If I remember from my USB product design days, as long as they don’t include any of the official markings on the product or packaging, they’re in the clear.
That’s rich, from a company that stops making or never makes enough its first-party accessories. Ask anyone interested in getting an Ethernet adapter for Switch, or a first-party Gamecube adapter more than like 8 months after those products launched. Get on Amazon and try to buy an official Switch dock from Nintendo; there is no official outlet for them there, so you’re either buying pre-owned, or a lookalike knockoff, or an explicit knockoff, or something that MIGHT be real but it’s from a weird seller, at a suspiciously low price, with some random text in the item name. Christ, get on Gamestop’s website! They only have refurbs and pre-owned ones. It’s been like this for as long as I can remember. Nintendo cannot be trusted to make their own shit and trying to stop third parties from doing what they won’t is peak anti-consumer behavior. A classic Nintendo Move™.
ask anyone interesting in getting an Ethernet adaptor for switch
Then they had the balls to brag about having a real Ethernet port on the OLED’s dock as if it was some massive innovation and not something standard for the prior ~20 years.
I selected all and copy/paste before it popped up with the subscribe. It’s not perfect and I didn’t do any editing, but it’s readable.
Edit: now that I read it, I guess it’s not all there but TLDR there is encryption between the dock and console that prevents 3rd party docks.
How Nintendo locked down the Switch 2’s USB-C port and broke third-party docking
We whipped out a USB-C PD analyzer to test how Nintendo walled its garden this time around. by Sean Hollister Jul 2, 2025, 3:47 PM EDT
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If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. Nintendo Switch 2 Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Sean Hollister Sean Hollister is a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.
There’s always a reason why universal USB-C ports don’t “just work” like you’d expect. In the early days, it was incompetence or naiveté. Later, manufacturers often cheaped out. But in the case of Nintendo’s Switch 2, it appears to be intentional.
With the Nintendo Switch 2, it should be easy to plug your new, more expensive console into video glasses or TVs when you’re traveling away from home. USB-C makes it so. But Nintendo has intentionally broken the Switch 2’s compatibility with those devices, using a new encryption scheme and some form of dedicated encryption chip, two accessory manufacturers tell The Verge.
I haven’t yet found proof of that encryption chip myself — but when I analyzed the USB-C PD traffic with a Power-Z tester, I could clearly see the new Nintendo Switch not behaving like a good USB citizen should. A third-party Switch dock, plugged into a USB-C PD tester, about to be plugged into the Switch 2. Please forgive the terrible photo. A third-party Switch dock, plugged into a USB-C PD tester, about to be plugged into the Switch 2. Please forgive the terrible photo. Photo: Sean Hollister / The Verge
If you’ve been wondering why there are basically no portable Switch 2 docks on the market, this is the reason. Even Jsaux, the company that built its reputation by beating the Steam Deck dock to market, tells us it’s paused its plans to build a Switch 2 dock because of Nintendo’s actions. It’s not simply because the Switch 2 now requires more voltage, as was previously reported; it’s that Nintendo has made things even more difficult this generation. How docking works
That “U” in USB isn’t always “universal,” but this is generally true: if you plug any USB-C to HDMI adapter, dock, or hub into a USB-C laptop, tablet or handheld that supports USB-C video output, you can expect to see your screen automatically appear on your TV.
The magic is normally possible because of a simple, standardized set of instructions that any manufacturer can follow to make their docking station or hub “talk” to the computer. Subscribe to The Verge to continue reading. More in this stream See all We confirmed Nintendo’s Switch 2 TV dock supports VRR — so why doesn’t it work with Switch 2? Sean HollisterJul 3 12 Can you spot an authentication chip in the Nintendo Switch 2’s dock? Sean HollisterJul 2 9 Obsbot will update its Tiny and Meet webcams for Nintendo Switch 2. Sean HollisterJul 2 More in Report We confirmed Nintendo’s Switch 2 TV dock supports VRR — so why doesn’t it work with Switch 2? We confirmed Nintendo’s Switch 2 TV dock supports VRR — so why doesn’t it work with Switch 2? Sean HollisterJul 3 12 Meet Soham Parekh, the engineer burning through tech by working at three to four startups simultaneously Meet Soham Parekh, the engineer burning through tech by working at three to four startups simultaneously Emma RothJul 3 20 Can the music industry make AI the next Napster? Can the music industry make AI the next Napster? Elizabeth LopattoJul 1 15 ‘We are the media now’ ‘We are the media now’ Mack DeGeurinJun 29 101 Reddit turns 20, and it’s going big on AI Reddit turns 20, and it’s going big on AI Jay PetersJun 28 24 The Nintendo Switch 2 webcam compatibility mystery is solved and updates are on the way The Nintendo Switch 2 webcam compatibility mystery is solved and updates are on the way Sean HollisterJun 26 14 Top Stories An hour ago The American system of democracy has crashed Two hours ago This is not a tattoo robot 2:37 AM EDT The Loop Micro is my new favorite bicycle phone mount Jul 3 Deerhoof did not want its music ‘funding AI battle tech’ — so it ditched Spotify Jul 3 Meet Soham Parekh, the engineer burning through tech by working at three to four startups simultaneously Jul 3 A guide to the best sci-fi streaming this summer
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Good grief, I hope all affected people will be able to land on their feet quickly enough.
