Nintendo doesn’t have much love for third-party accessories, especially charging stands and docks. The recent series of incidents involving the Switch firmware version 5.0 and third-party docks reveals the extents Nintendo could go to in order to discourage that market. However, it itself has been pretty stingy and
Nintendo doesn’t have much love for third-party accessories, especially charging stands and docks. The recent series of incidents involving the Switch firmware version 5.0 and third-party docks reveals the extents Nintendo could go to in order to discourage that market. However, it itself has been pretty stingy and unmoving when it comes to its own accessories. Since the console launched, it is only now announcing its first new charging accessory, an adjustable charging stand that probably won’t satisfy Switch owners that much.
Given the recent controversy surrounding third-party docks, you’d expect Nintendo to put out a new dock to address complaints users have with the original one that comes with the Switch. Not quite. Instead, the adjustable stand is clearly and specifically designed for only one mode: tabletop.
Nintendo describes the Switch’s tabletop mode as a way to use the Joy-con’s separately from the Switch without requiring an external TV or screen. As such, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this charging stand has no TV output, or at least Nintendo isn’t saying so.
To be fair, it does address the biggest design flaw of the Switch’s tabletop mode. It practically moves the charging port to the side instead of the bottom which made it nearly impossible to charge the Switch while using it in that mode. It is also more adjustable and arguably more stable than the thin kickstand.
The question is whether Switch owners will be willing to pay $19.99 for that. If Nintendo continues its crusade to push out third-party chargers and accessories, there might not really be much of a choice.
