Nintendo Comments On Third-Party Docks Bricking Switch Systems

If they just didn't sell a dock for 80 POUNDS!!! is the third of the total price of the system, so the dock is as expensive as the joycons or the actual switch basically is just ridiculous

I want a new dock so bad, but I will not pay 80 pounds for it, I completely refuse it.

@AlbertXi I really want nintendo to design a smaller more portable dock for thirty quid or something, i dont wanna spend over 60 quid on another standard one. They're so keen on accessories and peripherals for the system, its crazy that they haven't done this yet.

@AlbertXi I agree. The Switch dock that Nintendo sell also doesn't solve the problem that makes me want a second dock! I want the ability to play my Switch on a TV when I'm not at home - without the need to take a clunky dock around with me. Hopefully they'll have an official peripheral that solves this (minor, but nice to have) problem!

@JoeyJoeJoe is Obvious is a cheap piece of tech, is basically a USB C connector with HDMI output.

Also as other mention, the portability is just ridiculous, they should release a 30 something cheaper option, is like Nintendo doesn't listen to their customers at all.

while it's true Nintendo should lower the price of the docks. If you purchase something not made officially by Nintendo for your system and something happens to it. That's on you not Nintendo.

I honestly believe some people are blaming Nintendo for the systems bricking cause they are too cheap to buy a extra dock.

Its almost as if....history shows us....third party unlicensed peripherals are a risk that someone takes...and using unlicensed tech more often than not isnt worth it...

Seriously all these people complaining havent been in the tech world for the past 50 years.

@liljmoore Except the recent wave of bricking seems to coincide with the 5.0 update. And some people reported problems with official docks as well in comments on this site.

I keep seeing people wanting smaller docks and for it to be a more portable dock. I really don't get it. The Switch dock is fine and small enough. The system itself is portable and can be played tabletop. I would be mad too that a third party dock might brick or has bricked my system but that's why I don't buy third party things for systems. They always suck, all third party controllers I used to buy when I was younger were horrible so I stopped buying any kind of third party items. I do agree that the official Switch dock is expensive on its own, but at the cost of bricking your system I think the cost is worth having the security that it won't damage it.

@AlbertXi it's not an adapter. It's a port replicator, and the good ones tend to be more expensive.

But anyways, this idea of going cheap on a dock is kinda silly when you're spending a good amount on the Switch, its games, controllers, etc in the first place for a "quality" experience.

@Discostew Yes but no 80 pounds expensive, the whole price is disproportioned.

@Reyes The Switch cannot output to a TV without the dock. If you take it on holiday you need the bulky dock to connect it to the TV in the hotel room.

Surely no one actually expects Nintendo to test every unlicenced third-party peripheral with each new system update, do they?

The dock not working I can accept, but the Switch not being able to recover with a hard reset is surely Nintendo's fault.

@riChchestM I know it cannot output to a tv without a dock. Its not really a bulky dock. The Switch plus its dock are the smallest home console so far they've made. And it's vertical standing saving more space. It's much easier than packing another Nintendo system for holidays. If you're already having a suitcase or something similar when going somewhere I'm sure the dock and the two cables you need can fit in there as well as I have done it many times myself so far.

i think the desire for a smaller dock is portability especially if your away holliday work etc having a nice compact small dock is great so yuo can play on big screen and leave the old one behind at home.

@JoeyJoeJoe Yeah that is a perfectly good option but i dont want to go to the effort, if theyve got a team messing around designing cardboard cutouts im sure they could knock out a few different dock designs

@NewAdvent Just need Hori to do an officially licensed one. they are releasing a charging dock with usb input that looks great, it astounds me that they haven't made a version of it that also connects to the tv.

@SmaggTheSmug if something happens to someones switch with Nintendo dock then tell them so they can fix it. They have done it before. I honestly haven't had any problems yet.

@liljmoore Yes, but the fact that a problem can be fixed when it arises does not change the issue of the problem arising in the first place.
Also this has lowered people's trust in officially licensed products as well; just read the comments under the Hori projector dock.
I use my Switch portable 99% of the time, so it will most likely never affect me, but I sometimes take the dock with me when visiting family with big TVs and having a smaller one would be welcome.

It's all Nintendo's fault. Doomed.

