WATCH: The Best and Worst of Fortnite Voice Chat on Nintendo Switch

Native voice chat is now on the Nintendo Switch, so long as you’re playing Fortnite, but with that feature comes the few positives and the many downsides of having to organize and cooperate with strangers via voice communications.

When Fortnite was announced and immediately released for the Nintendo Switch just days ago during E3, it was also revealed that the game would have a plug-and-talk voice chat feature. No apps or hassle required, you plug in your headset and you’re ready to go.

Considering how simple the process is, Fortnite very well could’ve been many Switch owners’ first time hopping into the world of voice chat. That’s not to say that they haven’t used the staple communication feature before, but on the Switch, this was uncharted territory for many. Unsurprisingly, it looks like voice chat on the Switch is the same as it is anywhere else with a smidge of cooperation, some unique, laughable moments, and a flurry of insults.

Cooperation at Its Finest

Take Xiphos Gaming’s video as an example, a bright spot in the Switch’s short Fortnite voice chat saga where we see a rare moment of actual cooperation happening. The players in the video work together in the beginning to cooperate on who would pick up the Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle before communicating about what gear they had. It’s the primary reason for voice chatting, after all, though it’s not one you’ll hear as often as the rest of these examples.

Communication at Its Okay-est

Here’s another example of the voice chat feature being used to communicate with teammates, though the information shared here isn’t quite as productive as showing your squad where a weapon is.

A young Fortnite player was excited about finding a SCAR immediately after landing on the map, so he let his teammates know about his fortunate find. After not receiving the response that he was looking for, he let his teammates know not one, not two, but three more times that he’d found the coveted Assault Rifle at a prime time during the game. The tweet’s text probably sums up many Switch owners’ reactions when they didn’t get the Fortnite voice chat memo and were met with such riveting news from their squadmates.

Music to Everyone’s Ears

Drowning out the rest of your team’s communications with your own music is an age-old voice chat tactic that’s remained tried and true on any platform, and thankfully, it still works just as well as on the Nintendo Switch. It also appears that once you replace whatever you’re listening to with the sweet serenade of a horn, it’s almost too funny for anyone to get upset with you. While one Fortnite player attempts to retell a story in the video above, the one-person orchestra blares, but the storyteller doesn’t seem to mind all that much.

Squeakers

Children playing online games and electing to use voice chat to communicate with those much older than them are often referred to as “squeakers” in the gaming community, a term that invokes memories of high-pitched voices, haphazardly inserted cuss words, and elementary-level insults. Though the Switch has a catalog of games that certainly appears to younger players, squeakers transcend all platforms, and they’re certainly on the Switch. Just as common as the squeakers are those egging them on, thus continuing the vicious voice chat cycle.

“Noob”

If the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch all had their own languages that were unique to each console, the one universal word that would be understood no matter what would certainly be “noob.”

It’s a word that’s been around for years and years now with everyone quickly learning what it means. Nobody wants to be a noob, so it’s naturally one of the go-to insults when players use voice chat, or any other form of communication for that matter. Closing out the best and worst of Fortnite voice chat on the Switch is a chorus of “noob” chants, which can thankfully be whisked away as Simon Aarons demonstrates.