One of the most exciting features of the Switch 2 is its GameChat, a new social feature that lets up to 12 people share screens, game together, or just talk directly via the console. It puts social features found on platforms like Discord directly onto the console in a way Nintendo’s platforms have yet to do.
Gaming is more social than most people give it credit for. Pre-internet, gaming with friends was the sort of thing you’d do together on the couch. After moving online, people were finally able to broaden their social circles to anyone who enjoyed their hobby, and not just whoever lived nearby; apps like Twitch and Discord have made this even easier.
While typically, gamers chatting are playing together, GameChat does not require you to play the same games or even play a game at all in order to chat. In some ways, the feature almost acts as an advertisement. People can watch their friends play games they themselves don’t own, and then, if they’re in a Family Group, borrow them via the system’s newly announced virtual game cards.
“There’s layers to GameChat that I think are really exciting,” Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser tells WIRED.
The feature will reach its full potential in the hands of players, he added. “One of the things that for us is really important is that we watch and see how people engage in GameChat.”
But online communities in gaming can be notoriously noxious. Any lobby or platform with open communication will, inevitably, become a vector for harassment and inappropriate imagery. Online games and platforms like Roblox, which are popular with young users, have massive problems with predators and pedophiles on the platform.
GameChat activates voice chat with the system’s C button and allows for video use with a USB-C camera—features that could enable a great deal of abuse if left unchecked. During a roundtable discussion with Nintendo’s hardware team in New York City last week, Switch 2’s director Takuhiro Dohta and producer Kouichi Kawamoto talked about how they designed the system with safety considerations in mind. The feature is limited to a player’s friend list, and parents maintain a lot of control.
“Parental controls for the minor who’s gonna be using the chat can be set and controlled through the app,” Dohta tells WIRED. That means that only friends a parent has approved will be able to chat with players who are minors. Roblox has installed similar safety features as part of overhauled parental controls.
Adult players, however, or players who do not have parental controls turned on, will need to be more proactive. “When it’s just two adults, they also need to be friends with each other to be able to do a chat,” Dohta says, pointing to the console’s friend list systems. “You won’t find yourself in a situation where you’ll be placed in a chat with strangers.” Players will be able to import their friend lists from the Switch, though it may take some “fine tuning” to figure out who’s up for chatting, he said. “There’s bound to be people who like chats, and there’s people who don’t prefer to chat.”
“Ultimately, if something does happen or if someone is chatting with someone you don’t want to chat with, there is also a report feature,” Kawamoto added.
GameChat will launch with the Switch 2 on June 5 and will be included with Nintendo Switch Online membership.
