Nintendo Says It’s Not Prohibiting Third-Party Switch 2 Docks After Players Report Bricking Issues

Whereas the most recent firmware replace for Switch and Switch 2 included a number of quality-of-life enhancements, one consequence seems to be that many third-party docks have been rendered ineffective. In response to Nintendo itself, such a consequence was unintentional.

In a press release, Nintendo spelled out the plain, saying: “Nintendo Switch 2 outputs audiovisuals as soon as it detects that it’s docked right into a Nintendo Switch 2 Dock. Nintendo Switch does the identical, outputting audiovisuals as soon as it detects that it’s docked right into a Nintendo Switch Dock.”

Extra importantly, the corporate claimed that it “doesn’t have any intention to hinder or invalidate authorized third-party dock compatibility.” It’s unclear what Nintendo considers to be a “authorized” dock.

When model 21.0.0 arrived on November 11, some Switch 2 house owners took to Reddit and different boards to share their struggles with utilizing third-party docks after the patch. Different customers have famous that their docks stay practical, and producers reminiscent of Hagibis and Jemdo have since deployed firmware updates to their docks to make sure compatibility with the most recent Switch patch.

No matter Nintendo’s intention, the pattern dimension of customers who skilled points with their third-party docks actually demonstrates that the most recent Switch firmware replace had some type of affect on compatibility. Based mostly on Nintendo’s assertion, it would not seem that the corporate is keen to treatment the scenario, and it could fall on the dock makers themselves to push out their very own fixes.

Switch house owners could personal a third-party dock for numerous causes, together with the will to have docks in a number of places inside their house or for portability. Sadly for third-party {hardware} makers, Nintendo made the Switch 2’s USB-C port a lot more restrictive and tougher to work with.

Many third-party Switch 2 docks discovered on-line vary from $20 to $50. As compared, Nintendo’s official Switch 2 dock set, which embrace the official dock, an ultra-high-speed HDMI cable, a USB-C cable, and an AC adapter, prices $125 USD.