I got to try out Nintendo Switch 2’s upcoming Game Chat feature at a top-secret event with other journalists in New York City last week, and I think people will be pleasantly surprised by how cool it is.
Nintendo representatives on hand told those of us on hand that we were some of the first people outside the company to see the feature in action, and after several demos of how it works, I came away impressed with both the functionality and seemingly impressive technology behind it. I especially think casual gamers will be blown away by seeing it in action.
The Switch 2 is really looking to up its social capabilities, and Game Chat is the center of it. And while I don’t see the feature making dedicated chat apps like Discord irrelevant any time soon (frankly, it doesn’t have to), seeing it function in real time was genuinely cool, and I’m more interested in it now than I ever thought I’d be.
At any time, players can hop into a chat (similar to a Zoom call) directly via their console and chop it up with up to 11 other friends. Using the Switch 2’s built-in C button and a compatible USB-C camera (reps told us a variety of cams would work, not just the default Switch 2 one), the Game Chat can fit the webcams and shared gameplay screens of four people, with several options on how to display them all.
For example, you’re able to have the four screens displayed exactly like in the image above, a second option shrinks them down a bit to make your gameplay bigger, and another will remove them altogether and just have an active chatter icon pop-up on the outer edges of the screen.
In practice, Game Chat was fluid and pretty seamless. Joining a chat call is quick, and changing up your own settings is quicker, like having the camera auto-focus on just your face, removing the background from your camera and depicting you like you’re in front of a green screen, or turning it off completely.
Nintendo showed us how the screen-sharing function could be helpful while playing co-op games where a buddy is elsewhere in-game and looking to find you. Using your screens, you’re able to guide them and watch them move in real time, just like in the old days of couch co-op. We played GameCube classicThe Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventuresand utilized the cams and game screens to work together, and it was pretty fun and relatively simple to set up, further illustrating the feature’s potential.
You don’t even need to all be playing the same game, though, or anything at all. The potential for friends to simply hang out in a chat while playing different games is there, and one of the coolest features they showed us is how you can select a friend on-screen, inspect what game they’re playing (among other settings and options, like making their screen bigger), and be taken directly to the eShop to purchase it yourself.
Game Chat will be free to all players until June 14, 2025. From then on, it will require a Nintendo Switch Online membership. Until then, it’s definitely worth checking out, because it really captures the “virtual living room” feel that Nintendo told us it’s going for.
If you have any questions about Game Chat ahead of the NS2 launch, ask in the comments below, and I’ll see what I can help with.
