Discord App For Switch Would 'Need Nintendo's Blessing'

Now this, puts a smile on my face.

Make it happen Nintendo. Although I doubt they want to be one upped by someone else on voice chatting. For that matter they probably dont want it for the reason of not having control over it to protect the kids.

Why bother? Nintendo have deliberately not cloned the functionality of devices you already own but sold the Switch on its own merits. If you want Discord on Switch you already have it on your phone: job done.

Plus the logo looks more like a pig’s snout than a game controller. You can’t unsee it now.

They arent talking about the switch, its the switcht

This would be cool - more useful apps would work for the Switch's benefit - but I doubt that Discord in its current form would be allowed.

Personally I'd prefer to use Discord on another device. I already have it on my phone for example.

@Yorumi Nintendo allows developers to make game with Voice Chat features that just require you to hook up a headset into the Switch itself rather than using their online app. So your point is flawed.

@RadioHedgeFund I’m pretty sure the logo is a robot, not a game controller. I do kinda see a pig though, haha.

@RadioHedgeFund Because those merits don't disappear with the inclusion of discord, yet the addition would bring in new functionality to the system.

Also, surprisingly enough not everybody has phones. Especially when involving kids, which the system appeals to, and very few headsets can be connected to your switch and your phone at the same time. That's why they were forced to produce a device to allow it and that setup is awful. A simple single straight connection to the Switch itself is a better setup.

Nintendo obviously won't do it because of the NSO app but anyway Discord isn't a good solution either. The only good solution would be having a native voice chat option with headsets like on PS4/XB1.

@Richnj given the alt-right controversies surrounding it it’s privably best if it stays well away from kids.

@ReaderRagfish I think that is the point

I'd rather have Netflix than any form of voicechat, just saying.

this wouldnt do what people want it to do on switch though. there would be no game integration and it wouldnt be able to run in the background, so i dont really see a reason for it to be on switch anyway

Hm, I can’t use two applications at the same time on Switch. :/ They should release a firmware first to make this possible.

My gaming buddies and I use Discord when we play Smash.

We tried using the phone app first, and the online connection on the app kept dropping at the end of every match.

Since then, we switched to Discord, and haven't looked back.

It's 2019, you don't have to provide every service you need Nintendo. Externalize all the voice chat service to Discord and have it as a background service. You would instantly have the best online infrastructure on consoles.

Nintendo online doesn't even have the same features as Xband, and that was from 1994ish. Granted I am being a bit facetious about that though.

@MysticGengar puts a smile on your face? Gather 'round and let me tell you the tales of all the other times 3rd parties left things at "it would need Nintendo's blessing" and how those things never became a reality either.

@unoclay just the simple fact that it's 2019 and people are even having to say "i'd rather have Netflix" about any device is just sad.

@RadioHedgeFund
.... I thought it was a little robot head. But I guess I can see the pig snout

And that controversy was so dumb. That's what pulling things out of thin air looked like. Everyone went against that whole dobacle.

@JamesJose7
Well, let's say Nintendo would follow your suggestion, and than allow Discord: How would that help? How would it "fix" Voice-Chat on Switch itself. Because like someone already pointed out, due the Nature of Consoles that they are closed devices, their Ressources are planed for specific purposes beforehand, which means if you add something, which isn't meant to be in there in the first place, like Voice-Chat which got outsourced to the Smartphone, they need to relocate Ressources which mainly for Videogames, to an App which runs in the Background, which would break said Games and worse the Performance! Except for the pretty rare chance that Nintendo saved up some of their Hardware-Ressources for "possible" Features like this for the Future, now it's to late for that and should've been planned from the beginning.. that's also the reason why Playstation 3 never had true Party-Chat, only the Games itself, because said Games simply use ressources specifically for the Games itself, and not add additional an app for the background so you have party-chat.

Don't get me wrong, i myself aren't the biggest fan for their decision to outsource PartyChat to an Smartphone-App(though except that the Nintendo App is pretty great... love the social features of Splatoon and SSBU), but to fix that issue there is more needed than mere allowing third-parties to fix NOS issues... it ain't that easy...

/edit:
Though i've to point out, in general i'm not against Discord on Switch, even without background Voice-Chat it's a nice addition if you can use Discord in-between Gamingsession, write / talk with people. I simply wanted to point out, it won't fix the issue that easy.

1. Logical it needs to be able to run in the background to work.

2. And it needs no "game integration" because it works on the background at the hardware level (That is the point)

That the hardware can actually handle it and play a game at the same time - is another ball of wax. Nintendo can help them out.

