Nintendo Support

Unable to View Another Player's Video Camera or Screen Share During GameChat

Follow these steps if a friend in your GameChat room is sharing their video or screen, but you can't see it.

Note:

A maximum of four friends per session can video chat and share their screen, while any additional friends are limited to audio only. When four people in the room are using video chat or screen share and one of them turns these off, another person can start sharing their video feed or screen.

Before you start

  • Visit Nintendo's Network Status page and check for any posted service maintenance or outages.

    • If an outage or maintenance posted that impacts GameChat service, wait until the outage or maintenance has ended and check whether the issue is resolved before following this troubleshooting.

Possible solutions

  • If you received a message about video or video sharing being turned off due to an unstable connection, follow our network troubleshooting for this issue.

  • If the friend sharing their screen is viewing something that cannot be shared, such as system settings or part of a game which is restricted from screen sharing, the message "Current screen can't be shared" will be shown. Wait for the other person to return to a screen that can be shared.

  • If you manually turned off someone's screen-sharing display, the message "The game screen is currently set not to display" will be shown. You can enable their screen-sharing display using the GameChat menu.

  • If your console has Parental Controls set and your friend is playing a game that would be restricted on your console, the message "Viewing this is currently restricted by Parental Controls" will be shown. If you know the Parental Controls PIN, you can use it to temporarily disable Parental Controls by selecting the red Parental Controls icon at the top of the HOME Menu and entering the Parental Controls PIN. There are two ways you can enable screen sharing like this:

    • You can leave the GameChat room, temporarily disable Parental Controls, and then join the session again to view the shared screen.

    • You can temporarily disable Parental Controls and then have your friend close and re-open the software to view their shared screen.

  • If Parental Controls related to GameChat have been set for your Nintendo Account, you must send a request to your parent/guardian to use the camera and they must approve that request before you can see friends' videos. This is separate from software age rating restrictions affecting screen sharing.