I bought a third party dock for portability reasons that I now won't use. It barely took up any room in my shoulder bag unlike the official dock which takes up half the bag. It opened a world of big screen lunch time FIFA and Mario Kart any day of the week. A world which is now closed to me without bringing a bigger bag to work. In the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal but it's a real shame.

It'd be awesome if Nintendo could produce a smaller travel friendly dock. I would never have bought a third party one if a smaller official option existed. Hell if the official docks were available at RRP at the moment I'd buy one and re-shell it to get what I want.

@Yorumi I disagree. Nintendo's stance has always been use officially licensed products. It is not up to their coders and R&D to test third party products.

maybe if officially licensed Switch products were priced fairly, it wouldn't be an issue

Here's a thought - stick to the Doc you were given.

If you want a portable dock, just buy one of the shells off Amazon and put your official hardware into it. It takes no more than 5 minutes to get it done.

the real dock is very often discounted in the U.S. to $60. if you live en Europe maybe international shipping would work out to be less than buying locally.

@JoeyJoeJoe "“(Nyko is) aware of the issue some Portable Docking Kit owners are facing after updating the firmware on their Nintendo Switch to version 5.0"

I think that's evidence enough that the bricking of systems has happened

@AlbertXi Don't buy a Nintendo dock that you consider expensive BUT don't complain either for Non Nintendo devices not working properly.

A lot of companies selling cheap USB-C devices do not implement the standard correctly, especially in the area of power negotiation and supply. This issue is well documented across the industry.
These dock makers likely built their devices to handle the messaging from the original firmware as far as power supply is concerned, and then 5.0 changed the messaging slightly, and the cheap docks got confused and sent too much power. Something on the switch got fried out, that's why even official docks can no longer function with these systems.

It's funny that people still buy third party accessories. How long have most of you been playing video games? My problem is how similar third party and first party accessory boxes look. The only real difference is a small logo in the bottom corner of the face of the box. Easily confused if you aren't looking for that little logo (think when parents buy accessories for their kids).

@NewAdvent Obviously they do not have to support unlicensed products.

why aren't these docks being certified by N?

is N refusing to do that? i mean; do 3rd party controllers need to be certified or anything?

maybe N is protecting their 'dock profits' and that wouldn't be surprising considering the hostile way they run their business.

@Cosats Have you seen me complaining? I don't buy non official peripheral so what is the exact point of your comment?

@QwertyQwerty Are you 10,000 monkeys typing to create a "sentence"?

Because bending Switches and the left joycon connecting issue are proof Nintendo has excellent QA.

@Yorumi 100% agreed

You know that warning you get when you update software on computers, tvs, game systems, phones, etc? To not unplug it until the update is finished?

I think that's what Nintendo should have done here. If it depends on their dock, they should test for their dock before moving forward with a software update. They should also have cloud saves or SD saves in the next update, it's past time. There are many different ways Nintendo could have avoided these problems.

To Nintendo's credit, they honored my warranty. One week from USPS dropoff, a new switch was at my door. (and the old one was bricked, they just swapped the brick for a working Switch)

The price of the dock isn’t that bad considering it’s half the system, guys. Switch’s are $299.99 in the states. I’m glad the docks aren’t priced at $150.00. $90.00 is reasonable. I guess portable-only fans consider the dock worthless. Third party docks hold no appeal for me.

Well, there's clearly demand for Mini/Travel Dock's - perhaps Nintendo should consider making (or having an officially licensed) one themselves? At least that way people would have a verified alternative to the rather bulky standard Dock - I know I'd rather pay a little extra for the official version if it'd guarantee quality...do it Nintendo, then take my yen!

@YummyHappyPills

that's what I was asking. i have no idea if madcatz or logitec or whoever licenses their controllers with sony/N/ms.

console makers SHOULD license these things if they are of a high enough standard/quality but they don't cause $$$$$$$$$$$$$.

EA tried that approach and they're the only one. N just needs to release a smaller dock at like 29$ or something. at this point if they keep up the hostility after all their failures i'll be happy to see them go 3rd party. zelda on the PC would be awesome.

@AlbertXi $90 is actually reasonable though, compare to if you want to have 2 PS4 in your house one at your living room and one in your bedroom, you have to buy 2 PS4 which will run you around $500 whereas if you have a Switch and another dock it'll just cost you the extra $90 for the extra dock.

