With theNintendo Switch 2finally being confirmed by Nintendo, many are keeping their eyes on the horizon, looking forward to what the fabled company has in store for its next flagship console.Persistent Switch 2 rumors and leakshave caused speculation to run rampant as audiences wonder just what the new console’s hardware capabilities will be like, and while dreams of 4K or 60FPSZeldaandMariogames are appealing, it’s not all that Nintendo needs to strive for.
Since its inception, Nintendo Switch Online has been viewed as far inferior to its PlayStation and Xbox counterparts. The criticisms leveled against NSO are, for the most part, fairly reasonable, as the service is behind the times on several fronts, including its unnecessarily convoluted approach to matchmaking and its lack of basic features like integrated voice chat. General performance is also an area where NSO falls short, with popular games likeSuper Smash Bros. UltimateandMario Kart 8 Deluxesuffering from low latency and connectivity issues, especially in their early days. With NSO being a premium service like Xbox Gold and PlayStation Plus, these problems will need to be remedied in theNintendo Switchsuccessor.
Nintendo hasn’t historically been associated with online multiplayer, but as franchises likeSmashandSplatooncontinue to grow online communities, it’s imperative for the company to get certain things right.
How Nintendo Switch 2 Could Improve Nintendo Switch Online
Nintendo Switch Online Needs to Get With the Times
When a player wants to hop into an online game on PlayStation or Xbox, the experience is meant to be as seamless and well-integrated as possible; a simple invite, directly from one’s friends list, is all that it should take to join a multiplayer game. ButNintendo does things a bit differently, typically requiring players to send an invite code to friends in order to share a game with them. Matters of network stability exacerbate this issue, as getting booted from a game due to unreliable connectivity means getting a new code and starting the process over from scratch.
Strangely, this reliance on invite codes isn’t ubiquitous, asgames likeTetris 99allow players to simply hop into an online match, suggesting that there aren’t ever-present hardware-related reasons for such an approach.
Nintendo Switch Online presents a poor overall user experience, mostly due to its lack of essential features. There’s no friends invite list or party system similar to what is available on other consoles or leading PC launchers, and the total absence of integrated voice chat is particularly puzzling. Players can usethe Nintendo Switch Online mobile appto chat with their friends, but this is a bizarrely convoluted way to go about such a basic feature, and offers no real benefits over simply hopping on a shared phone or Discord call.
NSO on the Nintendo Switch 2 Doesn’t Need to Reinvent the Wheel
Nintendo’s console competitors have implemented a number of innovative features, like the PS5’s real-time screen-sharing function, and while a similar level of ambition would be nice to see from Nintendo’s online service, it’s not necessary. At the end of the day, the biggest advantage that consoles have over PC gaming is their streamlining of the player experience. This is pertinent to online play, as players should feel like they are sharing a smooth, intuitive tech ecosystem with each other, making it easy to interface through common-sense features.
Routing voice chat directly through the Switch 2 console, doing away with outdated features like friend codes, and allowing for easy, seamless matchmaking are likely all that is necessary for Nintendo to continue being competitive in the online space. From the viewpoint of consumers, paying a monthly subscription to access online services should come with the basic features and performance one expects from a modern platform.
Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console launched in 2017, capable of being played in handheld mode or docked to a television. The Switch Lite, a handheld-only model, followed in 2019, with an OLED refresh coming in 2021.
