Video: The Switch eShop Is Bad, And It's Making Us Sad

other than joy con drift this has been my number 1 issue with the switch since I bought it, only thing thats changed really is that they made it mario themed for a bit

I don't find it that bad, but then this is the internet.......

It really is awful. It’s like they sat down and brainstormed on how to make the buying process as inconvenient and annoying as possible.

I guess I'm the minority here. I have no problems with the eshop, but I don't peruse the store. I go in, look and buy what I want, them I'm out. So I don't really experience much of the grief, that others seem to come across.

I noticed the lag the other day. Just trying to scroll through the list of recent releases is way slower and jerkier than it should be. It's likely lazy-loading the list and if you scroll too fast you end up getting stuttering waiting for it to download the next chunk of games. Nintendo could probably fix it by either making the chunks of games bigger or triggering the load of the next block sooner.

The eshop is functional, it allows you to search for the game you want and easily download and pay for it.

I couldn't care less about the eshop being fun to browse. I'd rather play games.

As for the discoverability of games... That's what Nintendolife and other websites are there for.

I'm a poet but I am oblivious to that fact.

Seriously though, I bought a game yesterday. No problem. How much time do folk spend buying stuff!?

I just want a way to filter all the garbage games that get released every day. Just give me the heavy hitters. Good indie titles, good third party games, and of course the first party games. There's a ton of great, great games on the Switch, but with the way recent releases get pushed to the top, many of them are lost in the fray after a few days.

Goodness sake, what is it with people’s obsession about background music? The store is too slow? Lets slow it down even further by using up more bandwidth for an unnecessary repetitive jingle thats more likely to make me vacate than buy anything.

Overall though yes, the eShop is the most dire online shopping experience of the 3 consoles. I think I’ve only ever scanned the complete “on offer” list 3 times in 5 years.

Thank goodness for Deku Deals.

@Sensible it sucks to have to scroll through if u r looking for sales….no user ratings or comments?

My best approach is to check the new releases once a week, any I like add to my watch list whilst I wait for reviews then use the ‘wish list’ feature on DekuDeals to notify me of any games I’m looking for that go on sale.
There’s no point trying to trawl through the entire eshop as the further down the page you scroll the slower it gets until it does literally come to a standstill.

I stopped using the eShop a long time ago, DekuDeals links you straight to the website to purchase.

It can’t have to do with the number of games. With that logic, Steam would be a slog to browse. Nintendo just really sucks at online, and they aren’t in the mindset to fix it. Stop giving these crooks your money if you aren’t into their services. There’s no reason to keep limping along with a company that can’t get it together.

@rockodoodle I can only speak for myself, but I'm not really interested in the Switch sales, as it's basically full of shovelware in my opinion.

Don't get me wrong the switch has a lot of quality titles, but I generally buy my first party Nintendo games easily on release day and use Steam, or the Xbox/playstation for all my third party or indie purchases with a few notable expections.

@dew12333 it is terrible and even their website is slow as well. I have resorted to websites like Deku deals which I am very thankful for.

The eshop needs to upgrade to allow Players to upgrade their respective game versions to either the Deluxe or Ultimate Version. You gotta re-buy the game if you don't have the correct version. I can no longer preorder any enhanced version of a game in this economy, only the standard editions.

It's way better than the 3DS and WiiU eshop. The only thing missing is a basket which for some reason is available for DLC but not for the games themselves...

Most complaints can easily be solved by using DekuDeals which I highly recommend everyone to make frequent use of.

i don’t even use the eshop, i just buy physical games only, I hear about a new game I might be interested in and I just wait and buy a physical copy at my nearest walmart, digital games are so anti consumer because you don’t really own them anyways, eshop is a big waste of time and money

My biggest complaint is the lack of virtual console 😂

@kingbk It's very easy to filter out the garbage titles by sorting by "Popularity" I don't know why people always complain about this

@FX102A lol why on earth do you think the shop would have to load the music every time you open it? It'd be in your system memory with the rest of the store's base assets. You think the Wii/DSi/Wii U/3DS stores were doing that?

Yes, the lack of music, makes the shopping experience, a bit joyless. I agree. The lag when scrolling down through, is in fact, horrendous. No user rating system is dumb. And to those who just don’t understand these and other complaints… if ever Nintendo does decide to change these things, you will be quietly appreciative of us complainers. We’ve made your lives better. You’re welcome.