Anytime I use an iPhone charger not done my apple it’s eventually stops working, or I have to fidget with the wire. The company that makes it are going to make a product where not everyone can replicate their quality so there’s a reason the 3rd party is so cheap.
It’s just a shame Nintendo’s stuff is so expensive.

@retro_player_22 Sorry, I think that's a very poor comparison. It's like if someone were to complain about Dell's overpriced laptop docks (Which can go for $200 or so, model depending) you would argue that it doesn't matter, because a second laptop would cost them $1500? I'm not actually trying to debate whether Dell's docking stations are or are not overpriced, just pointing out that I don't find it to be a good comparison.

On the topic of Nintendo's dock, considering what it is (A cheap PCB & plastic case, no real electronics to speak of) I do find it to be extremely expensive. Honestly though, I wouldn't even care if they just allowed for me to plug in a USB C to HDMI cable for when I'm on the go. Seems really dumb that you have to have a dock to connect it to a TV.

EDIT: And of course, everyone's personal value will differ. I've almost purchased a 2nd dock, despite not believing the device should cost that much. So if you (And many others) find it to be worth that much, I have no arguments there. Personally, I'll probably end up waiting for a sale and simply buying a second Switch. My wife and kids will use it eventually anyway, plus then we'd get the second dock.

"Nintendo (recommends) that Switch owners only buy officially licensed Switch products"

Of course they do! lol

@sword_9mm Any official game manufacturers and game developers who are interest in making games or products for Nintendo system or any systems from Sony and Microsoft must be licensed by the big publishers in able to undergo quality that it would work to the best of their quality for their system. Nyko and most third party are unofficial game manufacturers, they make products for other systems but do it without permission from the big publishers thus their product were not evaluate or had any inspection testing by the big three thus if customer were to buy from them and it brick their system, the warrant from the publisher will not cover that.

Reason why companies like Nyko and other unofficial game product maker exist is because they don't want to pay for licensing fee every time they make a product for a system and it took longer for their product to be on the market as they had to undergo evaluation from the big publisher. There could also be risk that the big three may reject their product if it doesn't meet the quality standard of the big three and if that happens, all those money that the unofficial maker had work on will be all thrown down the drain which is why they go unofficial, release the product on their own and receive profit from those without sharing it with the big three but because of that their quality standard are uncheck and their product may harm or brick the official system. This applies to games as well of course nowadays we aren't likely seeing that many unlicensed games on current systems.

@AlbertXi that's the price for the research and development they made to create the dock, not a non licensed company who probably made reverse engineering in the official product to create their own dock with cheaper pieces and zero research.

@AlbertXi Dock is not $80 in the US, its around $40-$60. $80 bundle gets you charger and HDMI cable as well.

But yeah, I agree it is a bit expensive for a tiny motherboard with some plastic around it.

Eh, never really saw the appeal of getting a second dock. Especially since I have a nice carry case that holds all my essential Switch stuff

@roadrunner343 It is a good comparison because if another member of your family want to play your Switch somewhere in your house and you don't want to always unhook your cables, all they had to do is buy another dock which they could afford. You don't need two jobs to buy one, heck you don't even have to be the guy that is buying the second dock either.

@setezerocinco Dude, Nintendo did not invent that, there has been other USB C products like that, from samsung for example from before, many android phones does the same ages ago, Nintendo didn't invent this technology, I+D, of that is close to 0, the concepto of the switch as whole is another story, they took a a bunch of technology that already existed and made something great with it, but they didn't invent the dock tech.

While the Joy Cons those are 2 pieces of really amazing technology, with hd vibration, infrared, and so much more and they cost less than the dock.

@retro_player_22 worst example ever you can't compare buying a whole new system with all cpu/gpu/ram gamepad etc. to buying a dock.

But now I will make it easier for you to understand if I want to play mi ps4 in any other TV in my house I disconnect the ps4 and use one power cable and one HDMI cable TOTAL PRICE: 3 dollars.

If I want to play Switch anywhere else? Either disconnect and transport everything or buy a 80 dollar dock.

@Yorumi That's because USB is a standard connection type where the Doc is a device that uses that connection.

