The button, present on the right Joy-Con directly below the home button, is square and marked with a “C.” The mysterious new button was shown briefly in the video debuting the Switch back in February and was present in every mock-up and leak of the console. In the Switch 2 Direct, Nintendo finally revealed the purpose of the button, a new feature called GameChat.
As its name implies, GameChat enables Switch 2 players to communicate using the console’s built-in microphone. Nintendo noted how the Switch 2’s microphone will feature background noise filtering to ensure that GameChat calls come through clearly. In addition to giving people a way to talk directly to one another, GameChat also features screen sharing functionality that will allow you to broadcast your gaming to friends on group calls. Notably, you will not have to be playing the same game while using GameChat, meaning that people within a call will be able to play and screen-share different titles simultaneously. And for gamers looking to see one another’s faces, GameChat will support video calls by connecting to the new Nintendo Switch 2 camera peripheral.
In a press release, Nintendo said parents looking to monitor their children’s use of GameChat will be able to enable or disable the feature through the Nintendo Switch Parental Control smartphone app.
The GameChat feature represents a major step forward in Nintendo’s social gaming offerings. Of the three major manufacturers, Nintendo was the only one that did not have a way for players to communicate with their friends via the console. Shortly after the launch of the original Switch, Nintendo released a mobile app that let users participate in voice chat for select games, but it’s awkward to use an app for a feature that comes standard in other consoles.
Nintendo also announced today that it plans to rename the Switch’s smartphone app — it’s just called “the Nintendo Switch app” now — which will continue to offer voice chat functionality for certain games OG Switch like Splatoon 3 and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The Nintendo Switch app will also debut a new service called Zelda Notes, that “supports players on their adventures in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition.”
As a whole, all of GameChat’s features make it feel like Nintendo set out to bake some of Discord’s core features directly into its newest console. It’s a bold move for the company given its history of making this kind of communication more cumbersome than you would expect, but these are exactly the kind of moves that are (almost assuredly) going to make the Switch 2 sell like hotcakes.