I love to add things to Wish List, wait til Nintendo emails me that they're on sale, then pick them up. I do wish search function was better, and there was more fine-tuned categorizing (the category "Adventure" is a bit broad for me) and I do wish I could mark titles as "never interested" (AAA Clock anyone?) so they never show up again.

I personally get a kick out of seeing what softcore porn games make it to the shop though. There's a LOT of horny games being sold on the eShop!

It's still far better than the Xbox and Playstation online stores IMO.

The browser version of the latter is abysmal.

Oh and the lack of a shopping basket remains incomprehensible.

From my experience, I found my short xbox series S to be the best experience, followed by PS4 and Switch last.

Switch eShop only lags if you have a game running in the background maybe close that game first before browsing the shop🙂

Just use Deku Deals for browsing and the eshop to go in and buy a game...

It's dumb that the eshop can't do everything Deku Deals does... Sure... But at least Deku Deals exists anyways.

The no music argument is dumb

Not as bad as Steam, Epic, and Sony storefront but still bad in its own way. The lack of a cart system is one feature they still had not implement. On the topic of bad storefront, what exactly does a good storefront look like anyways? We always talk about bad storefront but never about a good one.

It's fine. I check the news channel every Friday or so where all the new releases are neatly displayed on a single screen. It could be better, alot better even, but you learn to deal with things like this that are ultimately not that important.

@Wufflezes not every game has a physical version though. My Switch is basically an indie machine now. The few "real" games I own are digital because its easier to swap games when it's docked.

@rockodoodle user ratings don't always work though. I've played 5 star games and hated them and also 1 star and loved them. Best thing to do is find a game that looks like something you'll enjoy and watch gameplay videos. I usually just download it and if it's no good, delete it.

The only problem I've had with the eshop is if you scroll too fast, sometimes it refreshes and takes you to the top of the page. I haven't found it slow or anything. If you do find it slow, use your phone and buy it that way.

Wtf it works just fine.

'Dekudeals' for console gaming and 'is there any deal' for pc gaming
Haven't tried to buy anything on the switch eshop for the last few months but when I did I had to use PayPal because it wasn't accepting my bank card even though I have used the bank card previously on the eshop 🤦🏻‍♂️
And yes it's very slow browsing the eshop on switch

@CodyMKW Not true. It lags no matter what. I’ve got everything closed and I’m on a 1gig per minute internet connection. What they’ve got set up here, is crap.

@Realness Came here to say this lol the lag is horrible

@Realness is true I have never had the eshop lag a bit when no game is running but once a game is running it lags 🙂

I avoid the eshop on Nintendo Switch, I use Deku Deals and buy on Nintendo.com instead!

I can ignore the fact that it has no personality (absence of music and other creative designs the other shops had), but I don't get why the Switch eshop is so laggy despite its minimalist design.

Why does it take so much longer for things to load and navigate through compared to the other eShops when its the least impressive in basically every aspect? It makes no sense.

i don’t mind the slowdowns much, since the switch is weak enough as it is. what really bothers me is the lack of user reviews/comments, unintuitive UI, and the lack of good discoverability that forces devs to massively discount their games just to get some attention.

Nintendo is so unacceptably lazy. They charge us for online access and do everything they can to make sure the online experience sucks

This is true. I usually like to scroll the offers, but the amount of time it takes it's just painful... I always wondered why is the Eshop so slow.

The store layout isnt my biggest grioe if the buffering as you scroll down. Thumbnails sometimes take an age to load or just dont even load resulting in a quit out and load back in. Easiest way to browse the store and by far the best way to find the best discounts is to use Dekudeals.com

I completely avoid shopping via the system anymore. It’s like the RAM/buffer can’t load all that at once and then has trouble caching the results or something. I dunno if I’m using the words correctly but for certain, buffer, RAM, and cache are all words that go in here somewhere.

I do all my shopping in-browser and have it download to my system anymore. It’s actually a bit easier anyway.

It's dreadful. It has some great QoL features that some PC storefronts don't have, yet it's painfully slow and doesn't even have a shopping cart.

...Even browsing the store on the PC browser on their freakin' website has issues, it starts out fine but the more you scroll down, the worse it gets. Eventually the page just freezes up entirely and I have to close the site. :/

Must only be me that has no issues with it then.

Even ignoring the lag (despite the minimalism existing to avoid that problem), there aren't as many ways to search for games as I'd like. No tags like Steam, no Ratings like on previous versions of the eShop, no way to make the icons smaller and thus easier to sort through, etc.

