10 Reasons Nintendo Switch Online Is A Crushing Disappointment

9. Voice Chat Still Requires A Smartphone App

Splatoon 2 Voice Chat
Nintendo

Fans were outraged last year when it was revealed that they'd need to use a smartphone app in order to enjoy basic voice chat on Splatoon 2, and despite the addition of a paywall, the clunky system hasn't been improved upon at all.

Compounding the baffling fact that voice chat isn't contained within the Switch itself, the app only works with a limited selection of games at the moment, and when there are far superior alternatives like Discord, why would anyone really bother using it?

It's a voice chat solution so wilfully and unnecessarily obtuse it basically feels like a parody of Nintendo's worst, least consumer-friendly instincts.

One suspects their motivations are primarily concerned with "won't somebody think of the children!?", but given that their competitors have had in-console voice chat running smoothly for many, many years, it's an incredibly poor rationale.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.