Good news for Fortnite: Battle Royale fans on Nintendo Switch. In-game voice chat is coming to the game later this week, Nintendo revealed, after Epic Games decided to forego the Nintendo Switch Online app’s voice chat service altogether.
During Nintendo Treehouse’s E3 2018 stream discussing Fortnite’s Nintendo Switch launch, the stream announced that Fortnite players will soon be able to plug their headsets into their Switch’s headphone jack and communicate with players across platforms. Party chat isn’t available for Fortnite quite yet on Switch, but by Thursday morning, voice services should be turned on, according to a clip obtained by Wario64.
Epic Games’ decision to move away from the Nintendo Switch Online app is particularly interesting, as Splatoon 2 previously forced players to use the mobile app in order to communicate with one another over voice chat. Splatoon 2 fans were further confused after one Switch player discovered voice chat hidden in the game’s LAN play mode. With Fortnite also supporting voice chat, it seems likely that other multiplayer games may soon embrace party chat directly through the Nintendo Switch too.
Fortnite on Nintendo Switch also features crossplay capabilities, meaning Switch owners can play the game alongside fans on PC, Xbox One, mobile, and Mac. The Switch version lets players connect to their Epic Games account in order to play, but accounts associated with the PlayStation 4 version are met with an error message. This, according to Epic Games, is out of its hands because PlayStation 4 players’ accounts are “associated with a platform which does not allow it to operate on Switch.” Interested Fortnite fans must create a separate account in order to play the battle royale title on Switch.
Fortnite: Battle Royale is available now for free on Nintendo Switch through the Nintendo eShop. Fortnite: Save the World currently isn’t included in the Switch release, and it remains unclear if the PvE mode will eventually reach Nintendo’s console.
H/T Gamasutra
