Why You Shouldn't Download Pokémon Scarlet And Violet's New Update Yet

The release of "Pokémon Scarlet" and "Pokémon Violet" was less than ideal, as the game launched with a variety of bugs. Some of the glitches have been harmless and kind of funny, while others have been downright diabolical, forcing some players to seek refunds for the latest "Pokémon" games. It seems a new bug has been making itself known in recent days, and it could spell doom for Pokémon trainers' save files. 

According to a number of "Pokémon" players on social media, their save files have been corrupted or outright erased after synching one of the newer games with "Pokémon Go." One of the game's newer features allows players to send postcards to one another after connecting their save file with "Pokémon Go," and some players in the thread have complained of save file corruption occurring after sending a handful of postcards. Others have found that their save files have been deleted after pre-saving DLC. 

Upon encountering this issue, some players are reporting that the game won't properly boot up all the way, instead stalling before even reaching the title screen. Redditor Matthewcbayer revealed that not only did he lose 595 hours of gameplay and 340 captured shiny Pokémon, but "so far nothing can be done to recover my save." Matthewcbayer also claims that he has previously posted about this issue on the subreddit, only for the moderators to have apparently deleted his post for unknown reasons.

Now that gamers are able to share their issues with one another, an upsetting truth is emerging: The latest update for the game might somehow be the thing killing players' save files.

Nintendo has yet to release an official statement regarding this new bug, but the company is apparently well aware of the problem, at least according to some gamers on Reddit. Fans encountering this save data issue have been in touch with Nintendo customer support, but these calls have allegedly been less than helpful.

Because of these issues, it might be a good idea to hold off on downloading the newest patch, at least for the time being. Of course, this means that players won't be able to participate in certain limited time events without the patch, but gamers will just have to weigh the risk of losing their entire save file against sitting out a new Tera Raid. Players may also want to avoid syncing their game to "Pokémon Go" until Nintendo issues a fix for this problem or explains exactly what's causing it, just to be on the safe side.