- The C button will trigger the new Game Chat mode
- This mode lets Switch 2 users have audio and video chats with each other
- And that means a Switch console will finally have built-in chat options; just be prepared to pay for it after a year
We just got a deeper look at the Nintendo Switch 2 and with that came an explanation of the mysterious C button. And the C basically stands for chat.
That’s because this new button on the right Joy-Con is designed to trigger the new Game Chat feature for the Switch 2. This is a form of chat that’s not too far away from Discord, that allows users to chat with their friends via a built-in microphone in the Joy-Con.
Working in handheld and docked mode, Game Chat also lets you chat with friends who may be playing different games. Hitting the C button basically triggers the Game Chat mode’s menu in-game for audio and video chat. And this will all work in tandem with the new Nintendo Switch 2 Camera, which will naturally provide the video feed for you to appear in Game Chat.
Now chatting in games with friends will be nothing new to PS5 or Xbox Series X players, especially as the latter has Discord support, but for Nintendo, it’s a whole new world.
The idea here is that the chats Switch players may have had when playing local multiplayer – think yelling at each other over being piped to the post in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe or being smug about Super Smash Bros Ultimate victories – to take place online, with the video aspect helping get closer to replication of couch-based multiplayer.
For me, a 38-year-old gamer who grew up playing Goldeneye 64, Super Smash Bros, and Mario Kart 64 multiplayer hunched around a CRT TV with neighbors and my brother, I somewhat miss the couch-based multiplayer of my youth.
And while the current Switch does offer a pretty special in-person multiplayer mode in that you can basically start a Mario Kart tournament in the pub, thanks to the stand and detachable Joy-Cons, remote multiplayer with friends isn’t great due the lack of a built-in chat for the Switch.
That’ll all change with the Switch 2 and Game Chat. But there’s a slight sting in the tail in that Game Chat will only be free to use for the first year of use, then Nintendo will want you to pay for it; what that price will be, so stay tuned and check out our Nintendo Switch 2 Direct live blog for a beat-by-beat account of what was announced at the latest Direct.
