Summary
The Nintendo Switch 2’s chatroom-activating C button is a big leap forward for a company that’s historically struggled with social features. However, that lack of know-how may come back to bite Nintendo unless it makes one of two simple changes.
What Is GameChat?
When you press the C button located on the bottom of the right Joy-Con 2 controller, you enter a chatroom with up to 11 other players on your friends list. This is calledGameChat.
This can take a number of forms, such as voice chat using the Switch 2’s built-in microphone, video chat using a USB-C camera (of whichNintendo sells one of its own), and screen-sharing where other people’s live gameplay is displayed in boxes below your game. Basically, it’sa twist on the chat functionality many already use on Discord, except nested entirely within the Nintendo ecosystem.
The company’s hope is that players will choose the Switch 2’s built-in chat over third parties after a generation where players chose Discord over the original Switch’s mobile app voice chat. This is particularly apparent in how at present it doesn’t look like Nintendo will be integrating Discord into the Switch 2 like its competitors have.
There’s a Problem With This Free Trial
As of September 2024,roughly 23% of the 150 million Switch ownershad any form of NSO subscription. Those are pretty decent numbers given how broad the Switch’s demographic is, and that hardcore subset is likely to contain a majority of Switch 2 early adopters. Even so, I think it’s fair to run with the assumption that at least 50% of Switch 2 owners won’t have NSO once GameChat’s trial period ends, and that’s a safe estimate that will only grow against NSO’s favor with time.
So, we’re left with numerous customers confused over a prominent button that will either do nothing when pressed or will prompt them to purchase an NSO subscription (I suspect the latter). That’s a pretty dang bad user experience, especially with theongoing uproar over pricing surrounding the Switch 2. Chances are that people will quickly default back to Discord.
Put otherwise, the C button would represent consumer unfriendliness for anyone without NSO, and it’ll be staring them in their face every time they grab their Switch 2.
Parents Will Also Take Issue
How this bricked or money-asking C button goes over with parents may be an even bigger problem for Nintendo.
Part of GameChat’s appeal is that by controlling the social ecosystem, Nintendo can offer greaterparental controlover online play. This is a big win for a company that is more family-friendly than other players in the console market both in optics and game output.
However, once parents start seeing the button asking their children for a credit card, it’s going to give them pause. Higher game prices are already going to cause consternation that they may begrudgingly swallow, but a “pay me money” button is the antithesis of a family-friendly experience and won’t go down quite as easily.
It doesn’t help that kids are the demographic most likely to use GameChat. Games popular with kids tend to be online titles likeMinecraft,Roblox, andFortnite. The appeal of these games comes from chatting with friends while playing. Moreover, the latter two don’t require an NSO subscription for online because they’re free to play, but the chat functionality will.
Nintendo, Let Us Reprogram the C Button
The simplest fix that would make all this go away would be making GameChat free. Since Nintendo dedicated a prominent button on the controller to the feature, that would be a gesture to consumers that would avoid all pitfalls. That’s not the route the company will take, though, leaving a plan B of letting players remap the button on a system level just like they can any other button.
All this said, the 10-month trial period for GameChat isone of many reasons to buy a Switch 2 on launch day.
