Through "Minecraft," Microsoft implemented a limited form of its Xbox Live service on the Nintendo Switch. After launching the game, you could sign in with your Xbox Live account.
But Microsoft is taking that another full step forward with outright Xbox Live integration on a system level for the Nintendo Switch. That means you could earn Achievements, access your Xbox Live friends list, and other functionality tied to Xbox Live.
The company announced as much back in March at the annual Game Developers Conference:
"Xbox Live is about to get MUCH bigger," a panel description said. "Xbox Live is expanding from 400M gaming devices and a reach to over 68M active players to over 2B devices with the release of our new cross-platform XDK. Get a first look at the [software development kit] to enable game developers to connect players between iOS, Android, and Switch in addition to Xbox and any game in the Microsoft Store on Windows PCs."
This is the kind of move that can only happen with cooperation from Nintendo — notably, Sony's PlayStation 4 is absent from Microsoft's list.
But why would Nintendo allow Xbox Live on the Nintendo Switch? One particularly notable reason is that Microsoft created a gold standard in online game with Xbox Live. If Microsoft's willing to implement Xbox Live for various games, it offers Nintendo Switch a suite of services — voice chat, friends list, achievements, and more — that are otherwise less great on Nintendo's console.
Microsoft gets to sign up new Xbox Live users, and Nintendo gets a well-respected service with limited control on its popular game platform — it's a win-win.