I’ve seen a lot of debate about whether Roblox can or will come to the Nintendo Switch, and honestly, I’m still not sure what to believe. On one hand, Roblox has already made its way to Xbox and PlayStation, and there are rumors about full text chat coming soon. People have even managed to run Roblox on a hacked Switch using Android.
The most common argument I see is that the Switch isn’t powerful enough. But we’ve seen it run games like Sonic Frontiers, Doom Eternal, and even fan-made emulated content, so I’m not sure how valid that still is. Plus, Rec Room, which is pretty similar in concept to Roblox, is already on the Switch.
The other reason people mention is Nintendo being strict about moderation and copyright. I’ve heard Nintendo has clashed with Roblox before over games like Pokémon Brick Bronze, and that might be holding things back more than the hardware itself.
Do you think Roblox will ever come to Switch officially? Or are there just too many technical and licensing hurdles for it to happen? I'm curious to hear if anyone else has tried running it through Android, and how well it worked for you.
I tried running Roblox on my modded Switch using Android. It technically works, but the performance is rough unless you're playing super basic games like obbies or simulators. Anything complex like Arsenal or Brookhaven just lags like crazy.
The biggest problem isn’t really performance imo, it’s Nintendo’s strict rules around UGC and moderation. Rec Room made it on, but it’s way more curated than Roblox. I think the whole “open sandbox” nature of Roblox scares Nintendo off.
Everyone saying the Switch is too weak forgets this thing runs Witcher 3 and Doom. The issue is optimization. Roblox would need a dedicated native port, and I doubt the devs want to build and maintain one just for Switch.
Nintendo shut down Brick Bronze, and that was huge on Roblox. There’s a lot of bad blood there. Unless that gets resolved, I wouldn’t expect an official port anytime soon.
I feel like it’s a business decision more than anything. The Switch has a ton of younger players so Roblox would print money if it ran smoothly on it. If they don’t release it on Switch, I’d bet it’s because they’re waiting on the next-gen console.
Rec Room getting on the Switch is a big sign to me that the door isn’t totally closed. If Roblox adds stricter parental controls and cleanup moderation, Nintendo might budge. Time will tell.