It's not great, but pretty low on the list of Switch problems I think.

Developers are more annoyed with it than customers I would imagine.

You just need to do a bit of internet research to help distinguish good games from shovelware. And some people like shovelware

Maybe they will update it on the next console. 🤷🏾‍♂️

This seems to be the talking point of many pundits, but I use the MS store and that isn't any better. EShop seems good, to me.

I browse games on both the Xbox and Switch and don't see all that much difference, both have tonnes of games and Navigating is pretty much search for what you want, unless it's a recent release.

@Sonos On principle, I agree with you. I tend to know what games I want to play before I buy them. I do independent research to see if it will suit my taste. If I'm looking for a deal I will go to the category that says "sale." Most of the time when I hop on Steam and check the "Recommend for you" or "Recommended because you played X" I tend to glaze over it in a haze before saying... Nah. As I find those kinds of categories very hit or miss on recommending me titles.

Though I do think the eShop could use a proper review section, or even star ratings. It is nice to see what games my friends are playing on the Store Front. The eShop could be improved for more casual players looking for a good time. Features like dedicated algorithms to recommend titles, or even the "You liked Pokemon Legends Arceus try these open-world RPGs like Xenoblade 2, Breath of the Wild, Assassin's Creed Black Flag" would probably be rather nice for those kinds of players. PSN and the Xbox Store are both a pain to navigate too, so this is not an exclusively Nintendo issue (and they have categories and ratings).

I've also had performance issues on Steam, PSN and the Xbox Store so I'm not sure why store fronts are so difficult to program. So, that I find more annoying.

There should be an Eshop app for phones.

I just got my first Switch a few months ago, and was pretty surprised at how sluggish the eShop is. But then again, so is the PlayStation Store on my PS4. It’s ridiculous that these consoles, which are capable of so much graphical processing, struggle to load a handful of images in their digital storefronts.

I prefer it to the PSN store.

I just go on the eshop on their website on my phone. I can buy games on that and since it's linked to my Switch they automatically download! Job done! But yeah they still need to fix on the Switch itself

@OorWullie just go into a browser on your phone and log into the eshop

The Switch UI as a whole is just stale. No personality whatsoever.

Ironically, people praised the console because the UI was simplistic. Now, it seems like everyone, including myself, is complaining that the UI is too simple.

@antisumo It's not as convenient as a well designed app would be though. With an app, you could filter the games, wishlist, favourite etc...

@ModdedInkling
For me its not so much that its stale, i do find the main menu to be very snappy. i just feel like it lacks a lot of quality of life features, it took several years before we got anything close to folders.

With something like the 3ds it was flashy but could be awkward, you couldn't access the shop or even download software while a game was being played but with the switch eshop it feels more on a technical level, since it can feel unresponsive especially when scrolling through games.

@Wexter ypukindof make the point though - if all eshops are bad - then why do people insist that Nintendo's is somehow worse than the others?

Thanks to those who told me about Deku Deals the last time we grumbled about the eShop here. Life’s been sweet since

@Sensible yeah, that’s why it’s so difficult. It’s full of shovelware, but there are also legit titles that go on sale for pennies on the dollar.

@OorWullie you get all of those options, just not in an app. I still find it super convenient but each to their own

Its a chore the browse and slow so i barley use it. Such a shame

I've had no issues with it.......

It's baffling to me just how atrocious the UI in the Switch eShop is. To top it all off, they never made a Virtual Console as a way for you to actually buy and own the games that are on their NSO subscription service. I miss the UI of the Wii U's Virtual Console.

My biggest issue with eShop besides the slowdowns is how when you want to search for games by a particular publisher first you have to access a game from said publisher and then click on its name on the game's page.

My only issue is that it's slow. Appart from that it's works just fine.

Other then the slow loading at times, which makes browsing a long list rather irritating, I do like the current minimalist design. I do like that there is no rating system too. I enjoy buying and playing random indie games on sale based on the description page alone. It’s exciting to jump into the unknown sometimes and experience games for yourself then to be told what is fun.

@dew12333 it FACTUALLY loads terribly and the more you scroll the more entires never appear. So I guess you like that?

The competitors stores don’t have this issue.

@BearsAndBattles actually, yes, on my Xbox Series S, it acts up sometimes when loading. It takes a bit , but after the update it seems better.
I don't have much of loading issues on my Nintendo Switch OLED.