There is a reason Nintendo's stance is officially licensed products, so they don't have to worry about what another companies product will do to their system.

@retro_player_22 Regardless, as @AlbertXi says, you can't compare a buying a new system to buying a peripheral. I agree, there are some cases when it may be worth it - but I still believe it is poor reasoning to use to prove that the dock itself is not overpriced.

@AlbertXi Then you had no reason to complain about the $90 dock cause that same process also works with the Switch.

@roadrunner343 I just did.

@retro_player_22 What kind of pedantic response is that? You clearly know what I mean, and I even provide a polite response with an example in my original post. Would it make you feel better if I said it's not a "fair comparison" rather than you "Can't compare" or would that still be too ambiguous to you? I can also compare a pineapple to a skyscraper. That doesn't make the comparison valid, relevant, helpful, or fair. Re-read post 58 if you need to.

@roadrunner343 The guy is clearly a disrespectful child who doesn't understand technology and makes the most stupid comparisons as you can see by his answer to me he say I can't complain because that other garbage also work, which makes absolutely no sense with the point being made here.

@Yorumi Bad USB-C cables have fried USB ports in computers. And yes, you can 'error proof' a device to not get destroyed from too much voltage, etc. But whatever you do, there is always an upper limit to what you can handle. Apply too much, and your safeguards also fail.

@AlbertXi just buy a 2nd Switch! That's how my wife and I got our second dock. Now we play Splatoon together since we have 2 Switches

@Yorumi If it doesn't work after the update, it's Nyko's fault for not update-proofing their unlicensed product, not Nintendo's.

@Yorumi There were reports of bricked consoles prior to 5.0 from people using unlicensed docks, too. It did get much more prevalent (or at least reports of it did) after 5.0.
5.0 may well have changed the power request the switch sends, and the unlicensed docks couldn't understand the changed message and started sending more power.

So, Nintendo charge a crazy high price for this pitiful little shell of plastic; some other company comes along with a reasonably priced option; and it mysteriously becomes unusable after Nintendo release an apparently do-nothing update.. and nobody finds this suspicious..?

As I have said before, the dock is a lot more than just overpriced plastic with a tiny motherboard in it.

Has there been a price break for the 1st-party accessories? Here in the USA, Joy-Cons are now $69 USD (at Walmart); the dock is now $67 (at GameStop).

@westman98 It isn't. There have been countless teardowns that show it really is a very simplistic device. It's essentially a USB-C port with a DisplayPort mobility to HDMI converter IC. Whether you think it is overpriced or not is debatable. Personally, I would say it is overpriced, but I understand others think it is worth the cost.

Based on the instances I'm seeing. I believe that 3rd party docks bricking Switchs after the 5.0.0 update are due to how the Wifi is now handled. Wifi will now stay activated if your Switch goes to sleep, this is great because you can jump right back into something like Hulu without having to exit and re-enter the app when you start your Switch back up. However, this does seem to cause the Switch to consume a little more power while in sleep mode than before. From what I can tell, the Switchs that do brick, do so because even though they're charging in the dock, for whatever reason, they're using more power than they are charging at the same time. And so, when a Switch, left in the dock, runs out of power, even though its connected to a power source, is then left in a state where when they try to power on the Switch, even if they've charged it again that its stuck in a boot-loop, and can't get past the Nintendo logo on startup. At least that's been what I've gathered from people reporting that they left the Switch in the third party dock and it worked just fine, but then they left it for a day, came back and it wouldn't start up after 5.0.0.

The good news, at least for the Nyko dock, is that if Nyko does properly locate the issue, they have the capability of issuing firmware updates that would address the issue, that you can install to the dock by connecting it to your PC.

All in all it's just another brick in the wall

• Pink Floyd on the 3rd party dock matter

@Yorumi Because they're no different than the lengths you go to.

@FengLong You're reaching for the moon there, my friend.

Wow, what a surprising comment from Nintendo... not.

I'm just here for the sass in the comments.

I'm still worried about the issue I've been having since 5.0, basically it takes 5-10 seconds for the dock to switch over to TV mode, whereas before it was maybe 2-3 seconds. Sometimes I have to undock/redock just to get to recognize at all. This is all the stock equipment that came with my Switch, too.

