Nintendo Switch game streaming – a feature that works in a limited fashion in Japan through third-party applications – isn’t likely coming West anytime soon.
Nintendo Switch game streaming has been running in a limited fashion in other countries. While game-streaming services have expanded from “crazy idea” to “kinda working” in the last few years, Nintendo isn’t as confident for its prospects on their hybrid console – at least in the West.
Japanese gamers, in particular, have been able to play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Resident Evil 7 with Nintendo Switch game streaming through an app for the console. That’s despite neither of the two games being available natively on the Switch.
Speaking to Kotaku, Reggie Fils-Aime expressed his doubts that a similar app could be run in the Western world. The app that allows for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Resident Evil 7 is “specific to Japan because of the internet infrastructure that exists in that country”. For most of us here in the West, we’re all too familiar with how some of our gaming compatriots can be stuck with an absolutely awful Internet connection.
Further complicating the possibilities for Nintendo Switch game streaming is the complete and total lack of an Ethernet port on the console. Players would have to make use of wireless Internet, something that certainly has its fair share of troubles, regardless of where you live.
Of course, there is already a number of game streaming services operating in the United States and Europe. For Fils-Aime, it’s not a question of possibility insomuch as it is a question of quality. While it would certainly be technically possible for Nintendo Switch game streaming to work in the West, he just doesn’t feel that it would be able to operate at a standard and quality that is acceptable to Nintendo.
While the third-party Nintendo Switch game streaming works well enough in Japan, it will be some time before we see anything like that officially supported by Nintendo in the West. Nintendo is certainly watching the evolution of this newer way to game with interest, but we might not get that capability until the company decides to create a service of their very own.
