish a Stardew farm on the Deck and it stays on the Deck.
This isn’t a knock on the games. It’s the honest state of play, and it’s better to know before you start a 60-hour RPG on the wrong machine.
The cross-save that always works: your Deck and your own PC
Worth saying plainly, because it gets lost in the Switch question. Your Steam Deck and any other PC on the same Steam account sync automatically, every time, through Steam Cloud. Play an hour of Vampire Survivors on your desktop, close it, pick the Deck up on the train, and it’s right there. No account linking, no per-game setup, as long as the game supports Steam Cloud (most do, and the store page tells you).
That’s the quiet advantage of the Deck for anyone who also games at a desk. The headache is only ever the Nintendo side, because Nintendo is the one walled garden in your bag. Within the Steam world, the Deck is another PC, and your saves treat it that way.
What Switch 2 changes (and doesn’t)
The Switch 2 launched on June 5, 2025, and on cross-save mechanics, it inherits the same model as the original Switch. Nintendo’s cloud still doesn’t reach Steam. What it does add is straightforward save transfer from your old Switch, a Nintendo-to-Nintendo move that doesn’t help with the Deck.
A few details specific to Switch 2 that affect save management in practice:
Account-based cross-save is unchanged. If a game cross-saved with your Deck on the original Switch (Hades, Civ VI, anything in the table above), it does the same on the Switch 2 through the same publisher account login. The mechanism is identical because the cloud is the publisher’s, not Nintendo’s.
Game Key Cards don’t change saves. Several Switch 2 launch and post-launch titles ship as Game Key Cards (FF7 Rebirth is the highest-profile example), where the cartridge is essentially a download licence and the full game has to be downloaded from the eShop. The download is the install footprint; saves still live on internal storage or microSD per the same model. So the cart format doesn’t change cross-save behaviour, it only changes whether you can play the game on a flight without downloading first.
microSD Express is for installs, not saves. Save data on Switch 2 still lives in internal storage by Nintendo’s standard model. The microSD Express card you bought to expand storage microSD Express Switch 2 is for game installs and DLC, not save files. Back up saves through Nintendo Switch Online’s Cloud Save (the standard NSO subscription tier covers this).
NSO Cloud Save is your default backup, with caveats. Most Switch 2 games allow cloud saves through NSO, but a handful of titles still opt out (some competitive multiplayer games, anything Nintendo has deemed exploit-prone). Check before assuming. If a game opts out of NSO Cloud Save and doesn’t have an account-based cross-save, your save is single-device.
Switch ↔ Switch 2 transfer is easy, but it’s Nintendo-to-Nintendo. When you upgrade from a Switch to a Switch 2, the system transfer moves your account and saves across. This is the move that catches people out: they assume “save transfer” means cross-save with the Deck. It doesn’t. It only means your old Switch progress is now on your new Switch.
Before you swap devices mid-game
Even on a game that does cross-save properly, you can still lose progress if you rush the handoff. Two rules keep me out of trouble:
- Let the cloud finish before you sleep the console. When you stop on one device, give it a few seconds on Wi-Fi to push the save up. Slamming the Switch shut the instant you quit, or yanking the Deck off Wi-Fi, is how you arrive on the other machine an hour behind.
- Don’t play the same game offline on both. If you make progress on the Deck while the Switch was last left mid-session offline, you can end up with two saves that disagree. The game then asks you to pick one and bins the other. Always sync, then switch.
Neither is complicated. Both have cost me an evening’s progress at some point, which is exactly why I do them now without thinking.
How to check any game in 30 seconds
Before you commit hours on a new game, run this:
- Does the game make you log into an account that isn’t Steam or Nintendo? Epic, 2K, GOG, Bethesda.net, Behaviour, Warframe.com, Hello Games, Ubisoft, a “Continue Anywhere” prompt. Any of those means cross-save is likely. No separate login means no cross-save.
- Check the in-game cloud/save menu. Account-based games usually have a “cloud save” slot that’s clearly distinct from your local save. Use that slot, not the local one.
- Search the developer’s support site for “cross-save” or “cross-progression.” The publisher’s own page is the only source worth trusting. Forum threads age badly.
If a game passes step one, start it on whichever machine you’ll play most and link the account before you build up progress. Linking after the fact sometimes forces you to pick one save and discard the other.
Most of my own library lives on the Deck, so when I find a game that syncs I start it on the Switch, because the Deck can always pull the save down later and starting on the locked-down machine first saves grief. If you don’t already own a game on the device you want as your “home” copy, buy it there rather than splitting progress. Key sites like Fanatical and game key store usually undercut the Switch eShop on the PC version, and the difference funds your microSD Express upgrade 256GB microSD Express Switch 2.
A microSD card is the other thing worth sorting early on both machines, because cross-save handles your progress and not your installs, and you’ll run out of room on either device fast. The Switch 2 specifically requires the new microSD Express format: older Switch microSDs won’t work for game installs. The Deck takes any standard A2-rated microSD or you can upgrade the internal SSD if you went 512GB and ran out 1TB microSD Steam Deck. And if you’re taking either machine on the road, our best power bank for Steam Deck and Switch 2 travel walks through the honest capacity math for keeping them alive between charges.
A note on save backups when you travel
If you’re taking the Switch 2 on a trip and the game uses NSO Cloud Save (not an account-based cross-save), your saves are safe as long as you have Wi-Fi at the end of each session. Hotels are fine; international roaming usually works for the small backup payload. One thing worth doing when you push saves up over hotel or airport Wi-Fi: run it over a VPN for portable gaming so the account login and sync traffic stays off an open network — public Wi-Fi security is the one genuinely defensible reason to own a VPN as a traveller. The single failure mode worth planning for: a long flight where the game crashes or the system corrupts the save before you get back online. Nothing to do about it except hope, which is part of why account-based cross-save games are nicer to play on the move: you have a parallel cloud backup that doesn’t depend on Nintendo’s infrastructure.
The Deck side is easier. Steam Cloud is automatic for any game that supports it, and you can also force a sync from the Steam app on your phone if you want belt-and-braces before a flight.