@Arcamenel Likewise. It's been good so far.

Assuming this is a unintended issue of spec changes not playing well with unofficial stuff this is unfortunate. (Then again, this COULD be a carefully designed attack to stifle competition. "Look how generous we are, aren't we sweet? Oh noes! That unofficial garbage that costs a fraction of our version is messing up your fun times? Tsk. If only you had paid up like a good little gamer.)

Setting aside Nintendo's hard on for proprietary control over everything, the heart of the problem is Nintendo is unwilling to not make a profit on anything. Even extras that only a fraction of their user base will partake in. When they're sure people will want it, they charge through the nose. When they aren't, they stifle supply so as little lingers on shelves as possible. That's the only reason I assume the NES/SNES mini/Amiibo issues could have at least started as legit underestimates. If Ninty was completely confident in them, they would have charged four times the price. "What about AFTER they knew those things were hits?" By then the price was already locked in and they couldn't price accordingly. However, keeping the stocks down creates a desperate environment that guarantees sales.

@roadrunner343 Do tear downs just talk parts? I ask because wouldn't manufacturing/shipping as well as an HDMI license play into cost. Not debating just asking a question

@Arehexes No problem, even if you were debating, I absolutely wouldn't mind =) Civil debates are great. To answer the question though, yes - most teardowns only discuss the the physical components involved. You are correct that there would still be licensing and shipping costs. However, those are costs that apply to every product. The PCB itself is quite simplistic. For reference, a full blown computer, with USB ports, audio out, Wifi, Ethernet, ARM CPU, and HDMI, etc... (Raspberry Pi 3 B+) costs $35. So I don't think there's a great argument to be made for licensing/shipping/manufacturing costs jacking the price up that much. Manufacturing of the RPi would be more complex as well, given the components involved and cramming much more onto the PCB.

Has Nintendo done this on purpose?

I've been lucky enough to buy a dock from Nintendo, I've got two. I feel bad for those who have had systems bricked, also I feel bad for the companies affected. Surly Nintendo need to sort out a cloud save system, now?

@RetroGamerAndrew “All in all it's just another brick in the wall
Pink Floyd on the 3rd party dock matter”

Classic song, although I prefer the ‘Baron Knights - Never mind the presents’ 😁

I don’t mind third party controllers but would rather pay extra for official chargers and there like.

Can someone explain to me why exactly people are blaming 3rd parties like Nyko when it was Nintendo's software that caused the problem?

Sure, Nintendo is not obligated to make their software work with 3rd party accessories, but this is the first time I've ever heard of software breaking hardware because of a 3rd party cable organizer. 3rd parties make tons of power accessories for phones and I've never heard of some working fine but than breaking the phone because of a software change in the smartphone.

@RedMageLanakyn That's not normal... mine is the same amount of time as always to Switch from handheld to TV, can't notice any new lag or anything like that since updating to 5.0.0

@DarkKirby My guess would be because these 3rd parties were hasty and just assumed everything will always keep working fine, not realizing that Nintendo likely updates the dock when they push firmware updates to the Switch. At least with the Nyko dock you can install firmware updates to the dock when Nyko releases them, so they left a window open for themselves to adapt, but they didn't leave a warning for the consumers that when a new firmware update is pushed that they shouldn't use the unofficial dock again until Nyko says it's OK and released a firmware update if need be. Ultimately it comes down to a lack of communication being the real problem I believe.

@Pj1 Now call me crazy but if my $300 console had been bricked the last thing I would care about is my save files.

Sounds simple enough, third party tech not tested by Nintendo causes problems, possibly because said third parties didn't put it through the ringer with testing. Nothing against those peripherals, but I'm glad my paranoia about using them on my stuff paid off. I'm utterly terrified about those causing problems with my systems. Maybe it happened more because of the latest update, but even so, that's just an unfortunate coincidence.

As for the price of the dock, I'm not crazy about it, but it's also not something that I need right now since I only have one TV I mainly play Switch on (my other has the SNES classic on it). I'll admit, I'm the type that would bite the bullet and just pick it up since I go out of my way to support companies like that, but since it's mainly a streaming device, as well as a charger with a plug that can be put into the Switch tablet on its own, I think a price cut would make sense, and do it well.

