The Pokemon Company and Game Freak released an update a week or so ago bringing Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet to Version 1.2.0. The update, which you can read about here, fixes a few bugs and advertising the upcoming downloadable content expansion The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero on the game’s homescren. However, it seems like Version 1.2.0 brought with it an unwelcome addition, and that is a bug which can delete players save files. The issue seems to arise from connecting to the Pokemon GO app or downloading the DLC, though as Kotaku points out, there’s not one singular cause of the save-corrupting bug, which is clearly problematic. Losing a saved file can be devastating and it isn’t helped by the fact that Pokemon Scarlet & Violet cannot be backed up to the cloud, via Nintendo Switch Online, like the vast majority of Nintendo Switch games. Presumably The Pokemon Company and Game Freak are aware of the issue and are working on a fix, though at they have not publicly acknowledged the existence of the bug. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to be a wide spread issue at present, but Kotaku has reached out to Nintendo regarding deletion of save files and has yet to hear back as of the time of writing this.
There’s now a bug with latest Pokemon Scarlet & Violet update which can delete save file

Nice! I thought updates were supposed to remove bugs, not add them. Damn bugs!
Every single game from every genre on every platform has brought new bugs after applying new patches, this isn’t just a Pokémon problem it’s every companies problem. Adding bugs instead of removing isn’t intentional and most of the bugs can and will go undetected during testing. It’s also not laziness and it’s unrealistic to have a game with absolutely zero bugs and unrealistic that they test for bugs in every obtuse way cuz like i said some of them go undetected. That being said I’m glad they are working on it very quickly, most companies like a certain fps dev won’t even bother with fixing.
Looks like the Pokemon Company even releases their patches too early before making sure they work properly.
Hahaha… While the guy above isn’t wrong about updates coming with their own bugs, it’s still fucking hilarious considering the game was released broken.
The Pokemon database is a cult at this point. Literally every single negative thing that pops up about the games has some person doing sort of damage control, and I’m not even surprised at this point. Not even the genwunners were this annoying.
Fan base*
@Infinite Ridley (Dragon Trigger; RIP, JDF)
I’m not defending them, I’m saying every single company releases patches that introduces new bugs that go undetected during testing, Activision is being one of the worst followed by EA with their human gestational period for their games followed by Bethesda with FO76. Yes SV is broken but nowhere near broken as CoD and Battlefield. Cyberpunk 2077 is broken but again nowhere near CoD and Battlefield. Anthem is as broken as CoD and Battlefield. AC Unity is one of the buggiest AC game but nowhere near as buggy as CoD and Battlefield. When I say CoD and Battlefield i mean every single title starting from when they started butchering 80% of their games and reselling them as “DLC”.
Pokémon is the type of game where it hurts a lot to lose your save file. Given that there is zero way to back up your data for this game, it really is pivotal that this type of thing doesn’t happen.
And this is why Pokemon needs cloud backups. Completely ludicrous this is the only franchise I actually have to worry about this, and it’s also the only franchise where it isn’t an option.
I have to agree. This is basically why Pokémon games needs longer development times.
Actually Splatoon 2 doesn’t support cloud saves, and Splatoon 3 only supports single-player cloud saving (whatever that entails). Supposedly cloud saves are not supported in order to prevent cheating or altering one’s rank but surely there are ways to do that without disallowing cloud saves.
Some of the bugs that we are still dealing with is still in the game still. Even when we battle trailers in the region.
lol
I cried when I was a kid and my Ruby save file was deleted. But it was my fault and not the company’s fault so… I guess it’s a step backwards, huh?
Same exact thing happened to me too. I still have no clue how my copy of Pokemon Diamond stopped being readable (which Nintendo just replaced). Only two months in….
lol oof
Well I guess I’m not touching Violet again until this is fixed.
Great look’s like all the snooty know it-all fanboys have something they can complain about.
@nikki_boagreis
I’m sorry but I have to point something out and ask a question:
The person commenting above you (Brrrrrisky) made a comment that basically shows that this bug will inconvenience them and they won’t play Violet again until it’s fixed.
YOUR lamentation is not that you might lose your save file, but that people will have something else to criticize.
Is Pokemon’s reputation more important to you than your own gaming experience?
@CGF – you will be lucky if you get an answer from her, she doesn’t make a habit of replying to people on here, she does seem to have something personal against fan boys, especially on this website, she’s not had good experiences with them. In a way she tries to blast fan boys whenever the chance arises 😅
I haven’t purchased the DLC (which isn’t even out yet) and I don’t even own Pokemon GO.
Am I safe?
That unfortunately means that I can’t play on Pokémon Scarlet or Pokémon Violet until that bug has been fixed. Thanks for nothing, Game Freak!