Nintendo Switch's First Streaming App Inbound, Others Coming Soon

The Nintendo Switch would make a great portable multimedia device if not for the fact that it isn't exactly a multimedia device. Or rather, it currently lacks one of the most popular entertainment pastimes of the modern age: video streaming. Nintendo did promise that video streaming apps would come in time. And apparently that time is this week with the first streaming app that you can't have. Not unless you're in Japan.

It might surprise most that YouTube won't be the first video streaming app on the Switch. But in Nintendo's home town, it's pretty much a given. That streaming app will be for Niconico, a service that is indeed compared to YouTube in Japan. Niconico is popular for the way it shows viewer comments overlaid on top of the video itself. Definitely a disconcerting setup for those weaned on YouTube but a popular convention in Japan.

The Switch Niconico app also has your common video streaming features, like the dreaded autoplay, marking favorite videos, searching for other videos while watching one at the same time, and more. The Niconico Switch app launches 13th July but, unless you're in Japan, don't count on it being usable or even available.

That said, there is a bit of a good news for Switch owners everywhere. According to The Verge, Niconco's app page on the Nintendo Switch's website seems to imply that companies can directly publish their apps to Nintendo's eShop. In that case, there should be very little in the way of making third-party apps available on the Switch, which hopefully implies that the others will be on their way very soon.

VIA: The Verge