Official ‘Splatoon 2’ Headset Offers Glimpse At Nintendo Switch Voice Chat

One of the missing features from the Nintendo Switch release was the implementation of voice chat and certain online features.

While details on either have been non-existent the reveal of Japanese manufacturer, Hori’s official Splatoon 2 headsets may give us a clue just how voice chat will work for the Switch … and it’s not pretty.

In a tweet from the official Hori account, the Splatoon 2 headset was shown off but more damning was the way players are supposed to set up the voice chat. Using dongles and a lot of wires.

Take a look at how the Hori Splatoon 2 headset is supposed to connect to both the Switch and your smartphone.

It’s not news that the Nintendo Switch voice chat will come from a mobile app -- that was revealed during the January presentation -- but the way this particular headset is connected to both your phone and console seems cumbersome and impractical.

Couldn’t the headsets connect to your smartphone through bluetooth and a dongle connected to your Switch to get the most out of the bluetooth signal?

And Nintendo fans have taken notice and have started to voice their displeasure on social. One Reddit user said, “[Nintendo] went from ‘Yeah mobility is awesome’ to having people tangled in wires to have voice chat.”

While a Twitter user replied to the Hori posting -- tagging Nintendo of America’s Twitter account in the process -- saying, “This is the dumbest stuff I've seen yet. Who thought this was a good idea? Switch is so innovative and this, well…”

It does bear mentioning that Hori’s headset, while official, may be the only headset that is connected in this manner. Future headsets could be bluetooth enabled or have a more seamless connection to the upcoming Nintendo voice chat app.

We reached out to Nintendo of America to get the 411 on whether this is how the voice chat will be connected to the Switch moving forward and we will update as soon as we get word back.

Nintendo’s online services are available for free until the fall with players eventually having to pay an annual subscription to access some online features of Nintendo Switch titles like what PlayStation and Xbox offer.

Nintendo has been tight-lipped on how exactly voice chat will work with its console but with E3 approaching fast we should learn more about the Nintendo Switch and its online features.

But in the meantime, what do you think of these new headsets and how they are connected to both your phone and console? Let us know in the comments section below.