Nintendo Has Updated The Switch eShop With New Functionality

I never really got why people were so fussy about the Switch eShop. Check it once a week and you will never miss a game. I guess if this change makes people happy that's great. For me it doesn't matter either way. Wii-like music would be cool though.

F I N A L L Y

Xenoblade 2 and Octo Expansion topping the list pleases me immensely.

@JHDK For people like us who like to keep on track of everything, yeah. For everyone else that doesn't care too much, it can be very hard to keep up or even remember much of older yet good games. I see better labels and sections as a boon to increase functionality for the average consumer, not just the enthusiasts.

@JHDK For me, I've never gotten the whole discoverability argument because the News tab exists. I mean, it spotlights games both new and old, but it seems that people want that all to happen inside the eShop app specifically.

It's DISCOVER instead of FEATURED in Europe.

1. Please dear lord, no background music.

2. There is a daunting amount of content on the Switch eShop now, anything to sort through it is appreciated. There is an unfortunate amount of utter schlock, and wading through it is somewhat aggravating. (Edit: I learned something today, there are in fact categories.)

@lillith Categories are included in the eshop.

@JHDK I rarely get eShop games at release though, I can’t afford that, I get a game when I have the money and time to. And I can’t keep track of every game that comes out, checking weekly doesn’t do much for me. Plus I definitely don’t throw down money if reviews aren’t out yet. Simply put, the barebones design makes it easy to miss games that were worth considering and it’s fhe developers that suffer most.

(Edit: I learned something today, there are in fact categories.)

Wii U eShop had personality...Switch eShop is just...there. lol

I don’t get why people want music. For one, it lengthens load times, look at how quickly the eShop opens, it’s less irritating to randomly browse the shop if it opens so quickly. Besides, the previous eShop’s music began to irritate me after awhile so either I would avoid entering it casually or I would mute it. I love the silent Switch OS as well, I didn’t care for the Wii U’s ambient music... and once again, system load times clearly benefit from not having it.

"I want want music on the eshop"
yeah that will really make the switch a must own in every household...

Definitely a step in the right direction, but there’s still quite a long way to go to make the Switch eShop an appealing interface.

The change is a welcome one!

It happened right under my nose, too. I checked it earlier today and it was the previous one. Then I checked it again, and suddenly "Games on Sale" became "Great Deals" and I was really confused.

@lillith If you go to 'Search' ,below it there is an option to do a 'Filtered search',which lets you select genres such as Action/Adventure/RPG/Puzzle. There is a price range filter too.

The Eshop is nowhere near as bad as some folk make out. The filter options are there,they just need to be easier to find and have more options.

@OorWullie So it does. I've had a Switch since launch and had no idea. Now that's a discoverability problem...!

Other changes not listed in the article:

1. The new releases tab shows 60 titles now.
2. There's a Your Subscriptions page in your profile with options for auto renewal.
3. You can click the publisher's name to take you to a list of games by that publisher.

3DS E-shop has very pleasant music theme.
Better Switch follow the 3DS route.

New features are cool. Keep building this please! There’s no need to use the web store. At least that is how it should be.

No need for music since my laptop is close to my switch. Just create a playlist and press play. There you go problem solved !

They should use the music they use in those games of the month YouTube videos for the Eshop.

Not exactly the major overhaul I was expecting to read about...but I'll take it!

this is a good step into the right direction, well done boys.

For some reason its called Discover in Europe

Also i see Chart has become best seller in US

No music ever please.

The e-shop is fine the way it is.

The search function on the eshop hardly works. I tried to find dlc the other day and searched using the games name and all I got was the main game, I then added dlc to the search and no results came up.

@lillith It's completely your OWN discoverability problem that you cannot press the OBVIOUS button to find categories.

@Cosats That was the joke...

It’s barebones but functional not too bothered about music I never really struggle to find what I want I just wish Nintendo would give us some sort of folder option for games and some downloadable themes for the home screen

Eshop is great! I can't stand the Xbox and playstation affairs...

I wish they’d put the Arcade Archives games in their own category.

Switch eShop is better after this update but I still feel it could be improved. It’s pretty ugly.

>No menu music yet, though
cries in corner

@JHDK Yeah, it's nice if you have checked once a week every week since Switch's premiere... It's not so nice if you're buying one now and want to look for something in the eShop. It's not very newcomer friendly. Newsfeed too, yeah, you get the weekly "New on eShop" and deals, but it's still not super helpful.

