Nintendo Switch 2 YouTube hack yanked days after players find a way to watch videos in a free battle royale game

When I was packing my bags for a recent international flight, I was bummed to find out the Switch 2 has no official YouTube app. I know it took a while for the original Switch to get YouTube support, but surely, I had assumed for months, those sort of licensing snags would’ve long been sorted out by the time the successor launched. Nope, I was forced to download the entire Binging With Babish Cook Along series to my old work laptop like some sort of terribly uncool middle manager, and very unlike the cool, mysterious, GamesRadar+ staff writer that I actually am, who only watches cooking shows on gaming consoles.

Well, that sad, sad reality was very nearly shattered when I found a hack on Reddit that would’ve let me watch YouTube videos on my Switch 2 using a free battle royale game called Super Animal Royale. I hate battle royale games, but I downloaded it anyway in hopes that, for my next flight to another country, my aura would be public knowledge at least to everyone in economy class. But no, when I tried this Switch 2 YouTube hack that seemed to be working for everyone else, I got an error code. Error code 2800-1230, specifically.

Sadly, this error code doesn’t appear to be related to an issue on my end specifically, as others are now reporting the same roadblock when trying to access YouTube on Switch 2 via Super Animal Royale. I’ve reached out to Nintendo for comment, but in all likelihood, either Nintendo, YouTube, or the developers behind Super Animal Royale caught wind of the loophole and slammed it shut. Bummer.

I found funny how we still don’t have a YouTube app but we can watch it on the browser from r/NintendoSwitch2

Super animal royale YouTube method patched from r/switch2

Although I never got to experience it, this short-lived YouTube workaround on Switch 2 sounds like it was glorious. According to reports, all you had to do was launch Super Animal Royale, click on one of the videos in the news feed in the top-right corner of the menu screen, and voila! The virtual world was apparently at your Switch 2 Joy-Con mouse controls, and in crisp 360p quality no less! For the rest of us, we’ll just have to wait for Nintendo and YouTube to launch an official app, which will presumably happen… eventually… right?

Here are all of the upcoming Switch 2 games to keep on your radar.

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.