Nintendo explains why Switch 2 controllers don’t have analog triggers

With Nintendo Switch 2, some gamers were hoping that the system’s controllers would feature analog shoulder buttons. In the end though, Nintendo decided against including that functionality.

As part of a recent interview, we get to hear about what went into that decision. Kouichi Kawamoto, producer on Nintendo Switch 2 and technical director Tetsuya Sasaki weighed in here.

Kawamoto was more cautious with his words, stating that there were “very fussy developers around us who wanted to go this route.” As for Kawamoto, he noted that analog buttons were considered, but there can be negatives – including losing “a bit of instancy”.

Below are the developers’ full words that were shared in a recent interview:

Sasaki: From the hardware side, we worked on what we were asked to do. There were a lot of, let’s say, very fussy developers around us who wanted to go this route. That’s why we went the route we did.

Kawamoto: In terms of analog buttons on the shoulders, there are positives, but also negatives. You lose a little bit of instancy when they’re analog. We considered it and decided that instant input would be the better option. That’s why we decided to move forward with this decision.

Something else Nintendo shared recently is that the company has had a long-running project seeking the “pinnacle of all controllers”. We covered that interview tidbit here.