Topic: Beyond more developer-friendly hardware, what can Nintendo do to assure 3rd party support on the NX?

Nintendo having the weaker of the consoles means 3rd parties can't/won't port every game just to support a console. I think the reality of 3rd party support is that it has to be uniquely built for the Switch from the ground up. But that kind of investment scares away traditional 3rd parties.

Now indies are another story and even though indies and traditional 3rd parties are usually categorized as different. Indies ARE 3rd parties. If the Indies start to have mild successes on the Switch on a consistent basis, I can see traditional 3rd parties bringing games.

Hopefully the traditional 3rd parties notice the types of indie experiences that are selling and follow suit, but if they just want to port advanced (not infinite) warfare, then that just starts up the whole "lack of confidence" debate.

In summation; uniques exclusives which take advantage of the system and cater to the audience are the kind of games which are gonna sell. Nintendo has to convince 3rd parties to do this and that is not an easy proposition without some funding from Nintendo or decent sales data.

I think it comes down to marketing and pricing. The Switch videos so far have hit home and created a fair amount of interest. Nintendo need to advertise the hell out of it from now to Christmas and be prepared to offer some sort of bundle for Christmas. If it gets the sales major western 3rd parties will come, otherwise I think Nintendo may have part with some cash and try and get some sort of paid exclusives.

I don't think any of that is likely.

regardless of its effectiveness, paying money for ports is something that shouldn't happen ever and I respect Nintendo just a bit more for not indulging so much in this pathetic practice.

If you want my opinion beyond boring/obvious ideas, there are 2 main things Nintendo should do.
1. Have 3rd parties give specific focus on ONE specific game most likely to fit well with Switch's audience. In other words, this should be a recommendation from Nintendo to 3rd parties. And Nintendo should work with them to figure out what.
2. Have Nintendo work with 3rd parties to get that game promoted to Nintendo's audience. This is the clear answer to previous issues, as it means less major 3rd party games competing with each other and it means they are actually marketed to a different audience, instead of the idiotic assumption companies had around Wii U's launch, which was that marketing to the same audience as they normally do but by putting the Wii U logo with the other console logos meant it would somehow do well on Wii U as well.

Well I guess Nintendo could always pay for and develop the games for the third parties and let them have all the profits

With codemasters not announcing dirt 4 it just shows that the graphic Nintendo showed with 3rd party support means nothing.

Codemasters was on it.

Pay money to 3rd parties. No joke, that's how far the rabbit hole they are.

Nintendo systems have been devoid of western 3rd party support for so long that a portion of their userbase isn't even accustomed to their style. Speaking as someone who was Nintendo-only for over a decade and started on N64, Only about 1 in every 5 major AAA titles even remotely interest me. If the Switch is owned by a bunch of people like me, no one will buy the games.

@Whitewatermoose Switch has already FIFA and NBA 2K, that's a very good starting point!

@Whitewatermoose I think, hope and kind of expect it (the E3 part)

@Whitewatermoose As I have said multiple times before, there is one game that Codemasters has in the works that fits the Nintendo demographic - Micro Machines. Yet their silence on even bringing that game over to the Switch, despite being a so called partner, I think is rather telling of where many Western developers stand.

In fact, even Japanese developers aren't exactly showing too much support though that may well change if it transpire that the Japanese do indeed continue buying into the Switch over the coming months.

@Whitewatermoose For smaller developers and indies, I think you are likely right - the Dev Kits have only just started going out, probably not long after the reveal trailer. And even then, it still seems that many who should have one, don't - Rocket League developers springs to mind judging from what they have said.

Then again you have big games like Minecraft that really should be on the Switch day one, yet isn't. In fact they don't even have a date other than "yeah it's coming".

@Whitewatermoose Sports titles are a big selling point for any console. The more Nintendo can get year one, the more it will excite people who are perhaps on the fence or weren't looking at the Switch seriously before. Especially the idea of playing sports games on the go could be enough to get people buying the Switch. We do know the latest NBA 2K game launches on the Switch at the same time as other consoles.

If we are talking AAA western support I think the Switch will get a Madden and FIFA from EA with hopefully some sort of Star Wars game (battlefront?). In the past Nintendo home systems have had at least one COD game which I can see happening again and maybe an Assassin Creed game.Garden Warfare is a good shout and would suit a Nintendo system very well. I would expect to see at some point Lego dimensions since Disney Infinity and Skylanders have both been cancelled.
If Skyrim sells well do you think Bethesda would consider a Fallout game?
Turning my attention to 2K there is NBA 2K18 this year and again if it sells well how about versions of the Bioshock Collection and Batman Arkham Collection? I know some of these will be ports and have been out a while, but who would turn down to play portable Bioshock, Batman, and Fallout?

Since i never played it on other platforms (played only N in my life) i'll surely get Skyrim, and i hope for Fallout too. Considering also that i love American Big Four, i'll surely grab 2K too to play it with my brother (can't really wait for it!). A lot of things are going in the right way for me with Switch!

@FGPackers Hi FGPackers :+). (Kira here)

You disappeared on Discord a while ago suddenly and I wondered what happened as I miss you FGPackers and I miss you :+(.

It is okey if you have moved on, I just wanted to know why you suddenly disappeared at least :+). (I would private message you if I could, but as far as I know, no private messaging option ob Nintendo Life).

Anyway, hope you have a fun time doing what you are doing FGPackers ^^.