Twitch has announced that as of November 6, 2023, it will no longer provide a download to the Twitch app for the Nintendo Switch, but if you’re already using the app, you’ll be fine. That is until January 31, 2024, when all Nintendo Switch users will lose access to the app.
Earlier today, I received an email from Twitch that stated the following:
Hello,
We are reaching out to let you know that we have made the hard decision to remove the Twitch App from the Nintendo Switch. The app will be removed January 31, 2024.
Thank you for supporting Twitch streamers and communities on the Nintendo Switch. For more Twitch content, please visit https://www.twitch.tv/ on your browser or https://www.twitch.tv/downloads for the Twitch App on other devices.
I’m pretty sure some are likely in disbelief that there was even a Twitch app on the Switch in the first place. But it did, with the Twitch app making its way to the Switch back in November 2021. It was a big deal at the time. However, you never heard much about it since then, and for good reason.
The app’s performance wasn’t the best, as it constantly lagged out when trying to watch streams. It was also missing several key features, such as chat or the ability to filter streams. You couldn’t even stream to Twitch from the app. I’d rather watch Twitch on my phone or, even better, my LG TV, which I thought had the worst app for Twitch. Still, I’m sure some people enjoyed using it, especially if it was their way of watching Twitch.
I’m not going to jump on the bandwagon by saying that maybe Twitch is doing this because the Switch 2, or whatever it will be called, is relating soon. Perhaps Twitch just realized it was either a bad product, no one used it, or both.