Despite some initial skepticism, the Nintendo Switch has turned out to be a major success for Nintendo thanks to it portability and an impressive lineup of games. Now, the Nintendo Switch is gaining a new ability that helps bridge the gap between it and traditional tablets, thanks an app for reading comic books.
InkyPen is a new app coming to the Nintendo Switch in November. The app will cost users $8 a month but promises thousands of comic books from a variety of publishers. The app’s full lineup hasn’t been revealed, but the announcement trailer says that it will feature “thousands” of titles. I09’s report mentions the involvement of several indie publishers such as IDW and Valliant, but those hoping to read Marvel and DC look to be out of luck as, so far — InkyPen will not offer comics from either of those two publishers.
While the lack of support from Marvel and DC is sure to be disappointing to fans, InkyPen still looks to offer a wide variety of comic books and manga for readers to sink their teeth into. It is also an interesting statement about the evolution of the Switch as a whole. When the console first launched, most people likely bought it on the strength of Nintendo’s first-party offerings such as Mario and Zelda. However, over the past year, we’ve seen the console’s library grow to the point where it often seems to be not a matter of if a game will come to the Switch, but a question of when.
The inclusion of a comic book app like InkyPen is even more interesting than the inclusion of games such as Doom because it shows that Nintendo is open to the idea of the Switch being more than just a video game console. With the arrival of InkyPen and streaming apps such as Hulu, the Switch is positioned as competition not just to the Xbox One or PlayStation 4, but also standard tablets such as the Amazon Fire. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for the Switch and whether Nintendo will continue to embrace its emerging role as a stand-alone entertainment device.
