Usability and Gaming Experience Assessment of the Nintendo Switch User Interface by Filipino Users

Abstract

The Nintendo Switch is a popular hybrid portable gaming console that employs a novel modular design, enabling it to be played in multiple controller configurations: Handheld mode, left and right JoyCon Sticks, and the JoyCon Grip. However, there are notes of user complaints about the complexity of performing basic tasks as a result of the unintuitiveness of its user interface. This can result to poor gaming experience and may potentially affect customer buying decisions. To assess the affordance of the user interface design of the Nintendo Switch, a total of 16 Filipino participants, classified as either novice or expert users, based on familiarity with the Switch or other gaming consoles and their functionalities, were made to perform a predetermined set of tasks on navigating through the Nintendo Switch’s basic menus, and playing a racing game across different controller orientations. Affordance, overall usability, and gaming experience satisfaction were measured through 5-point Likert scales (5 being the highest) for affordance surveys, system usability scale (SUS) surveys, and in-task and post-task surveys, respectively. Separate sets of surveys were done for general navigation and gaming tasks. Additionally, quantitative measures of effectiveness (task completion success rates) and efficiency (time to successfully complete tasks) were taken for general navigation tasks, and compared between novice and expert users. Task efficiency rates were also compared to baseline values obtained from experienced Nintendo Switch users. Results show a significant difference between expert and novice users’ effectiveness rates, with expert users all successfully performing 73% of navigation tasks, compared to novice rates of 18%. Efficiency rates for both expert and novice participant groups consistently fell significantly behind baseline task completion times. Affordance survey results showed consistent ratings across different controller configurations for expert users, and high preference for JoyCon Grip and Handheld mode configurations for novice participants. Of all SUS scores, only Game Navigation for expert users scored above the 68-point threshold. Recommendations to improve the Nintendo Switch user interface affordance and overall user satisfaction were made.