News: Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition Lacks In-Game Audio Chat Support Page 1

Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition Lacks In-Game Audio Chat Support

The massively popular indie title Minecraft arrived late on Nintendo systems, being released towards the end of the Wii U's lifecycle back in December 2015. That version of the game was more in line with the previous generation of consoles in terms of features, chiefly in the world size department, but it still offered everything that the other console versions offered, plus the ability to be played off-TV on the Wii U GamePad itself.

Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition releases this week on Nintendo's new hybrid system and allows players to play it wherever and however they like in even larger worlds than the Wii U allowed. It does seem however that it lacks an all-important feature that was previously built into the Wii U version:

Image for Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition Lacks In-Game Audio Chat Support

#Minecraft #NintendoSwitch #Audio #GameChat No audio gamechat in the Switch version. Gotta wait for that smart device app then. pic.twitter.com/3ugVWbvk1T
— Rudy Lavaux (@RudyLavaux) May 10, 2017

That is correct. The Nintendo Switch Edition of Minecraft has the audio chat functionality, which would normally let players who choose to collaborate on building projects and the like to communicate directly among themselves from inside the game itself, completely missing from this latest version of the title. The spot in the audio section of the options where the tick box to allow game chat or not was located in previous iterations is missing altogether here, whether or not a headset with a microphone is plugged into the system or not. This means that players will have to arrange their communication via third party software on separate devices, or wait till the announced upcoming Switch app comes out on smart devices which will allow players to chat while they play, from their smartphone or tablet. If this, along with the lack of audio chat in friend lobbies in the also recently released Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are any indication, it would seem that we won't be seeing in-game chat included in any upcoming Switch games.

Stay tuned to Cubed3 for our upcoming review and final verdict on the game.

What do you think of this omission? Does this affect your decision to purchase the title or not? Let us know in the comments below.

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Insanoflex 11.05.2017#1

leave it to Nintendo to find a way to screw this up again

J4K 11.05.2017#2

Does the Switch even have a microphone? Or the capability to connect to a bluetooth headset?

I love my Switch, and as much as I love it, it still has plenty of those inexplicable blemishes Nintendo systems always seem to have.

I saw one article that said it best: "Nintendo makes the hard things look easy, and the easy things look hard."

RudyC3 11.05.2017#3

J4K said:
Does the Switch even have a microphone? Or the capability to connect to a bluetooth headset?

It has neither but the 3.5mm jack on top of it is compatible with headsets wit a microphone, Nintendo said so themselves, before and after the launch of the system, which gave me hope that some games would have audio chat builtin and not requiring the additional app but both MK8D and this lacking it when they had it built in before makes me think there won't be a single switch game where you could use a wired headset plugged into the system itself

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer

Azuardo 11.05.2017#4

I seriously don't understand this chat phone app thing in the slightest. I use headphones when I play my games. How am I expected to use headphones for the game and chat on the phone at the same time? I may as well just make a phone call instead of use the app anyway. Is the app also part of the paid online sub? I don't see myself buying an online sub for any reason since I don't want MK8 or Splatoon 2, so doesn't affect me much, but I still find the whole thing absurd.

Flynnie 12.05.2017#5

I don't care much for online play, let alone the chat function, although leave it to Nintendo to find the most convoluted solution.

Even the DS had a voice chat lobby in some games. So its not like Nintendo don't know how to do it...

Nintendo are obviously up to something so I guess it's best to reserve judgement until they unveil what they are doing...but why it wasn't ready for launch perplexs me. The Switch obviously just wasn't ready.

I'm more bothered that I can't back up data to an SD card that Voice chat. Especially as I am sending my Switch to Nintendo for repair tomorrow...i really don't want to lose my Zelda data...

Luna Eriksson 13.05.2017#6

This actually makes me more likely to buy it to be honest... Hate voice chat as so many people demand you to use it.

The difference between illusion and reality is vague to the one who suffers from the former and questionable for the one suffering form the later.

jesusraz 27.08.2017#7

Rudy - did you check the smartphone app to see if it enables chat in Minecraft?

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

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RudyC3 27.08.2017#8

Adam Riley said:
Rudy - did you check the smartphone app to see if it enables chat in Minecraft?

I have not used the app for voice chat yet but from what i could tell, you can only use it in the games that the app was made to support, as in it's not a global voice chat app that you can use at any time outside of the games that it supports... which right niw is limited only to Splatoon 2. Been using Discord instead when playing is with Mush and the gang on Twitch stream, be it his or mine, as it is a lot easier to capture the voice chat from discord and mix it in with the sound from the game being streamed itself (cause discord has a PC app whereas Nintendo's runs only on mobiles).

So no, not from what I can see, unless I'm missing something.

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer

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