Comments 3

Re: Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aimé On Why The Switch Uses A Mobile App For Voice Chat

Albinousrex

Nintendo will probably never admin the real reason for the phone app, however I honestly think it is smart. Not because it's the ideal way to implement chat, but because I think Nintendo already knows from a power perspective, they are behind their competitors. By not adding a system wide voice chat, they're actually opening up additional memory/CPU/resources for game developers to use.

This is similar to the reason that video recording in game is optional for developers. By using the phone app, they don't have to reserve system resources for chat. I also believe this is why the dashboard and system wide features are so slimmed down. This is a way for them to get more power out of less for both first party games, and to attract additional 3rd party developers who are already working under constraints when porting their games.