Nintendo thinks spying is the answer to making GameChat on the Switch 2 safe

(Image credit: Nintendo)

The new Discord-like GameChat feature for the Nintendo Switch 2 may come with a major privacy compromise.

In its effort to strengthen child safety on GameChat, Nintendo may spy on all your calls, chats, and messages.

That makes sense from a moderation perspective, but could alienate gamers despite good intentions on Nintendo's part.

Here's what gamers should know.

Nintendo quietly announces it might be spying on GameChat activity

This week, Nintendo quietly updated its Privacy Policy to include a major change for GameChat, its Discord clone for the Switch 2. The update effectively reveals that Nintendo may be watching all of your activity in GameChat in attempt to ensure safety.

According to Nintendo, "We clarified that we may collect, monitor and record audio and video of your chat sessions with other users to provide a safe and secure environment."

This means anything you say or do in your GameChat sessions could be monitored by Nintendo. It isn't clear how Nintendo plans to analyze GameChat activity or how it might deal with unwanted behavior, but it's clear Nintendo plans to have some level of surveillance on GameChat.

Nintendo first announced GameChat back in April during the official Switch 2 reveal. It's a built-in video and chat feature with a dedicated button on the Switch 2. The demo footage of the feature looks blatantly similar to Discord, only with visibly grainy video quality and seemingly low framerates. It will be free until March 31, 2026, but after that you will need a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership to use GameChat.

Unfortunately for Nintendo, a lot of gamers might be passing on this Discord wannabe after this news, and that's probably the right call.

Is it worth using GameChat on the Switch 2? Probably not.

I understand why Nintendo is implementing this Privacy Policy change, but unfortunately for most gamers it's just another reason to skip GameChat.

Making any kind of social feature like this kid-friendly is very difficult to do without some sort of surveillance or kneecapping the service itself, like the limited pre-written chat options you get in kid-friendly MMOs.

This surveillance measure, along with seemingly poor resolution on GameChat, make it an all-around less attractive option for gaming calls and chats compared to Discord. If you're already using Discord, the possible convenience of having GameChat built-in on the Switch 2 is likely not worth sacrificing your privacy and the higher-resolution video and screen sharing you can get on Discord.

While, of course, you can never be 100% sure that anything you say or do online is completely private and un-monitored, it's clear from Nintendo's updated privacy policy that GameChat will likely be less private than Discord.

Parents may be tempted to overlook that with the assumption that GameChat will be safer for their kids, but no amount of surveillance is going to make GameChat 100% kid-friendly. The best solution is for parents to make sure their kids know how to be safe online and stick to chatting only with known friends and not strangers, rather than trusting Nintendo to keep everyone safe.

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Stevie Bonifield is a freelance tech journalist who has written for PC Gamer, Tom's Guide, and Laptop Mag on everything from gaming to smartwatches. Outside of writing, Stevie loves indie games, TTRPGs, and building way too many custom keyboards.