@TheLightningYu I said they should, but it's impossible since consoles are closed systems for various reasons (security, optimization, it's proprietary so they don't have to pay any extra fees to third parties). But it seems to me that you think the switch is not capable of doing so and that's the reason they tell us to use their phones to do voice chat. That's not true, the switch IS capable of doing voice chat through the console that's why Vivox released an SDK to implement voice chat on your switch games with cross play and everything. The service doesn't run on the switch itself it runs on Vivox servers, the exact same would happen with Discord as a third party to handle voice chat.
The fact that they didn't plan this from the beginning it's not an excuse since they were managing resources, it's a straight up design flaw that should not be allowed in 2019. The original Xbox was able to do voice chat with Xbox live and it's a better implementation that what the switch currently has. That was back on the early 2000's.

Right now, I have to play on the switch, talking on my Xbox.

no reason to do it. what people would want it to work as is in a background overlay.

How it would work is like any other game. You'd have to close it to run another game.
Its moot.

I guess that'll take a year or so...since Nintendo likes to be super slow on this stuff.

@Agramonte Discord is designed to have a tiny footprint on system hardware. I've checked its CPU/RAM utilization on my laptop back in my League of Legend days and it was negligible. Especially if they gave us a Discord Lite that only included messaging and voice chat the Switch should be be able to run it alongside all but the most intensive games

This doesn't make a lick of sense to me. What would be the purpose of putting a Discord app on Switch? As we've seen with YouTube, the Switch can only do one thing at a time. So you could play a game, or you could quit it to use Discord. Which is surely pointless!

HEY NINTENDO
WE
NEED
THIS

or at least integrate it into your online voice chat app for ease of use, it would make the experience a lot better and the app actually worth a damn.

Nintendo won't do this. They want people to use NSO as trash as it is.

Hope they get it soon. Same with other apps

this needs to happen, but i doubt it will

@Indielink Yeah... something like "discord lite" would be great.

I'm 100% for it. They have a great track record and I use it on PC 100% of the time when I play.

Would be amazing to log-in on Switch with my account and have my friends there.

I really don't think this is what we need on the Switch. Then again I bet a lot of kids would really like it.

I can see it now;
1) Discord gets added
2) System gets an update to add Discord controls to UI
3) No folders or themes
4) People get mad

Why bother adding a voice app to a system that doesn't have proper inputs for modern headsets? Optical? Usb? Dolby digital?

Add all the apps you want, it won't
magically make the switch support a modern headset.
It's not the lack of software that's the problem. Its the I/O,

Eh. I’m over all this.

I have an Arctis 3 Headset with Bluetooth that connects wirelessly to my phone and mixes the audio (be it a phone call, Discord or the Nintendo App) with my Switch games. Works flawlessly. Brother has one too, and he’s the only person I ever play online with.

@RadioHedgeFund Was it supposed to be a controller to begin with?

It would be impossible
1) The Switch can’t run 2 apps at one time
2) NSO voice chat exists
3) It needs Nintendo’s approval
And plus, just use Discord on your phone or computer. Come on, guys.

@imgrowinglegs I believe it may be a Wumpus or its a controller

please make this happen

@Spoony_Tech Then add a restriction for voice chat! And it’s rated 17+ on the App Store. So, voice chat would be rated M so you couldn’t use it!

I think that the Nintendo Switch really should have social media in the absence of Miiverse. But I have found Discord very difficult because of my social anxiety. I have found other social media platforms to be much less difficult.
(and, I know, I could just not use it. But if everyone else was using it, I might feel pressured into using it with them)

Discord on Switch wouldn’t work simply due to the system’s inability to run a app in the background while running a game simultaneously, given how the OS was designed to be both minimalistic and as user-friendly as possible. I would say that it would be difficult to find apps that would be suitable for this feature and it would be taxing on the hardware, especially considering what the Switch is.

On the topic of Voice Chat in general; I think that as smartphones become more and more ubiquitous say; glasses, wallets and clothes, generally people will have that tech on hand. While the negative reaction to pay to play online has been somewhat overblown: Voice chat could be “better”, but maybe way worse:

• People would feel cheated to now have to buy additional accessories (Earbuds/Headset of varying price and quality, extension cables, or the Pro Controller if it kept that headphone jack from development) on top of feeling cheated already for having to pay for that “pay-to-play” online.
• Switching between TV and Handheld modes and having to set up, and dealing with a extension cable connected to the console. (Sorry to YouTubers and streamers like RGT’85, Wulff Den, or ReviewTechUSA, but not everyone wants to play their games on a desk only and have it connected to a monitor, mic, with external mixing software for this)
• Chat Micro management, imagine playing something like say Splatoon 2 or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and managing chat on a user-per-user- basis, via the Quick Menu with no control over your character. Sorta like Fortnite and other Vivox-supported titles on paper.
• “The idea of Nintendo doing proper voice chat before” makes no sense when you consider the DS having a built-in Microphone, Wii with the now useless Wii Speak peripheral, and the Wii U GamePad having a built-in microphone, and headsets for voice chat requiring to be plugged into the GamePad’s headphone jack. Chat also being supported for a small handful select titles.

