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Xbox Live Coming to the Switch Makes a lot of Sense

Oftentimes on LC Rumors we come across rumors that are just too wild to consider. Usually we’ll tag these as ‘not a chance’ and move on with our days but every so often, a rumor comes along and it’s both very interesting to consider but also has an air of plausibility to it. That’s exactly what we have here today, a rumor that, on the surface, appears to be so completely implausible and ridiculous that there’s no way it can be true… except it very much looks like it might be. Of course I’m talking about the recently reported rumors that Xbox Live, as well as a collection of select Xbox One games would be coming over to the Nintendo Switch in the near future, bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘hybrid console’ and honestly – we think it makes a lot of sense for the Big N and the Big M to get together on this.

So where could such a fantastic rumor come from? Well straight from the horse’s mouth as it turns out the Microsoft themselves have confirmed that Xbox Live is coming to the Switch as part of their GDC presence. This in and of itself isn’t too surprising as Xbox Live is already a part of the Switch ecosystem thanks of course to Minecraft and its cross-platform infrastructure. 

But this would go beyond a single game and apparently bring the full Xbox Live experience over to the Nintendo Switch – including formerly Xbox exclusive games with titles like Ori and Cuphead being specifically mentioned as coming over to Nintendo’s console. It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of this level of cross-platform integration would have been unimaginable but after some reflection I think it actually makes a lot of sense.

For starters – who doesn’t want more games available to them, especially on the go? The Xbox One (and by proxy the PC) has a fantastic lineup of games that go beyond the two Ori games and Cuphead but of course includes franchises like Halo, Gears of War, Crackdown and the full lineup of Rare games – all of which could come to the Switch in some form.

 I say some form as some of these games could obviously not run directly on the Switch hardware itself but with recent experiments with game streaming being fairly successful on the Switch with both Resident Evil VII: Biohazard and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey working well on the console (if you’re in Japan). And with Xbox Cloud being rolled out for smartphones and tablets soon it makes even more sense to expand that over to the Nintendo Switch.

Beyond the games however Xbox Live would also offer Nintendo Switch users something that the system has never really had – a full-fledged online service. It’s no question that the Nintendo Switch Online is pretty lackluster when compared to services like Xbox Live and even the PlayStation Network with basic functionality like voice chat being handled in a… let’s call it unique way. Xbox Live coming to the Switch could change this completely with games that use the service taking full advantage of all the benefits of Xbox Live. Of course you’ll almost definitely have to subscribe to both services to get the full experience but this would represent quite a step up for Nintendo gamers.

But what about the Xbox side of things? So far everything we’ve discussed has been features and additions coming to the Switch but does the Xbox One get anything out of this partnership? Well another rumor seems to point to just that. Not long after the original rumor of Xbox Live coming to the Switch broke another one broke seemingly showing art from Splatoon 2 appearing on the Xbox One dashboard though remaining inaccessible. This would make a ton of sense too as Splatoon 2 (and other online-focused Nintendo games) coming to the Xbox One could open up a lot of cross-platform gameplay opportunities. Who knows make one day we’ll be playing games likes Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on our Xbox Ones against players on the Switch around the world.

If you would have asked me before if I ever thought I could play Xbox One games on a Nintendo Switch I would have thought that was a pretty far-fetched idea and asked for a sip of whatever you were drinking. But today? Ya it’s definitely happening. With GDC coming up in just a few weeks we’re fairly confident that we’ll get some new details on this partnership there and when we do we’ll truly be entering a brand new era with the console war of old being replaced with a unified alliance. Truly a brand new frontier for video games and players alike.

And as always have a chilled day from the viking