Despite Nintendo’s warning to Switch owners not to breathe a word about its mystery online playtest, players have posted screenshots, gameplay videos, and even streamed it online now it's live.
Earlier this month, Nintendo asked those who successfully signed up for its then mysterious Switch Online Playtest not to reveal what it was once it went live. Documentation includes a request “that you do not discuss or disclose content from either the Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program test software or website with others.”
Users leaked details from the playtest’s website as soon as they had access earlier this week, and now the playtest has gone live the curtains have well and truly been pulled back.
Nintendo has worked to take down various streams and videos this morning, October 24, but it faces an uphill battle, with footage doing the rounds across social media and Discords. Remarkably, it appears Nintendo failed to disable screenshots and recording for the playtest, further fueling the “leaks.”
One Twitch channel that streamed the playtest now contains the boilerplate “Content from this channel has been removed at the request of the copyright holder” message. The owner of the channel took to reddit to say their channel is now “super dead.”
“Yeah I got fully DMCA’d, so channel super dead,” redditor BrettWils_ said, before threatening to share the footage. “I recorded everything locally, but not sure I want to take further risk and share it through other means. Open to it if anyone has a safe-ish way to do it tho.”
Spoilers for Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program test follow.
Gameplay shows a somewhat bizarre third-person MMO in which players move blocks about on a planet’s surface. The odd-looking avatars can use a rope to swing like Spider-Man and attach to surfaces in the world. It’s been likened to Minecraft and Dragon Quest Builders, with the focus on carrying blocks around and placing them to create ever higher staircases.
There is a player progression system, with avatars able to level up in the hub area. There’s a shop, too, and players can unlock new tools to help with the building part of the game. Footage shows the hub area packed with player avatars, and out on the planet multiple players stacking blocks within and without their Beacons.
The playtest looks a little barebones to be considered a standalone game in its own right, although players are reporting having plenty of fun with it. Nintendo may be using the playtest with future games in mind, or perhaps it plans to flesh the test out over time with new features. Nintendo’s secrecy over its playtest is almost as bizarre as the playtest itself.
The playtest is a Switch experience for now, but the big question is whether it will also be available on the upcoming Switch 2, which Nintendo has yet to formally announce.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
