X support is leaving Switch in early June.
Nintendo has announced that it will soon be removing the integration of X (formerly Twitter) from Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED platforms. Since the Switch launched back in 2017, the console has had the ability to easily post images to Twitter by linking one’s personal account. Now, this feature is set to go away, as it has on PlayStation and Xbox platforms, in a little more than one month.
Detailed on Nintendo‘s support site, the publisher revealed that the use of X on Switch will vanish next month on June 10th. At this time, Switch users will no longer be able to upload screenshots from the console to their own social media account. In addition, Nintendo says that they will no longer be able “to send friend requests to friends on social media from within the Nintendo Switch friend suggestions feature.” For the time being, Nintendo says that it will continue to support this feature for Facebook, although it too might “be discontinued at a later date.”
When it comes to specific games, Nintendo said that the removal of X will impact Splatoon 3 and Splatoon 2 most directly. These games happen to incorporate posting to social media directly from the in-game mailbox in various locations. In Splatoon 3, Nintendo says that this alteration will “allow users to make posts without one of these social media accounts, but images posted by players younger than 13 will not be visible to other players.”
As for the reason behind these changes, Nintendo didn’t provide one, but it’s likely due to X’s increased API costs. Earlier in 2023, X raised the price drastically for various companies to implement services tied to the platform on their own devices. This led to both PlayStation and Xbox removing the ability to post videos and images to X natively, and now Nintendo has done the same. Whether those at X try to reverse this price hike in the long haul isn’t yet known, but it’s clear that X’s presence is now becoming much more diminished than it once was.