Nintendo says the eShop will run more smoothly on the Switch 2

If you’ve dreaded entering the eShop for most of the original Switch’s life because of how slow it is, well, Nintendo knows and won’t make that mistake again. The Switch 2 will have a faster-performing eShop channel “even when displaying a large number of games,” Takuhiro Dohta, Nintendo’s senior director for entertainment planning and development, said in an Ask the Developer interview.

Dohta said the Switch 2’s eShop speed improvements are “thanks to the system’s performance capabilities,” which, of course, is a significant jump from the original system’s aging software that increasingly struggled in both menu and games over the years. “We believe the act of finding the game you want to play is itself part of the game system experience,” Dohta said.

Additionally, the eShop will have a new “Game Finds for You” feature that, as explained by producer for entertainment planning and development Kouichi Kawamoto, will let you “quickly see screenshots and watch introduction videos” for various games so you don’t have to “search every nook and cranny” of the store.

Nintendo has the chance to nail the next generation of the digital games experience if it can make the eShop more intuitive and easier to navigate. Add on the Virtual Game Card feature that lets you share your digital games locally with others for a limited time, and things feel even better. Whether the $79.99 price tag for some digital first-party games is worth it will be up to you.