An interesting piece of code has been added in Chrome's Gamepad API, namely support for Nintendo's Joy-Con and Switch pro controllers. This has sparked the interest of many users not just because of the feature in itself, but also due to how such a change has been made almost immediately after Google's teaser for GDC, announcing the company's "vision of the future of gaming".

Regarding Joy-Con support specifically, it appears the controller will work in both dual and single mode, while the Pro Controller will work both wired and via Bluetooth. Support for the Charging Grip is also available.

The changes have been described on Chromium Gerrit, a website dedicated to developers working on Chromium and is currently being reviewed. The commit's details are as follows:

Improve support for Nintendo Switch gamepads

This adds support for Nintendo Switch controllers through Gamepad API:
* Switch Pro (USB and Bluetooth)
* Joy-Con L (Bluetooth)
* Joy-Con R (Bluetooth)
* Joy-Con L+R (Bluetooth)
* Charging Grip (USB)

These devices require an initialization sequence that is not performed by the host's gamepad support or by the platform data fetcher. They also provide calibration data that is needed in order to correctly scale the thumbstick inputs.

This implementation replaces the experimental Switch Pro support on Linux, which is removed in this CL.
BUG=801717 Change-Id: Ided8ec689a87a69643b4d4d82dc3b2bf04a7c912

Source (1)
Source (2)

 

[Jayro]

Cool, now I can play the dinosaur jumping game with proper controls!

 

[Ryan Warren]

https://store.google.com/magazine/gather_around

Apparently after this leaked they opened a teaser site. It's obviously for project stream.

 

[eskinner3742]

Yeah, I would say that either Google's streaming service involves streaming through a chrome app... Or were getting chrome on switch... Or both?

 

[morvoran]

I'm started to wonder if Nintendo is planning on giving up their own console market in place of making games/peripherals for other companies.

For example, they started making games for mobile (after stating that they never would), plan on letting Microsoft have their new game streaming service on the Switch, and now letting Google use their controllers.

 

[jeffyTheHomebrewer]

well, this ain't the first time I'll play Club Penguin Rewritten with a controller.

 

[JavaScribe]

I've heard from other sources, that the Switch might end up getting a browser; Chrome.
Which explains the Joy Con codes

I would like to see these sources.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

My Pro Controller seems to work just fine without any "initialization sequence", though some extra effort is needed to get rumble, gyros etc. working. But otherwise it just works as a DInput controller, at least wireless. Wired doesn't work out of the box.

 

[Rahkeesh]

I'm started to wonder if Nintendo is planning on giving up their own console market in place of making games/peripherals for other companies.

For example, they started making games for mobile (after stating that they never would), plan on letting Microsoft have their new game streaming service on the Switch, and now letting Google use their controllers.

Steam has long has support for Sony's controllers. We know how Sony feels about cross-anything and they would've surely stopped them if they could do so, without borking the basic bluetooth standard that lets you connect to various devices for PSNow. If Sony cant' stop Valve then neither can Nintendo stop Google.

xCloud on switch still looks specious, with iOS/Android having been announced recently, and a counter-rumor that it "isn't happening anytime soon." If nothing shows up at GDC then I'd forget about it happening until well after the next xbox gen arrives.

Even if xCloud on Switch was coming, Nintendo would be providing the hardware and collecting the platform fee on Microsoft's software. That's literally the exact opposite of Nintendo exiting the console business.

 

[morvoran]

Even if xCloud on Switch was coming, Nintendo would be providing the hardware and collecting the platform fee on Microsoft's software. That's literally the exact opposite of Nintendo exiting the console business.

I understand where you're coming from with this. What I was implying was that Nintendo is starting to do a lot of things they were against in the past such as working with competitors or letting their IP's be used on anything other than their own devices.

I have an inkling of a feeling that Nintendo even thinking about letting the Switch become a Microsoft streaming device could just be them "testing the waters" so to speak. Maybe, in the future, instead of the Nintendo Switch U, it will be a Microsoft Xbox Switch U 720 streaming device. Also, I think I read somewhere that Microsoft is planning on releasing a "stream only" console which could possibly be related. This could be the beginning of the end for what we know as Nintendo. Same thing happened with Sega.

Of course, this is, entirely, all just speculation.

 

[Avanders0125]

I'm curious to see where they go with this. I mean, it's nice but now what?