Switch 2’s ‘improved’ eShop won’t be such a laggy mess, Nintendo says

Navigating the eShop on the Nintendo Switch is a trial. Not only does it chug when you’re scrolling through games, it’s borderline impossible to find exactly what you want. Even new games are sometimes hard to find. And there are entire websites dedicated to doing the heavy lifting for you so you don’t ever have to engage with it. It’s a mess that hasn’t been cleaned up for years.

According to Nintendo developers in a recent official interview, Switch 2’s updated eShop won’t be as awful to use.

“Thanks to the system’s performance capabilities, Nintendo eShop on Switch 2 has been improved and runs smoothly even when displaying a large number of games,” Takuhiro Dohta, senior director of the entertainment, planning, and development department said.

A new Game Finds for You feature on the eShop will highlight screenshots and videos of recommended games. Producer of the entertainment, planning, and development department Kouichi Kawamoto believes it will help you “easily find something interesting without having to search every nook and cranny of the Nintendo eShop.”

That’s good news, because the eShop is currently overrun with clones of popular games, like Unpacking, and games using generative AI art with no clear disclaimers. Nintendo didn’t specifically comment on this in the interview, but official curation could be a way around it.

Other common issues with the eShop’s poor search results and wonky wishlist integration weren’t mentioned either. All we have is an extremely brief clip within the interview transcript showing what the new interface will look like, but it’s too short to get into the details of how everything will work.

Nintendo didn’t spend a lot of time talking about the eShop during the Switch 2 Direct today. Instead, the company focused on new games and new features. Let’s just hope the eShop gets the upgrades it’s needed for so long, so discovering new games isn’t such a pain.