Is it bad to leave your Switch in sleep mode with a game active?

[Marc]

Okay let's say you're playing a game on your Nintendo Switch and you put it into sleep mode on your dock. Is it OKAY to just leave the game in sleep mode and go about with your business or sleep without closing it?

I fell asleep and forgot to close the game, so I'm wondering if this is safe to do all the time.

 

[KalTurahk]

That's pretty much what I always do, and I have not encountered any problems.

 

[Theresia]

I've been doing it with my PSP and Vita since their respective purchases and I haven't had any problem.
I think if it's well ventilated and isn't near some source of heat it should be ok

 

[Artisan]

I like my Switch off but I take it the system saves the last point your in and then just shuts off anyway. Me no experto.

 

[28142]

The switch sleeps normally, it pauses the game just the exact same as it does when you open the home screen while in a game. I've not found any difference in battery drain when having it sleeping normally, and having it asleep with a game open.

 

[Eric Cartman]

I really don't know to be honest. I do this a lot and I haven't really encountered any problems besides ninjala hard crashing once but that's the games fault rather than the console itself. Other than it's harmless.

 

[Gram]

I sure hope not. I put it in sleep mode all the time with games active. I'm not even sure if I ever completely close games when I'm not playing something.

I also hope there's no downside to keeping it docked all the time. I know I've heard it isn't good to keep phones and laptops charging when at full charge. I predominantly play my Switch at home, so even if it reduced the battery life a bit, it wouldn't really affect me much.

 

[Sunny_Meows]

Okay let's say you're playing a game on your Nintendo Switch and you put it into sleep mode on your dock. Is it OKAY to just leave the game in sleep mode and go about with your business or sleep without closing it?

I fell asleep and forgot to close the game, so I'm wondering if this is safe to do all the time.

I've been doing it all the time actually! Whenever I'm want to continue a game tommorow, or when I'm playing Super Mario Odyssey and I'm sleepy/ I realize it's 3AM/when I go out. I always put my Nintendo Switch to sleep mode, even with a game inside so I can just continue playing on the car, train, bus, plane/when I wake up. I haven't had any problems with it, and it seems that Nintendo actually EXPECTS you to do this with your switch. Everytime you open your switch and a game is still open, it tells you to click any button three times to continue playing. Amazing!

It also doesn't affect your progress in anyway, as it just resumes exactly where you left off at the moment you put it to sleep mode/the battery dies. It doesn't however when you're playing online. I know it's obvious, but I learnt it the hard way. I thought that putting the console to sleep mode would just leave me AFK. But it doesn't. It disconnects you from the Internet completely and kicks you out of the game! The same is the case for downloading games too :/ it pauses the download and continues when you open it up.

 

[ariamisu]

i do not think it is a issue , it could shorter total batter life over time but it is a feature of the system.
i do keep mine on standby mode often.
i have to charge mine more often as mine is old.
it runs out of battery kind of quick , even in sleep mode.
had my switch fo r a few years so have to be cautious of how low its battery level is.
have to remeber to charge it every 2 hours on days when using it.

 

[Crowing]

I don't think it's too big of a deal, no. It might waste charge and likewise electricity but I don't know how much that uses in sleep mode. Overall, I don't think it's anything to be entirely concerned with.

I left my 3DS in sleep mode when I was asleep once; accidentally, of course. When I woke up, my copy of LEGO Harry Potter jumped up to an average play time of around one and a half hours on the activity log and, since I never really played that game, it stayed at that average.

...I think it's because I left it on sleep, but I don't think that would've actually affected play time. Though I can't see any other reason it could've jumped up to such a high average.

Nonetheless, to my knowledge, it doesn't really affect the system or anything, though I wouldn't entirely recommend it because as I said it'd waste charge. If it's a mistake, that's okay. Your Switch isn't going to blow up. If that was the case, it'd make for a really cool grenade, however.

 

[Duffy]

Aside from killing battery more, I don't think there is any harm. There def isn't any harm as far as I've heard nintendo officially say, and problems like joy con first have made fans pretty vocal this console generation but I've nothing bad about sleep mode.