How Nintendo locked down the Switch 2's USB-C port and broke third-party docking

The Verge

14 hours ago

There's always a reason why universal USB-C ports don't 'just work' like you'd expect. In the early days, it was incompetence or naiveté. Later, manufacturers often cheaped out. But in the case of Nintendo's Switch 2, it appears to be intentional.
With the Nintendo Switch 2, it should be easy to plug your new, more expensive console into video glasses or TVs when you're traveling away from home. USB-C makes it so. But Nintendo has intentionally broken the Switch 2's compatibility with those devices, using a new encryption scheme and some form of dedicated encryption chip, two accessory manufacturers tell The Verge.
I haven't yet found proof of that encryption chip myself — but when I analyzed the USB-C PD traffic with a Power-Z tester, I could clearly see the new Nintendo Switch not behaving like a good USB citizen should.
If you've been wondering why there are basically no portable Switch 2 docks on the market, this is the reason. Even Jsaux, the company that built its reputation by beating the Steam Deck dock to market, tells us it's paused its plans to build a Switch 2 dock because of Nintendo's actions. It's not simply because the Switch 2 now requires more voltage, as was previously reported; it's that Nintendo has made things even more difficult this generation.
That 'U' in USB isn't always 'universal,' but this is generally true: if you plug any USB-C to HDMI adapter, dock, or hub into a USB-C laptop, tablet or handheld that supports USB-C video output, you can expect to see your screen automatically appear on your TV.
The magic is normally possible because of a simple, standardized set of instructions that any manufacturer can follow to make their docking station or hub 'talk' to the computer. In fact, they're so simple I can mock up a basic version for you right here:
This conversation, using standardized (known as 'structured') messages over the USB-C PD protocol, takes a tiny fraction of a second.
But as you probably now suspect, the Nintendo Switch 2 doesn't do it that way. When you plug the Switch 2 into a third-party dock or hub, it may refuse to negotiate power. Other times, it'll get the power it asks for, but then the conversation will abruptly grind to a halt.
Because that's when the Nintendo Switch 2 will start talking in code — proprietary messages only Nintendo can decipher.
By now, you might be wondering how I can see any of this, coded or not. But all you need is a middleman to sniff the USB-C Power Delivery traffic passing between a dock and Nintendo's handheld, like the Power-Z KM003C that I bought for this story. I plug one end of it into the Switch 2 (and other computers to compare), another end of it into the Switch 2's dock (and other docks to compare), connect its third port to my Windows PC with a long cable, then fire up its app to log the passing data.
When I analyze the conversation between the Nintendo Switch 2 and its dock, I can see the two devices begin speaking in Nintendo's own flavor of 'vendor defined' language early in the conversation, before they sign off on any video output. And then, seemingly before the dock confirms that it's engaged video-out, they send over 30 proprietary 'unstructured' messages to one another.
Other USB-C hubs and docks I've tested don't have that same conversation — with one notable exception.
As of today, only one single third-party dock claims to be compatible with the Nintendo Switch 2. And you probably won't be surprised to hear that when I tested the $36 Antank S3 Max (aka SiWiQU TV Dock Station), I found it speaks Nintendo's coded language.
It doesn't transmit every message in the same exact order as Nintendo's dock, and it supplies a slightly different amount of electricity, but it sent almost exactly the same coded messages and responses to Nintendo's requests, including a repeating code that I'm particularly curious about: 33 01 07 DA 06 01 6D 68 33 01 07 DA 06 01 6D 68.
According to Antank, which says it checked with its chip supplier, that hexadecimal string 'is indeed the current key being used by Nintendo.' My other sources are less sure.
But just like with the official Nintendo Switch 2 dock, our TV lights up after the Antank sends those coded messages.
But that doesn't mean any company can just copy Nintendo's commands and expect their dock to keep on working. 'We do expect Nintendo may further limit third-party docks and accessories via system updates to maintain device and system security,' Jsaux spokesperson Winnie Chen tells The Verge.
Antank seems to agree. 'Yes — the key should be considered subject to change,' writes an Antank representative who goes by Susie. 'However, our product supports firmware updates, and any future changes to the authentication key by Nintendo could theoretically be addressed via software, ensuring continued compatibility.'
So why is any of this a big deal, particularly when the Switch 2 comes with its own dock right in the box? Well, it's not just big TV docks. Nintendo has also broken compatibility with portable docks that you can take on vacation or to your hotel room, and with video glasses like the Xreal One, which cost as much as or more than a Switch 2 all by themselves.
And to fix that, you'll apparently need to buy brand-new hardware, Jsaux, Antank, and Xreal have found. While Xreal originally seemed to suggest it was a temporary problem that just required a 'technical adjustment,' Xreal now says the fix will need a new gadget called the Xreal Neo. The good news: Xreal spokesperson Ralph Jodice tells The Verge the new device is already working in the lab and will ship 'a little later this year.'
Another argument I've heard on Reddit: why shouldn't Nintendo have the ability to protect the Switch 2 from fly-by-night docking stations and power supplies that might damage its new handheld and trigger more calls to Nintendo customer support?
There, I might point out that locking things down isn't necessarily a fix. When Nintendo released the original Switch in 2017, accessory makers similarly had to figure out how to crack Nintendo's esoteric docking protocols, and some of them (Nyko) allegedly led to damaged handhelds.
I expect some eagle-eyed Nintendo fans will also point out that the Switch 2, unlike the original Switch, needs active airflow to run properly: Nintendo's official Switch 2 dock now has a fan inside, and the console has vents on the bottom that might get blocked by third-party docks. (In fact, the Antank dock already does block those vents!)
But before you suggest that the vents and fan are strictly necessary, please know that the cooling fan in the Switch 2 dock doesn't actually cool the Switch 2, and that Antank's dock doesn't seem to make a Switch 2 run hotter than the official dock. I ran Cyberpunk 2077 for an hour straight with each dock, then pulled out a thermal camera, and Antank's actually seems slightly cooler. Perhaps having more airflow across the screen and back of the console offsets the impact of blocked vents. By that logic, perhaps the console could run even cooler if Nintendo let you use a USB-C to HDMI dongle instead of docking it.
Mostly, it's the principle of the matter. USB-C should just work, here's a place where it usually does, and yet Nintendo has kept it from doing so.
Nintendo would not confirm or deny that it's using encryption and authentication chips to lock down the Switch 2's video output. It offered no comment for this story.