Nintendo has confirmed that there will be no system-wide feature for Achievements or Trophies on the Nintendo Switch 2. This hardly comes as a surprise to longtime fans, who’ve gone nearly a decade without any significant user interface overhaul.
The news was confirmed when Polygon asked Nintendo’s Vice President of Player and Product Experience, Bill Trinen, who stated that such features won’t be part of the Nintendo Switch 2.
However, this doesn’t mean Nintendo is giving up entirely on reward systems. The Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom will include an in-game achievement system; though it’s tied to a companion smartphone app called The Zelda Notes, which tracks a handful of in-game metrics like weapons collected, Shrines unlocked, and other milestones. While this may seem like an odd workaround, it’s arguably better than nothing.
Many Nintendo fans have long been asking for improvements to the user interface, particularly for a dedicated achievement and trophy system. But based on this update, it seems we shouldn’t expect anything more than a separate app for tracking bragging rights.
We still haven’t gotten a full look at the Nintendo Switch 2 UI, but from what’s been shown, it appears to be largely the same as the original. The only notable changes so far are new icons, such as GameChat. It’s safe to assume we’ll still have access to a progress tracker to view hours played and a friends tab to stay connected with other users.
But for completionists and achievement hunters, things aren’t looking too bright. Thankfully, the industry trend seems to be moving toward developers implementing in-game achievements within the software itself. It’s not a system-wide solution, as these features live within individual game files, but at least some Nintendo titles continue to keep track.
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