Nintendo Switch 2 Camera and GameChat

Earlier this week, I hooked up my Nintendo Switch 2 Camera to my Nintendo Switch 2 console and hopped online with fellow Canadian media members, members of the Nintendo of Canada PR team, and Jose Otero from Nintendo Treehouse for a one hour session around GameChat.

GameChat was detailed quite a bit in the Nintendo Direct that we saw just before launch, and while it seemed like a cool new concept, I wasn’t sure whether it would latch on or not. Who’s going to buy this camera? Why not just play without a camera? I had a lot of questions, and I left this session with Nintendo way more intrigued about the new idea than ever before.

First and foremost, it’s worth mentioning here that a wide variety of USB-C cameras will do the trick on the Nintendo Switch 2. I’m not sure if they will all work, but obviously the one Nintendo released does, the one that HORI released does, and my own Razer webcam works as well. It seems like almost any camera will work, regardless of price and quality. That’s not a promise, just an assumption.

So what is GameChat? Whether you have the camera or not, GameChat allows players in different locations to interact with each other via their Nintendo Switch 2 console, even when they are not playing the same game together. With a bunch of screen options to choose from, players can watch what others are doing, show off what they are doing, or simply use the platform to chat as you would over the phone. Further, GameChat can be used to GameShare, allowing one individual with a copy of specific games – I played Clubhouse Games 51 – to share that experience with others they are in a GameChat with. This gives me memories of Download Play on the Nintendo 3DS, but a more fully featured and accessible Download Play.

I’m pretty sure that GameChat will become a regular fixture in our house over time – if I’m going to play with my brother-in-law who lives about 15 minutes away, why not throw on GameChat at the same time? The Switch does a great job of grabbing and projecting my voice to others around me, and also can filter out those other, unwanted sounds. We had a few feedback moments in our demo with Nintendo Treehouse, although it was only for a few seconds.

Jose noted that Nintendo’s aim with GameChat is not for you to chat and show your face to random people online – it was built for families and friends who are separated by some distance, to bring people together. At this present moment, I have a few friends and family members who currently own a Nintendo Switch 2 console, but I’m the only one who a) has a camera to plug into my Nintendo Switch, or b) wants to use a camera on the Nintendo Switch. This doesn’t impact anyone’s ability to chat via GameChat, but you’ll miss out on those live reactions when playing something like Mario Kart World.

I’m hopeful that when games launch that use the camera a bit more – Mario Party Jamboree perhaps – that more of my friends and family will adopt the camera functionality, but at this point it seems like I’m living in a world alone.

The little camera Nintendo sells is outstanding. The build quality is actually a lot better than I was expecting, and the ability to shut the camera down by turning the dial around the rim of the camera is great for those concerned about privacy. I do wish Nintendo had added an additional section of the pole used to hold the camera up so that it could be taller – when I’m working and playing at my desk, it provides a very unflattering upward shot of my face.

The video quality you project to others – both of your gameplay and of your face – isn’t the highest. Nintendo has discussed why this is at length, but ultimately I don’t think the main focus of GameChat is going to be watching others. The bandwidth and power a better quality video takes up probably isn’t worth the trade-off of worse connections and other problems, so it is completely understandable. Kudos to Nintendo for showing exactly what GameChat would look like during the direct – my expectations were very well managed going into this experience, and therefore I wasn’t left disappointed in any way.

GameChat is one of Nintendo’s big new features launching with the Nintendo Switch 2, and like with Mario Kart World, I think it’s a great product and service with a ton of potential going forward. My only concern is how many people will adopt the use of a camera. GameChat voice chat will be used all the time, though, so I think this is a feature gamble that is going to pay off.

A Nintendo Switch 2 Camera, along with a one-hour tour and demo with Nintendo Treehouse, was provided by Nintendo for the purpose of this review. 

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