I mean, the Xbox route could be taken, just allowing your Discord friends to see what game you are playing.

Nintendo wouldn't allow it. They're too busy pushing their trash Online service.

@Zacattack99 The best way would be to link a Nintendo account to discord and handle it directly on your phone. But it would be just as simple to have a Nintendo app with voice chat support that doesn't require to be hooked to the switch with their stupid system.

I think Discord is just highlighting how bad is Nintendo's voice chat.

I’d rather have Pikmin 4

@hihelloitsme @BacklogBlues
I'm just trying to make a funny joke and be positive. Besides, we're in the endgame now.

@Rhaoulos, Discord is exactly the same as Nintendo’s chat solution, it just doesn't integrate with the games themselves.

@JamesJose7
Your Argument with "Vivox" doesn't prove your Argument, but moreover mine. Because Vivox need to be "implemented" into the Game itself, which means, that you need take Ressources which are allocated towards the Videogame-Ressources and use them for the Vivox implementations. However the Point of this Discuss is that we get an "Party-Chat" which means a app, which runs on the system in the Background while you play and are able to use it for whatever you play.

I picture that as percents. Let's say the Switch use (from 100%) obviously 10% for it's system and 90% for the Games, in your Vivox Argument what happens when Developers implement is to relocate from the 90% like 5% of it's games-ressources to Vivox implementations, which means they have less ressources for the Game itself, which is in such Case not really a problem, because that's more an optimization thing.

But if we talk about Discord implementation, you can't magically add 5% of the used 100% of the Nintendo-Switch, you need some spare % and if you don't have that you need to relocate in general ressources of the 90% for Games in general, and i can hardly imagine that happens. "Well, Developers - we take away another part of ressources so we can allow apps in the background like discord... please consider this with new games and also patch / optimize your older games, because they will break"

(and i have to point out, that your Argument of "it all be handled by vivox and not switch itself" is wrong as well, because it doesn't truly matter in this context... you still need spare ressources for the clients itself, even if the servers are outsorced...)

That's why i said, something like this should've been planned beforehand. Voice-Chat should have be planned in this % examples for the System % so allocate like 12 - 15% for such things like App in background like discord, and can't simply added afterward, except Nintendo have some plan b or reserve Ressources in the backhand...

If they can have discord running the same time as the game you're playing, I can see the use since the main issue is in-game voice chat on the console itself. If that can't happen then the smart device discord app will still be the better option since you can play and chat (voice & text) at the same time.

@TheLightningYu You are basing your reasoning that the switch cannot handle a background service with pure speculation. Let me put it simply because you ignored my comment about the original xbox. The switch is capable of running a voice chat service in the background without affecting the gameplay, the original xbox could do it, the switch is more than capable.
Nintendo is just bad with online infrastructure, and some choices that they make regarding it are just weird. Discord will never be put as a third party service that handles voice chat for the switch for the same reason that Apple still won't switch its lighting port to the USB standard. The fact remains that they still would've been able to implement it themselves, but the Japanese market made them choose to do it via the smartphone instead.
You can't even send messages to your friends on the switch, it clearly wasn't thought out well at all.

I love how basically every comment here is "This wouldn't be possible because it would NEED to run in the background"

Does everyone forget Discord isn't just voice chat in games? Everyone I know ONLY uses it for the massive servers for niche communities (most non-game related even) with lots of text chat channels.

Discord could easily 100% make an app without Nintendo giving their blessing if it was text chat only since that could be done with nothing running in the background. When you want to chat with someone, you close your game and open the Discord app and just start chatting. They could even integrate the Album so you could upload your screenshots/videos directly into a channel.

And heck, that could technically still support voice chat also, it would just only work inside the app which is completely fine for most use cases. If you are simply calling your friends, you don't necessarily need to be in a game unless the call is about the game.

pls........ show nintendo how to do online chatting/community building right

Sounds like a good idea, however with the way things are going with Microsoft it's my opinion that Nintendo is probably in the process of getting some form of Xbox Live, and isn't interested in other apps that do something similar.

@JaxonH That set up sounds like a lot of work though.

"Brother has one too, and he’s the only person I ever play online with."

Sadly could be said for many Nintendo online gamers. Remove the hurdles, Nintendo! It's 2019!

@BrandonGiesing it's basically a knock off Slack

@hihelloitsme
It's really not. 60 seconds and you're rockin and rollin. Press button on headset to connect to bluetooth. Join Discord/App/phone call. Play games.

Best accessory for Switch I've ever purchased. And it makes for great 5.1 surround when playing solo.

The hori splatoon adapter, that is a convoluted setup. The Arctis 3 with bluetooth is an elegant solution.

@hihelloitsme It basically is, Slack but for consumers instead of businesses.

Please make it happen Nintendo.🙏