Everything You Need To Know About Apex Legends On The Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch is a truly innovative console. It allows you to play games in handheld mode or on your TV like a normal console. Since the console has a huge player base, it was a good decision by Respawn Entertainment to release Apex Legends on Nintendo Switch. 

If you’re an Apex Legends fan, then getting the full Apex experience on the go is surely a dream come true. Unlike the mobile version of Apex Legends, the Nintendo Switch version is the same game you play on your PC or other consoles.

So today, we will tell you everything you need to know about Apex Legends on the Nintendo Switch. 

How To Download Apex Legends on Switch?

You can download Apex Legends easily through the Nintendo Switch’s built-in store. Navigate to your home menu. Then open the Nintendo eShop and search for Apex Legends in the store. Once it pops up, you can download the game. 

Once you start the download, the game may take some time due to its large download size. The speed of the download depends entirely on your internet speed. 

Speaking of its size…

File Size of Apex Legends on Switch

Every Switch owner keeps track of the free space available on their device. Nintendo Switch features 32GB of free memory by default, but you can expand the memory using an SD Card. If you have a Nintendo Switch OLED, you’ll have 64 GB of memory.

Thankfully, Apex Legends on Switch isn’t as large as compared to its PC counterpart. The entire game will take up 25GB on your Nintendo Switch. If you do not have any pre-existing games on your Switch, you can easily download Apex Legends without any issues. However, we highly recommend getting yourself an SD Card for this game.

Do You Need A Nintendo Online Subscription?

One of the biggest question Apex fans had for the Switch version of the game is whether you require a Nintendo Online subscription to play it or not. Thankfully, EA has answered that question on their Apex Legends FAQ page.

You do not require a Nintendo Online Subscription to enjoy Apex Legends, and you will get all the multiplayer features for free.

Apex Legends Cross Progression

Cross progression is not available in Apex Legends as of now. This means you can not use the same account on your Nintendo Switch that you use on your PC or Xbox, or PS5. You will have to start the game from zero, and all your in-game purchases will remain on your other accounts.

This might be a little turn-off for many players, but it is a small sacrifice for portability. We have covered all the information about Apex Legends cross progression in detail. There is hope that Respawn will allow players to link their Apex account across all the various devices.

Apex Legends Cross Play

Apex Legends does feature cross play across all the different platforms (except mobile). This means you can play Apex Legends on Switch with your friends who might be playing the game on PC, PS5, or Xbox. 

Cross play support has been in Apex Legends for quite some time, and this is simply an essential feature for modern multiplayer games. So we are glad Respawn did not exclude this feature From Apex Legends on Switch, but I don’t think I would recommend using Cross Play.

Apex Legends Performance On Switch

This is the most important factor of any video game port. So how does Apex Legends run on the Nintendo Switch? Well, it almost runs smoothly.

It is no secret that Nintendo Switch isn’t a powerful console. Thanks to its tiny components, the entire console fits in the palm of your hand. However, the console does pack a lot of punch. You have seen it running graphically intense games like Breath of The Wild and The Witcher 3, but it required a lot of compromises to run these games.

Apex Legends is also a similar case. The game may not be that demanding, but it is still quite demanding as it features a huge map and fast-paced actions. So Respawn had to limit the resolution to 720p while docked and 567p while in handheld mode. However, this wasn’t enough as Respawn also had to cap the framerate at 30 FPS, which can even dip to 25FPS.

The low FPS puts you at a disadvantage, especially when you’re playing against players on other platforms. This is why I recommend you play without crossplay, so the other players do not have any advantage over you.

If you have been playing Apex Legends on another platform like PC or Xbox, then you won’t be able to get used to playing on Nintendo Switch. But if your primary console is Nintendo Switch, you can surely get the hang of the experience and enjoy the game.

Conclusion

So we hope this guide will help you make up your mind about Apex Legends on Switch. The game has a lot of pros and cons, but you should see it as a novelty. Moreover, the game is free-to-play, so you can download it if you haven’t tried it before. 

We have a lot of guides about different Apex Legends characters, so you can take a look at them as well if you’re new to the game.