How many downloaded games can a Switch hold?

As a passionate Nintendo gamer and content creator who has owned every model of the Switch, I often get asked: just how many downloaded games can you fit on those little cartridge-free handhelds?

It‘s a great question. With the eShop holding over 4,000 games, the Switch‘s paltry 32GB of onboard storage doesn‘t go far these days.

But fear not — with some savvy storage management, you can transform your Switch into a portable arsenal holding over 200 downloaded titles.

Let‘s dig into the nitty gritty details.

What‘s the Baseline Switch Storage Capacity?

Straight out of the box, the standard Switch includes 32GB of usable storage for games, saves, and screenshots after factoring in the space for system data.

The newer OLED model doubles the capacity to 64GB.

Without any external memory cards, here‘s a rough estimate of how many average sized downloaded games you can expect to fit:

• 32GB Model: 4-8 games
• 64GB OLED Model: 8-16 games

Of course, this varies dramatically based on game sizes, which brings us to our next point…

How Big Are Switch Games? Breaking Down Average File Sizes

Unlike Xbox and PlayStation, Nintendo games are focused on tight, efficient gameplay rather than resource-intensive graphics. This allows Switch game file sizes to remain relatively reasonable — many major Nintendo titles land between 1-6GB.

However, games from third-party studios like EA and Ubisoft push closer to the 8-12GB range. And epic open world games like The Witcher 3 and L.A Noire can exceed a whopping 25-30GB.

Based on my library of over 100 Switch games, here is a breakdown of average installed sizes across genres:

So when estimating your Switch‘s capacity, be sure to account for this variance depending on your gaming preferences.

MicroSD Cards Unlock Hundreds of Extra Games

While the Switch‘s built-in capacity leaves much to be desired, the console fully supports standard microSD cards up to an enormous 2TB.

Translation: you can augment your Switch with removable storage that‘s large enough to hold over 500 HD movies!

Here‘s a guide to how many extra games you can expect to fit across various popular microSD card sizes:

For enthusiasts intent on building a vast downloaded game library, high capacity cards are almost mandatory. Luckly, 512GB-1TB cards have gotten reasonably affordable over the past year.

6 Pro Tips for Managing Your Switch Storage

With great storage power comes great responsibility. Here are my top insider tips for keeping your Switch‘s precious flash memory from filling up too quickly:

1. Invest in the largest microSD your budget allows — you‘ll never regret having more flexibility for new games and DLC packs.
2. Store screenshots and video captures on the microSD rather than the onboard memory to conserve space.
3. Check your Data Management settings and clean out unneeded temporary files and game patches.
4. Archive older games you aren‘t playing as much. You can easily re-download them later.
5. For supported physical cartridge games, install only the portion of data required to start playing rather than the full game.
6. If needed, you can connect your Switch to a computer and backup save data to external storage — then delete large games and restore the saves after re-downloading.

Mastering these data juggling strategies allows even Switch owners with modest 32-64GB onboard storage to maintain access to 100+ active games thanks to a sufficiently large microSD card.

The key is avoiding the temptation to go all-digital without a proper storage expansion plan. Cloud-only libraries may seem convenient, but they become a hassle once you fill up your console and have to constantly shuffle games on and off your home screen.

The Nintendo Switch Storage Capacity Verdict

So, what‘s the final verdict?

Without any external memory, the Switch can natively store between 4–16 average sized downloaded games, depending on whether you own the standard 32GB model or higher capacity 64GB OLED variant.

But add in a generous 400-512GB microSD card and your total capacity grows to an impressive 100-200 downloaded games — more than enough to satisfy most Nintendo enthusiasts.

Die-hard collectors willing to buy the rare 1TB cards can almost certainly cram over 400 games onto a single Switch, but at that point just admiring the screenshots may take more time than actually playing!

Hopefully the storage figures and optimization advice in this guide empowers you to get the most out of your Switch game catalog. Let me know in the comments if you have any other tips for your fellow gamers. Thanks for reading!