Hulu app to be discontinued on Nintendo Switch as Disney+ migration looms
Hulu app to be discontinued on Nintendo Switch as Disney+ migration looms
As Disney prepares to migrate Hulu to the Disney+ app, it is ending the ability to download the Hulu app on the popular console.
The Hulu app is not long for this world. Disney is completely focused on turning the Disney+ app into the company’s main destination for entertainment streaming, and has already confirmed that Hulu will be fully transferred to Disney+ by the end of 2026. The company is taking a major step in that process in February, when the Hulu app will be removed from the online store of a major game console.
Key Details:
- Switch it up: The Hulu app will be removed from the Nintendo Switch eShop in February.
- Emerging pattern: Disney shut down multiple streaming apps in 2024 to move their content to Disney+.
- Fuzzy timeline: It’s still unlear when Disney+ and Hulu will be totally combined.
The Hulu app will be pulled from the Nintendo Switch’s eShop as of February 5, 2026, when support for the app on Switch will also end. From that date forward, Switch owners will not be able to download the Hulu app and will have to watch any Hulu content through the Disney+ app.
It’s the first step in the larger process of doing away with the Hulu app altogether. Now that Disney owns 100% of Hulu, it is free to merge the streamer completely with Disney+, and that’s exactly what it intends to do. The company will still offer standalone Hulu plans, but viewers will still subscribe to and watch those plans through the Disney+ app.
The timeline of exactly when the shutdown of the Hulu app will happen on other devices is still unclear. Disney hasn’t revealed when it intends to pull support for the Hulu app from more widely used streaming devices, such as Apple TV and Roku players or major smart TV operating systems.
Disney’s push of streaming content toward the Disney+ app is far from a new strategy. The company sunset multiple streaming apps in 2024 as well, all part of its design to maximize engagement on its flagship streaming service, as well as reduce backend costs by no longer maintaining redundant apps.
Hulu is about to be the next victim of that redundancy clearing, and viewers should prepare for the day when the standalone Hulu app is no more. That day is coming soon — in fact, in less than a month for Nintendo Switch users.
Hulu
Hulu is a video streaming service that gives access to thousands of full seasons of exclusive series, hit movies, kids shows, and Hulu Originals like “Only Murders in the Building,” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.”