Anyway, the update is very welcome!

@justin233 I wish that too, but it could be construed as favouritism. One company having their own section wouldn't be fair. (But from a non ethical point of view, it would be convenient.)

I love how quick the eshop is (especially compared to Nintendo's previous offerings), but this is a great addition. Maybe they can add some personal recommendations next, based on games you've purchased.

Please, no music it drives me crazy after a week.

I never had a problem with the eShop until recently. For some reason, I can’t seem to find games organically... unless it’s a top seller, you have to kind of dig for it. :/

This is really awesome, still waiting for reviews though. Nothing complex, but people need to be able to see what consumers thought of a title. Just stars for stuff like performance, hardcore or casual etc. The store is kinda limping without it, I have to use my laptop to pick Switch games and then buy them after.

1. Why don't I get notified when one of my watched items goes on sale, like in Steam?

2. Why isn't there a watched items menu option on the left-hand side? Why do I have to dig into my account settings in the top-right to see my watched items?

3. It should be mandatory that all games have a video preview. Screenshots just don't cut it. Especially when you can't get a refund like with Steam.

@ShadJV whenever I see a game I think I would like but I don't see myself buying day one I add it to the wishlist. Some of them I remove after the review.

The eShop storefront isn’t really the problem, it’s the lack of games I want to play on the switch. Definitely not as bad as at launch where Zelda was the only thing I wanted to play for a few months, but I almost skip from month to month without ever paying for a Switch game. Unlike my PS4 that I regularly buy games for.

@GameOtaku all dlc are inside the game page itself

@Prizm all of these would be amazing it seems crazy that companies don't just try and copy steam features. Would also love user reviews @FTPinkRabbit as long as they can only be submitted by people verified to own the game.

Because EVERYTHING needs background music these. Guess I'll go play Ride of the Valkyries next time I'm on the toilet.

Okay,what us Core Gamers really need! Is Themes like the Nintendo 3DS eshop,more apps like YouTube,Twitch I heard is coming to the switch!! yesssssss,crunchyroll,netflix,amazon video app, and Ohhhh Yeah that damnn freaking Web Browser we've been Alll this year waiting For,Come'on Nintendo get ur act together! Because when E3 comes a Knock'ing were ll be a Rocking with sooo Much Joy and Enthusiasm,Excitement cause you gonna take home the Trophy and Kill it at ur E3 presentation we all Know that lol.

@Balta666
It never did show up. The only way I was able to access it was through the news feed.

Rome wasn't built in a day, this is a nice update. What I'd really love is desktop themes for the OS main menu, but the eShop takes precedence. It's super easy to navigate, though harder to find older titles sometimes. The search feature doesn't always work for me. If I search 'arcade archives' I don't get all the actual Arcade Archives titles listed, for example.

It's a start. Now I wish there was a way to filter out mobile phone trash. It seems to be going the same way as Steam, so great indie games will soon get buried.
Still that's enough negativity, I'm glad Nintendo are adding some functionality to the store.

I just want the option to permanently remove titles from my eShop - there are a large number of games I have zero interest in, but they’re still there clogging up my list. And I really don’t need to be shown games I already own. Basically, I want some level of control so my eShop becomes personal and relevant to me

@GameOtaku maybe I didn't explained myself well. Dlc will never show on a search. You need to search for the game you want, enter its page and if you scroll down from the video and snapshots you'll find if there is dlc for it

I'm somewhat curious as to how the "featured" section will be curated. Whether there will magically always be a Nintendo heavy-hitter present at the top.

Longer charts serve to make the games NOT present look even more unattractive, while giving already successful games more exposure. I'm not sure what positive purpose they serve for the user, unless you admit to The Jones Effect being your primary buying incentive.

I appreciate the inclusion of a download-only chart, particularly when the VC isn't a thing yet. Third parties being featured prominently on the Switch eShop is the whole reason they flock to support the system. Maybe this split would benefit the "featured" section as well.

Awesome! This was long overdue, there is still room for improvement but this is a step in the right direction.

@NewAdvent said "a sponsored title having a weekly theme played in the background with a little 'what game is this music from?' icon to send me to the product page."

That's actually a good idea, but Nintendo will never implement it because it makes too much sense. No money needs to change hands, it's a win-win scenario: Game creator gets exposure, Nintendo still gets a cut if the user buys a game that they otherwise may never have bothered to look at.
If the user likes the music, they stay and browse the eShop longer than if there was no music at all, which increases the chance that they buy something. Nintendo wins again.
Can add a play/pause button, and an option in the menu to disable it entirely for people who don't want music.

