Nintendo is anything but predictable. The company has brought gamers many unconventional products over the years such as the motion controls of the Wii. While this unpredictability often brings unexpected surprises, sometimes these surprises leave fans questioning Nintendo’s decisions such as when the Switch launched without Bluetooth audio support. Fortunately for Nintendo fans, another surprising update for the hybrid console appears to have remedied this problem.
The Nintendo Switch was released in 2017, and since then, gamers have made countless memories playing games on the console. A few of the many stellar titles available on the system include Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Splatoon 2. Even as the system blurred the line between gaming on the go and gaming on the TV, it prevented players from using features like Bluetooth. While gamers could buy third-party accessories to add Bluetooth functionality, the system has never had built-in support for the feature, until now.
In a recent tweet by Nintendo of America, the company announced a new update now available for the Nintendo Switch. For the vast majority of people, the major highlight of this update is support for Bluetooth devices. This long-absent feature has finally arrived on the system. While Bluetooth support for audio output is an excellent feature to have for any system, this is particularly big news for Nintendo as the Switch Pro Controller doesn’t include a headphone jack. Now gamers can use any Bluetooth-supported headset while playing their favorite titles.
While Bluetooth functionality is a welcome addition for gamers, Nintendo’s implementation of the feature does come with some restrictions. Players can only use 2 wireless controllers at a time when a Bluetooth-supported audio device is connected. In addition, only 1 Bluetooth device can be paired at a time. However, the company noted that 10 devices can be stored on the console. Beyond these restrictions to audio output, the company also revealed that Bluetooth microphones are not compatible. While the lack of support for this feature isn’t the best-case scenario, Nintendo Switch Online voice chat has had its share of problems anyway.
While this update comes at a seemingly random time, it does seem to show that Nintendo is still focused on improving the quality of the experience for Switch owners. Still, one question persists: why did it take so long for this feature to come to the console? Nevertheless, Bluetooth is here and fans finally can take advantage of their wireless headsets when playing Nintendo games.
Source: Nintendo