Considering that majority of good multiport adapters generally cost $60-90 and up (with the least expensive ones usually supplying less usb ports) the Switch dock doesn't seem all that expensive to me. Besides, the dock in the US lately has hovered around 60 bucks. I may just pull the trigger and buy one to mod it a smaller size.

Are Nintendo allowed to use the usb-c brand and then not gracefully handle any usb-c branded device?

If the 3rd party docks would undergo "Nintendo testing" then they will get more expensive because of the this "evaluation process". No proof of course, but my suspicion is that Nintendo is deliberately introducing "stability updates" which are pushing out competition by bricking the Switch. I'm afraid we'll see more of these dirty practices in the future.

I would gladly buy an official Nintendo dock but it costs €90 (here in France) Common Nintendo...GET FREAKING REAL!!! The dock and power adapter pack should be no more than €45!!!

Man, I'm SALTY!!!

people and their dock issues, i realy dont understand this, before the switch nobody seemed to have problems to take their 'clunky console' with them for traveling and suddenly its a big issue.

Nintendo with the dock for me has actually exposed how consumers can really act like spoiled little rich kids who only contradict themselves.

I've created an account here just to post about this, mostly to clarify a couple things:

1. You can continue to use your USB-C power bricks without issue, unless the voltage doesn't match up. USB-C Power Delivery (PD) is a different spec from what Nintendo uses with the docks.

2. Nintendo isn't likely trying to be nefarious here. USB-C is a pretty complex technology. When you plug in a USB-C dongle into a device, the device has to determine what said dongle is. It's basically doing a "handshake" with the device to find out if it's acting as HDMI, power, USB, ethernet, etc. When you put your Switch in the dock, it quickly identifies the dock as "HDMI with Power Delivery." It also identifies the order this should happen in: i.e., the Switch dock could be recognized as an HDMI port, with power second, with USB ports third. AFAIK, there is no way for Nintendo to give their dock an advantage here.

That being said, USB-C as a spec is complicated, because it's a spec that represents all the different specs for HDMI, power, USB, etc., all over the world, and all at once. If you make a USB-C dock or dongle, you really need to know what you're doing. If you mess up, you'll — you guessed it — damage the device after you plug in said peripheral.

I'm guessing that Nintendo wanted to prevent crappy USB-C stuff from damaging consoles, and tightened up what was "okay" to use via the 5.0 software update. That ironically bricked a ton of devices using USB-C devices made by companies who don't know what they're doing. Nintendo looks like they're to blame, but in reality, your Switch could have potentially been bricked by those devices one day regardless.

I don't know anything about what's going on at Nintendo, but they do have to program the Switch to recognize the dock in a certain order. So, in other words, if they changed it from the Switch dock being an HDMI port first, power second, USB third, to a different hub stack, then that would be enough for any differing third party dock that operates differently to brick your console.

The reason that USB-C power banks and chargers are still fine is because the Switch doesn't have to know the sequential order of the bank's features. The power bank isn't a hub; it's just power. So those of you who plug your Switch into an iPad charger are fine.

@Mortenb USB-C isn't a brand. It's a specification. Anybody can use it, just like HDMI, USB-C, or your average wall plug. And just like a wall plug, if manufacturers are careless, their product might set something on fire. (Speaking about the third-party dock manufacturers here, who are likely more to blame than Nintendo.)

@nathan_393 You seem to be correct. I thought there was a compliance requirement for using the name. There seems to be none. I guess in the grand scheme of things that is good, as mostly usb is a wonderful success as far as standards go. Official testing would be prohibitively expensive for all sorts of small companies and even hobbyists who implement usb. However there is a logo one is only allowed to use after compliance testing, which I guess Nintendon’t use.

@Crono1973 No I wasn't saying you're crazy, was I? I was only saying Nintendo should do a cloud save system. Anyway man don't brick your Switch....

@Pj1 I don't do third party accesories so I have no fear. I also delete my old saves periodically to keep my system clean. I have never had an attachment to a save file.

@Yorumi I owe you an apology with the new information about it being non-compliant USB-C. You are correct on that.

"...we believe it is related to the way the Switch handles AV output for an external TV/monitor while the console is docked on the Portable Docking Kit.”

You don't say?!? 😮😮😮