Nintendo Switch owners will be soon be able to navigate Google Chrome and play online games with the system's versatile Joy-Con controllers.
This is thanks to an incoming update to the GamePad API, a piece of software designed by Mozilla that developers can use to make their app or website compatible with various games console controllers (via Bleeping Computer).
The Switch Pro Controller has been a proposed control method for Chrome since at least January 2018, when a bug report discussing the lack of support first appeared on the Chromium Gerrit, a code sharing and collaboration site dedicated for developers working with Google’s experimental open-source browser, Chromium.
A recent update has added that support for the Pro Controller, as well as single and dual Joy-Con use. It is currently under review, but once it passes checks, it will be a functional piece of code for anyone to use when building an app or webpage.
Google’s interest in gaming has also manifested in the form of rumors about ‘Google Yeti’, its supposed video game streaming platform that would work with Chromecast, Chrome browsers and possibly a Google-made console. The service will be fully revealed at Google's GDC 2019 keynote, which kicks off on March 19 at 1pm ET.
If Google is going to reveal and launch a game streaming service in the coming months, it would certainly make sense for it to add support for the controllers of one of the current console generation’s major players. Nintendo's Switch controllers already play nice with PC, and the Pro Controller has full customization support on Steam.
