Nintendo has detailed an upcoming spot of network maintenance for the Nintendo Switch Online app, potentially affecting the usability of the service for a short time.
On Monday, 8th March at 5pm until 7pm PT (so that's 8pm - 10pm ET / 1am - 3am GMT on Tuesday 9th / 2am - 4am CET on Tuesday 9th), maintenance for the app's voice chat feature will get underway. Nintendo says that during that time frame, "network services may be unavailable."
Considering the Switch's voice chat functionality has been disappointing right from the off (so poor, in fact, that Nintendo itself seems to be pretending the feature doesn't exist) we assume the maintenance won't impact too many players. If you do rely on Nintendo's voice chat app for online gaming with friends, though, be aware that you might face a few technical difficulties if you're attempting to play during this time.
No further details have been shared surrounding the maintenance, so it seems unlikely that the app will receive any major updates or improvements.
[source nintendo.co.jp, via nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 42
Somebody tell the 3 people that use it.
Noooooooooooooooo
Oh no!! And there was me thinking they might actually give us proper online chat capability. But nope. Just more stability for an app that literally no one uses!!! Pffft.
a special app just so that i can talk to people on my phone???? oh yeah that's right is called a phone call, lol. Yeah I wish Nintendo put this money into something better, like say an actual chat feature through the switch instead of my phone.
Nintendo Direct confirmed?
But this is possibly, maybe linked to Monster Hunter and the new demo going up by the end of the week. shrug
Oh no, how will I voice chat now? =P Not like there are alternatives...
-quietly opens Discord-
Genuinely forgot this was a thing.
@MS7000 : well that’s the point isn’t it? Nintendo went you to use discord, etc. if Nintendo hosted the chats properly, the scum press would be all over it like herpes on and adult actor.
“Nintendo let my daughter talk to a 40 year old bearded man who.. etc etc”
(No doubt the article written by the wife of that 40 year old bearded man)
@Pixel-Jockey19 You beat me to it! I was going to post the exact same thing!
I still don't understand why this exists. But I would like it if I could listen to smash while I play, but this IS nintendo we're talking about after all. At least I mostly play single player games.
A total of 5 people MIGHT be inconvenienced.
I don't even own a phone anymore but I have the NSO app on my tablet does voice chat work on that also at least all the online shooters that I've played(except Splatoon 2) have built in voice chat.
My son was playing Smash online for awhile yesterday afternoon. At dinner my wife and I were like - so did you chat w/ the people you were playing against? Did you use the Nintendo app? Wild hilarity ensued. 😂🤣😂🤣
So that's what the app is good for, the butt of jokes. 😎
Its handy for sending faster and longer messages in Animal Crossing
Even Socom for PSP in 2005 had native voice chat through the PSP itself, lol. Online and voice chat on Switch is so bad...
if the switch pro happens they should give it a mic, it'd be such a simple yet fantastic inclusion to help sell it. the switch's current state of voice chat is atrocious
@Mr-Fuggles777 The app is. The voicechat not so much.
@Ogbert Came here to say the exact same thing. Discord or a simple merged phone call is just way simpler and usually better.
And here I was hoping for some improvements... sigh. Guess my friends and I will remain on Discord.
That's a thing. Honestly, why does anyone care about how good/bad nintendos voice chat is? As a person who has been using third party apps to chat in PC games since the mid 2000s I have to wonder who uses first party? No, for real, do people actually use sony or Microsoft or epic first party voice chat? Doesn't everyone just use discord?
Cool. Now can we get, idk, voice chat for switch that doesn't require use of an app?
I wish they would scrap the voice chat part, and go all in to make this app a companion piece. Being able to check current maps and upcoming maps in Splatoon 2 without the need to boot up the game is great. Being able to check my catalog in ACNH or type with my phone/use reactions is great, however the functionality is rather limiting.
@GrandScribe @Pixel-Jockey19
We’ve a bid of 3 people and another of 5. I still reckon too high 😉
@Clammy
This is absolutely right. Nintendo don’t care if people laugh at their Online functionality as long as they make money off it and there are no ‘my child got groomed on Nintendo’ stories.
@Chowdaire
Pretty much. Though when I play with two of my friends (not big Online gamers at all) they use the PS4’s native Voice Chat. It works fine but it’s a rare instance. Otherwise we use Discord or when my young son wants to play Switch Online, coordinated Zoom calls with other Parents.
@Clammy I'm with you on this. Nintendo provided a borderline functional online chat. It's up to the players to find a good alternative, but we can't hold the company responsible for what happens outside their safe online environment.
I don't think Nintendo is dumb regarding online funcionalities, but they sell "safe environment" for family gaming. They can't have their brand tied to toxic online behavior and they know there is no good way to enforce good behavior, not currently.
Honestly, I'm absolutely gutted, and so are my carrier pigeons. They've been surplus to requirements of late while I've been actively using my phone for NSO Voice Chat, and as such have been taking full advantage getting fat on their lockdown asses. Can you imagine their shock when I lobbed them out of my 10 storey window to deliver a manual message like the ways before NSO Voice Chat. Fortunately, they remembered how their wings worked, but it was close. I use smoke signals next time it's down I think.
@Clammy
So the daughter was actually talking to her own father over voice chat and the mother writes an articel about that?
That would be awesomely stupid.
did anyone every use this... ever?
@Kirgo : Have you never read a tabloid news article? They set up things all the time for people to get upset about.
"Daughter finds game save with a rude word in it".. (But fails to mention the person writing article was the one who made said game save)
Just shut it down and do it properly, or put Discord on the Switch.
how funny, I was bored last night and wanted to read reviews about the chat system on this app and a lot of them are mostly 1, 2, 3 stars. I guess its that bad, I never used it because I don't do voice chat but wow.
@Kitoro not me..never using any voice chat and plus I heard its bad
y'all normal people just use discord, right? XD
A Switch version of Wii Speak would make more sense than this nonsense.
@Silly_G Two tin cans and a string make more sense.
@sanderev : Better reception too.
And certainly none of this "maintenance" crap.
Would anyone have noticed had they just taken it offline without saying anything?
Oh no, not the service that I use constantly use with my thousands of friends that I definitely have!
Hopefully they are shutting it down since no one on this green earth uses that POS. haha
The annoying thing about this app is it genuinely could have been good if Nintendo implemented it better, with more functionality and made it easier for 3rd parties to use.
If they essentially put more effort in this, it could have actually worked, i mean i do use discord on my phone while i play games so im not totally alien to the concept of using my phone as a 3rd communication device for video games.
But the issue is how badly this has been implemented and the sheer lack of effort put into makes me wonder why Nintendo even bothered.
Nintendo have a nice system voice chat super disappointing get with it already😤
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