Microsoft is canceling its new Perfect Dark game that it announced in 2020, according to an internal memo from Xbox president of game content and studios Matt Booty. The company showed off gameplay during the 2024 Xbox Games Showcase, but at the time, didn’t provide a release window for the game.
I’m sure there’ll be more cancellations announced soon enough…
Forza is bread and butter for Microsoft, just like Halo and Gears. They really are shooting themselves in the foot with this. Forza originally got me on Xbox, and to be honest, it is a huge reason I am still on it as my main console.
It may be, and I feel for Turn10, but they really dropped the ball with the latest motorsport. It only has like a few hundred players on steam, after two years of essentially live service game. Of course the game itself is fine, it’s the “update trickles” and “grind to own” philosophies that are at fault and those were probably decisions also pushed by MS, but here we are. I really hope that Playground doesn’t screw up their next Forza, because rhey might meet the same fate. Then again these days success doesn’t guarantee you’re not getting the axe.
I totally get what you’re saying, but using steam numbers to judge how active an Xbox game is not fair. Steam isn’t the native player base. It’s far more active on console and still draws solid numbers.
I do agree with the grind being a bit much on the latest, though.
Yeah, I was just trying to get the point across and didn’t really have other recent metrics. Just checked and it grew to 1k avg users per day after the most recent update and is now 15x less active than FH5, if that paints a more accurate picture.
It is what it is. I had already accepted that I would probably buy it if/when Mario Odyssey 2 comes out, but then I saw the Nintendo Direct for the Donkey Kong game and it looks fucking dope. I think it’s the same team that did Mario Odyssey.
First party Nintendo games are really the only reason to own a Nintendo console anymore imo, and I could not care less about Pokemon and shit… But I’m a sucker for a good Mario game. The DK game looks like it’s on the scale of a Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild.
You do you, but I refuse to support a developer that routinely shits on any project their fans make and stifles emulation for consoles / games that they never plan to sell. Not to mention problems with their hardware and pricing.
In this day and age there are tons of amazing games in every genre, how much are you really missing out on by not playing Nintendo games?
In another post I wrote on this I encouraged the potential of 3rd party docks eventually happening
Thinking more on that I will say that nintendo probably did this because of third party docks damaging switches. I repaired a bunch of switches and a common issue I would see is a blown up pi3usb chip with often pcb damage leading to pin (iirc) 5. This was caused by cheap/shitty docks feeding too much power or incorrectly negotiating power delivery. It wasnt just like cheap AliExpress docks either, nyko, insignia(best buy), etc actual name brand docks would brick your switch.
Swapping the damaged chip for a good one would make the switch boot and work normally except it would only work in handheld mode. To work in dock mode you’d have to rebuild the damaged trace. Nintendo won’t do this; they would just replace the entire board, so to them this is a very costly repair (though tbf paying a tech labor to replace a chip and rebuild a trace is costly too as it’s much more skilled labor, requires more testing, and has a much higher potential for failure after repair)
That said I still think it’s a users right to use a third party dock if they so choose. Fuck nintendo. Though nyko should be on the hook to buy you a new switch if they design a piece of shit that wrecks your switch
Though nyko should be on the hook to buy you a new switch if they design a piece of shit that wrecks your switch
Nintendo also tried to lock down the Switch 1 docking, and 3rd party manufacturers had to hack together a workarounds. "When Nintendo released the original Switch in 2017, accessory makers similarly had to figure out how to crack Nintendo’s esoteric docking protocols, and some of them (Nyko) allegedly led to damaged handhelds."
I’d more blame that for causing the issues in the first place, if the Switch spoke standard USB-C, then all reputable docks would work with no weird hacks.
Sigh, the more I read about Nintendo Switch 2… The more nonsense it becomes.
I actually was curious about the Switch 2 and was wondering about Donkey Kong Bananza. Though, the more I read, the more I hesitate to purchase one later on.
I will only purchase a Switch 2 once somebody comes up with a way to hack it (and assuming any modchip is not unreasonably difficult to install); if that doesn’t happen, fuck it, I’m gonna pass.
I mean, the Switch 1 also abused the heck out of the USB-C specification (I can’t find the really good write up anymore unfortunately :( ) Not surprising they would do something similar here. This post suggests it’s not actually that dire
The EU AFAIK only requires that USB-C charging needs to be compliant.
ETA: This is in no way me going in to bat for the big N
Ah, fair point. Still, I’m not too jazzed about Nintendo making their own USB standard. They may as well call it just SB, because there’s nothing universal about this.
Yeah the requirements are for USB-C power delivery for devices capable of charging @ (if I remember correctly) > 15W.
The requirement was placed in the radio equipment directive of the EU so unlikely they will amend it to add requirements for USB-C cabled data transmission.
Forza Motorsport coming out real mid was a huge surprise. It for so long was solidly competitive with Gran Turismo and then the last one just seems to have disappointed so many
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