@Wurstsemmel753 Well of course but we live in the first world so we deal with our problems

@NintendoEternity I guarantee that if you do what they do in the video and scroll too long you will have those problems.

Xbox S is gross. Any problems there or you were home. JK

The eShop's cumbersome nature is why I never looked back at my wishlist after I discovered Deku Deals. Now I just drop in to buy what I found browsing DD then immediately get out.

@dew12333 it's painfully slow

Dekudeals is the only way to shop on the eshop

Its annoying and clunky but still better than the psn

I do my research online elsewhere. Then fav what I want or potentially want (when on sale or when budget allows) onto my wishlist in the eShop a littlr later. Seems to work well for me. (Buy what I need. Then out.)

I don't use it for investigation or really browsing games that much. If I have around £2 of credit or something, I may look for a cheap, discounted puzzle game in the low prize range section (but rarely find an enticing purchase at that level)

@BearsAndBattles I don't have any other consoles to compare things, I agree when I used it recently it stuttered a couple of times and images didn't appear immediately but that didn't stop me choosing, downloading and then playing three new games from the sale list within 15 minutes. I don't have any issues with that.

I tend to use the eShop on my phone — the mobile site is actually way quicker and easier to navigate than the one on the Switch itself — plus you can use multiple tabs to "bank" multiple games so you can make all your purchases in quick succession.

DekuDeals is the best. I keep finding new things I love about it. Just yesterday I saw on Nintendo's site that Annapurna Interactive is having a sale. Instead of going one by one through all the games to see which ones have high MetaCritic ratings, I went to DekuDeals, searched for one of those games on sale, clicked the publisher, clicked for games on discount, and put my desired MetaCritic minimum score (I use 80), and **poof**, there they are!

I've even done similar to get a constant list of all the games on sale with a MetaCritic score over 80, sorted by "Sale End Date". It's so damn useful.

All the more reason to buy physical games, eh? 😀

Trying to work with the filters is infuriating. It's DekuDeals or bust for me. The only other thing I wish they'd have is the option to purchase multiple items per transaction, aka: a cart.

Ummmmm, it sucks!

Switch eShop has its hiccups but I haven't seen a digital storefront that doesn't. Some folks here manage to be nostalgic about 3DS eShop which not only denies you a full product list by alphabet but won't even update the very game pages with the indication of you having already bought the thing. And don't get me started on Vita store whose app version won't even give access to some games (courtesy of bugs that no one has sought to patch in years) which has effectively rendered them as good as "delisted" since the browser storefront overhaul. There's always something. ¯(ツ)/¯

@dew12333 ok you have no issues with a malfunctioning store. Then this article and video and comments section aren’t really targeted for you. You’ll accept subpar.

@Wurstsemmel753 we can care bout multiple things. Look into it.

So my experience is I scan the Recent Releases and Coming Soon sections to see what's new and coming and it's not "the end of the world" slow, but it takes me minutes longer than it should. If it were a quick quarter or half second load, I'd have no qualms. I used to like browsing the Great Deals, but now that there can be over a thousand games, I don't even bother, and just keep checking my wishlist for sales on the games I want. If Nintendo can't make it faster, then it looks like we're going to need a more powerful Switch one way or the other, sooner or later.

What's an eshop? .......oooooooooh you mean the shovelware store?

@BearsAndBattles Judging by the fact I am on here and talking to you it obvious that I accept subpar.

The eshop is pretty annoying when it lags. normally it takes about 15-20 minutes for me to get to the bottom of the "New Releases" tab...

@dew12333 Yup, so let’s rip it a new one 🤣

The WORST digital store front I’ve ever experienced hands down!! What a pain in the ass! Can’t even navigate the truck ton of weekly sales you just can’t get that far because at some point it reloads the page and brings you back to the top of the list!!!! Pure agony!! The Wii U eshop BLOWS this away!!! Terrible

I used to avoid this site bc its articles were kinda boring. Now it's a reliable laugh ever time.

Pretty much anything I could say is covered above. The eshop just stinks. A laggy, frustrating, mess of a way to look at what's available.

Nintendo give us the same shop like the wii u including its awesome music.
Also… Is it just me but I actually loved the miiverse and would love to see it come back.
The miiverse felt like a safer place than most game blogs, where I got into good conversations and game recommendations.
It seems Nintendo don’t care about our opinions

@FX102A The music didn't slow anything down on the Wii or 3DS. It doesn't stream on your internet connection, it's baked right into the eShop app. You might not care about it one way or the other, but your reasoning makes no sense.