Some unfortunate news for players looking forward to enjoying local multiplayer on the go for the newly released Nintendo Switch Sports.

As highlighted by Akfamilyhome on Twitter, the game unfortunately does not support local multiplayer for tabletop mode, and by extension, the Switch Lite. Players who attempt to do so will be met with an error message stating that they will need to dock their Switch to a TV in order to play local multiplayer.

To clarify, you can still play 1-player in tabletop mode both offline and online, it’s only when there are 2 or more local players when the limit applies

— AK (@Akfamilyhome) April 29, 2022

Players will also not be able to switch to tabletop mode if they are already playing a local multiplayer match in docked mode, as seen in the screencap from Nintendolife below:

Given that the portable nature of the Switch is a big part of its appeal, Nintendo’s decision to block local multiplayer for Nintendo Switch Sports comes across as slightly odd, especially since the game is already playable on Switch Lite with Joy-cons. It could have been disabled in the interests of safety, although its unlikely that we will ever get an answer about this from Nintendo.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.