@NewAdvent great idea about the music. Like

I don't want music to the eshop. It might add loading times and what's more annoying than waiting for something to load and hear music you don't even care for?
I think Nintendo should make an effort to the OS of the console itself. Like add folders and make it so we could actually move games from system to SD and back.

I think this is an absolute BARE MINIMUM they could do to improve it. But hey, are least it is something.

All games or down loads only. What about physical games only.

I already have to wade through dozens and dozens of low scored, rubbishy, junk that has invaded the eshop.

@Pod Personally the way I see it, I prefer an hand-curated Featured tab rather than a Best-Sellers one. If anything, one of my issue with Steam's "Featured" is that often it is nothing more than an extension of stuff one can already expect of a Best Sellers list.

I'm seeing a certain amount of Nintendo heavy hitters in the Featured list, but they don't dominate it either.

There's also a -very- fair amount of solid titles in there that could deserve to sell more but would otherwise be far from entering the Best Selling list again because if you study it the current Best Sellers is a combination of two-three things:
-Games that were already phenomenon before they even released on Switch(Stardew Valley, Zelda, Rocket League for a while),
-New releases that benefitted from a lot of coverage before and during release(which often fade rapidly after leaving the Newest Releases tab)
-And finally occasional games benefitting from massive sales(who tend to fade once the sale is over... which can be a toxic cycle for some developers as Shovel Knight's devs discovered on Steam, losing money from using sales so much in the past).

Even if sometimes the Featured tab might focus on perceived "heavy hitters" it should be reminded that in some cases... that might be games that could still otherwise fade even with their supposed "heavy" status once the newest releases start moving too fast. In my opinion there's a couple of games who already suffered from that so even if there is "a" Nintendo heavy hitter at the top of the list... the Nintendo-exclusive RPG next to it is still mostly a third party studio's work.

And the rest of the Featured tabs include a lot of very solid works like Shovel Knight, Don't Starve... even Fast RMX which even as a game who released on the earliest day of the Switch deserve much more popularity than it got I feel as being -the- FZero-like alternative for a racing game on Switch for people who may want something different from Mario Kart or kart racers in general.

There's also some games like Jotun, Flinthook, Owlboy, Enter the Gungeon which are all Indies that I feel deserve the spot they currently have in the Featured section.

They're solid titles, but I think my point is they are solid enough that I feel they can deserve a bit more. Even ones I don't intend to play like Flinthook because I know there's groups of gamers that will enjoy being reminded it's there before it fades from Newest Releases and the mind of players. Same with Dandara's indie metroidvania which faded very quickly under the pace of new release and what game sites like this one would thus quickly move on to discuss instead because new release keep coming too fast to discuss even previous solid-to-good games that may deserve a continued place in the spotlight.

So if it allows these titles a place, I don't mind if it's Nintendo that chose who got into the Featured tab.

Everybody wants every feature, but then others don't so then they want the feature to be configurable. Just add a setting, just add an option, just add this feature or that feature and the choice of whether or not to use it. But every little collection of interrelated features, even seemingly simple ones easily balloon into tons of time to implement, test, and maintain. Simple is good. Simple works. The WiiU eshop was cute, and I liked it, but it also feels like the console store equivalent of a Flash website. It had its time, but I'm not sure it's still that time.

I don't want to spend my life on the eshop. It's perfectly fine for me. Simple and effective.

The eshop seems to move smoother too when going from the left to the right side and back.

@JHDK I haven't got the time to check it weekly. I just want to check in occasionally and pick up something cool. Currently I know there are great games that came out a few months ago but I have to check a website to see what they are. Thus, there are lots of sites getting hits from 'Best Switch Games to come out 'April 2018' and the like.

Please add some background music to the eshop Nintendo. I still find myself humming the old Wii shop channel tune. Good times.

The Nintendo Switch e shop is a bare bones mess that needs more categories. The only good thing I can say about is that it’s fast and snappy. Seriously Nintendo needs to massively invest in its online infrastructure I feel that they are still behind the time when comes to online.

I remember sitting on the other shops just listening to the music, please add music, it's more than just a distraction!

@Lizuka
Simply not true. The Wii eshop was considerably worse!

@lillith I agree, NO music.