Gaming

Nintendo Switch users slam “unusable” eShop

Andrew Highton
nintendo eshop store logoNintendo

The Nintendo eShop is the primary source for Switch players to buy games digitally and browse the system’s sales. However, long-standing complaints about its setup are leaving players frustrated.

Nintendo Switch players have enjoyed a successful period with the hybrid console/handheld device as they’ve been treated to some stellar titles. With the likes of Zelda and Mario continuing to entice newcomers to the hardware, the Nintendo Switch’s success seems to be showing no signs of stopping.

One of the biggest gripes fans have had with the Switch though is the game’s eShop. It can be accessed via the console itself or the internet, but players find that booting it up from the Nintendo Switch can cause problems.

link paragliding in zelda breath of the wildNintendo
Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been one of the Nintendo Switch’s biggest successes.

Nintendo eShop is “virtually unusable from the console”

Most Switch players are always on the hunt for a bargain to add to their library as Nintendo keeps the eShop fresh with constant game sales and special deals.

It seems that the store’s functionality isn’t as optimal as most would like it to be, not only that, but it’s also too slow.

In a detailed post entitled “The store is virtually unusable from the console,” one Nintendo Switch user described their experiences using the eShop.

“The store, which is presumably just a browser, is too much for the Switch itself to handle. The load must be incredible on the system. Scrolling through the list is slow because things have to load in a few at a time, but it’s also laggy and will freeze the screen regularly.”
They continued: “If you go to a game’s page, that also takes a good while to load and it is possible that doing so will jump you back to the start of the list, though I don’t know exactly what causes this or can avoid this. If that happens then you have to scroll through the list again which, as stated, is a bad experience and will take a good while.”
As well as complaints about the slow nature of the Nintendo Switch’s interface, another user discussed another oversight in the eShop’s design: “It’s definitely slow, but honestly, the thing that annoys me the most is that there’s no cart to buy multiple games in one transaction.”

One particularly scathing comment explained how they thought the eShop was actually losing the company money: “It’s amazing how much money Nintendo is leaving on the table because of a cr*ppy console shopping experience.”

It’s been five years since the Nintendo Switch launched, meaning that any significant changes to the eShop could potentially be left until the long-awaited Switch Pro, or even Switch 2, are released.

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