After seeing the Nintendo switch logo at the initial start screen, the screen goes to a blank screen for over 2 minutes, sometimes more, and then you get the error "The software was closed because an error occurred". Sometimes you make it past that blank screen and get to the Mojang logo screen only for the game to lock up there and give the same error. If you make it past the Mojang logo screen and make it to the play menu, it will lockup there and then give you the same error. If you’re lucky to make it past that point and get into the world selection screen, the game fails to load your world and gives the same error. Every time the game fails to load and you get the error, "The software was closed because an error occurred", you're kicked back to the Switch home screen and have to try all over again.

I've contacted Nintendo support on this issue, they were not able to help me find a solution and advised me to contact Mojang.

Our details:

Minecraft Digital Download Version from Nintendo eShop

System Memory 14.0 GB free space

MicroSD Card 55.0 GB free space

Minecraft Ver.1.14.1

Check for corrupted data came back “No corrupted data was found. If the problem still occurs, try redownloading the software.”

Redownloading the software failed to resolve the issue.

I’ve done a lot of troubleshooting of this issue. Through all the troubleshooting I've come to find that the issue seems to be with the save file. If you delete the save file and start fresh, Minecraft will load (within 15 seconds) and work fine, but you've lost all the worlds you’ve created, and after a while (a few months of play and multiple new worlds) the issue returns. I'm not sure if the save file gets corrupted, or if it gets too big to load properly, but the game become unplayable. All attempts to delete content (e.g., worlds, skins, texture packs) from the save file have been unsuccessful in correcting the issue. Only deleting the save file and creating a new one allows the game to function normally.

I have also noticed that the save data fails to Auto backup to Nintendo Online like all our other games. Attempting to force the backup also fails.

The games save file size on our console said it was 1GB and even if I deleted worlds or other content from the save file it still said it was 1GB. When starting fresh after deleting the save file, the file size was less than 1GB. Currently after deleting our save file (on 12/16/2019) and starting a new one (for the second time), our save file is 706 MB and the game loads and plays with no issues. I have my own switch and a copy of Minecraft, but I don't play nearly as much as my son and only have two worlds that I play in. My save file is less than 1GB in size and I have not had any issues playing or loading up the game. I have no idea if it's a save file size issue or not, but this is what we've experienced.

My son gets very disappointed when he can’t load the worlds he wants to play and even more sad when I have to delete all of the worlds he's created and start from a fresh save file. But its the only way that I've found to get him playing again. And now his friends are having the same issue. 

I hope I've included enough information to give you an idea of what we're experiencing.