Nintendo Switch 2 Owners Furious After Update Bricks 3rd Party Docks

Following reports earlier this year that Nintendo had made some odd low-level changes to the Nintendo Switch 2's USB-C support for third-party accessories, a recent firmware update seems to be bricking functionality of third-party docking stations entirely. Fortunately, some vendors have already shipped firmware updates for their devices that seem to fix the issue, but not all third-party docking stations have been (or ever will be) updated with the necessary firmware tweaks.

Users are taking to the r/Switch subreddit and other social media outlets in droves, angrily decrying the seemingly anti-consumer practices from Nintendo. Nintendo, for its salt, has claimed to Tom's Hardware that it isn't intentionally blocking third-party docking stations from working on the Switch 2, but some users are justifiably skeptical. After all, Nintendo does seem to have a sizable financial incentive to do exactly that, and previous findings indicate that the Switch 2 is running highly unusual "vendor-defined" USB signaling to perform proprietary authentication. The only reason the Siwiqu Docking Station worked when we initially covered it in that earlier story is because it intentionally aped that signal, effectively imitating Nintendo's own peripherals like third-party Wii U/Switch GameCube Controller Adapters do.

So, there's definitely conflicting information at play here. Even if Nintendo's actions somehow aren't intentional, these issues were not present on the original Nintendo Switch, and the fundamental change to how USB-C peripherals are being managed on Switch 2 would seem to indicate an effort to limit or at least de-emphasize unlicensed third-party peripherals. While we do know that the Switch 2 does support gaming mice for titles that support mouse mode (not forcing the somewhat gimmicky sideways Joy-Con, though that's still pretty cool), the existing evidence would indicate Nintendo is at least disregarding third-party manufacturers with these updates.

Fortunately, the issues do seem fixable for at least some third-party docking station users. The Siwiqu Docking Station already has a working firmware update, and NEXT (who sells a third-party Switch 2 Dock at Best Buy) confirmed in a statement that an upcoming firmware update would also fix the issue for its docking stations. Those who bought the generic ones that don't even have brand names or manufacturer websites, however, are probably out of luck.