Since its launch in 2017 Nintendo Switch users have praised the system’s versatility as both home console and a handheld device. But there was always one area that the Nintendo Switch was lacking compared to its mainstream home console competitors: video on demand streaming. Apps like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video are all available for PlayStation and Xbox but noticeably absent on the Switch.Crunchyrollplan to change this, however.
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Crunchyroll is now helping to close this streaming gap in the Switch’s market, becoming one of the few video streaming options on the platform with its new app, available now from the Nintendo eShop. It offers ad-supported anime, or with a subscription to the service, ad-free and offline viewing.
Crunchyroll already hasd apps for the PlayStation and Xbox along with its online streaming on PC, but the streaming service is a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch. With the numerous gameson the Switch that have anime inspired visualsand the fact that the generation of western kids that were raised with Nintendo consoles are the same ones that were first exposed to anime in a mainstream way, means there is likely a large crossover of Switch owners and anime fans.
The Switch is also in many ways the perfect system to have a steaming app on. The fact that until now it has had so few, only the likes of YouTube and Hulu, has been confusing users since the console’s release. The ability to go from steaming a show on the TV and being able to undock and take the show immediately to bed, is an advantage the Switch has over other major home consoles. Then its screen size,especially the OLED screen model Switch, give it the advantage over using a steaming app on a mobile phone.
With how perfectly the Switch seems to suit video on demand streaming, it does beg the question of why all the major players in the world of streaming aren’t on Switch, since theywere suggested to be coming back in 2017. It could have to with agreements with Nintendo, as quite a family friendly brand Nintendo might not want to be a platform to stream many of the 18+ titles found on something like Netflix. It could also be to do with how the streaming platform runs and how it connects to its own servers, but that’s just speculation.
