Topic: Critical time for switch

I feel like we are in a critical time for the switch right now. Two of the biggest games people were excited for and wanted have been released. Those games are Nba2k18 and Fifa18. The problem is that both games haven't lived up to expectations and more importantly don't look like sales are good. This is concerning because we are coming up on Skyrim, WWE 2k18, La Noire, and Doom. If all of these games end up being sales disasters.... What happens? Even though Bethesda are saying all the right things.... I don't believe it! I don't want to be overly negative just realistic. This is a business publishers and devs aren't going to keep putting money into creating games for a console NO MATTER how popular it is if their game isn't selling on said console. So here we are what I feel is a critical time for the switch and sales specially in reference the third party games. Hopefully my concerns aren't needed and we have better developed and selling games then what fifa 18 and nba2k18 have been.

I disagree. I don't see NBA and FIFA as two of the biggest games to be released. BOTW, Odyssey, and probably SKYRIM are this years big releases in my opinion, and BOTW did well, and Odyseey and Skyrim should do great as well. Sports games on Nintendo is not the same as sport games on XBox and PS. Nintendo has always been a different gaming crowd.

And 3 of the 4 upcoming 3rd party games you named are old ports, running inferiorly and will be full priced. A true recipe for success. True dedication and faith in the Switch from 3rd parties.

@Old_Goat_Ninja I agree. I don't personally see NBA2K and FIFA as big titles, but that's just where my own taste is concerned. I will say that there seems to be validity to what @Qwertyninty is saying. A ton of people love these games, I was talking to a friend who get every game in the sports franchise every year.

I don't think we have anything to worry about when it comes to the Skyrim, Doom, La Noire type games as those will sell to hardcore/casual gamers where as sports titles may be the only games for some other folks....okay sports games AAAAND C.O.D. games, haha. Either way, I don't agree with EARLIEST AVAILABLE, PLEASE using FIFA as a deciding factor for bringing more of their games over.

NBA was a broken mess and FIFA, well, I wouldn't blame anyone for picking the PC/PS4/Xbox version over the Switch version. Skyrim, L.A. Noire and Doom are more important, but they've been out for quite a while, and I've you already own the game, I also understand why you wouldn't want to buy them again... We haven't seen a big game that has full parity with the other consoles yet, hopefully soon.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE you expect mobile hardware to run equal to a home console. Lol uh.

I'd say a more critical measure will be on how the likes of Wolfenstein 2 do. Doom, LA Noire, Skyrim - they're all old games.

Unless someone like Sony being out a Switch-killer, I expect Switch to sell reasonably well for the next 3 years minimum. And if you've got a good game on the Switch platform, it will sell.

People read too much into the first week of sales. Assuming the price of FIFA comes down in line with other consoles, it will sell more - it's a good game with no sub-genre competition. Rightly not everyone sees £50 of value in it, but when it's £30, it'll start shifting to a wider audience.

@RickRau5 I never said that.

My concern is the more people port beg for AAA contemporary games, the more they are asking the Switch to compete with the PS4 and XBox1 on Sony and Microsoft's terms. It will also deprive us of games built with the Switch in mind.

I bought the Switch as a video game console in the classic sense, and not for simulation-style and tech-demo caliber gaming, which are usually better suited for the computer/media hub consoles. Of course It's genuinely cool when such a game does make it to the Switch; but I have a souped-up PC for the truly demanding stuff (though quite frankly, I haven't been using it much since getting the Switch). So there's no reason from my point of view to view FIFA or NBA as critical titles for the Switch. Even if they had been ported perfectly, I'm pretty sure they would have remained in a niche on this platform.

Switch will be fine. NBA was criticized on all platforms and FIFA's biggest issue on Switch is on the developer, not the system being unable to handle it. Would it be nice to have good sports games on Switch? Yes. Will they determine whether the system succeeds or fails? Nah. A consistent stream of AAA Nintendo games, quality indies, and support from third parties who target core gamers (Rockstar and Bethesda are more important than 2K) will keep the Switch going

Hrm... I also don't understand why we're still writing off FIFA without having seen actual sales numbers, especially for the U.S. There was that article last week about low sales in the UK, but nothing about U.S. sales, the largest market for Nintendo. I live in U.S. FIFA has been on the top sellers on the NA eShop since it came out, and it's actually worked its way up. Right now it's sitting at the #6 spot, improved from 9 or worse last week, and that's with Stardew Valley and Axiom Verge entering the mix as of Friday. (Same exact thing for NBA, actually - that thing's been sitting in the top sellers chart for weeks now. You can't tell me that doesn't mean something.)

I know the majority of people on this site are in the UK, but come on, guys - you know your market over there is smaller, and you know Nintendo hasn't done well in that region for many, many years. Basing sensationalist stuff off of only those UK numbers makes no sense.

I'm not saying the sales are amazing. If they were, we'd probably have heard about them by now. But dang, people - you gotta wait before throwing the dirt over something.

@rallydefault To be fair, Europe is a way bigger market for FIFA than NA. I've also heard there were stock issues, so who knows.

@Qwertyninty NBA 2K18 hasn't even been released yet at retail but yeah let's start saying it has struggled to sell.

Love to know where you have got your data for current eshop sales.

All we do know it has been in top 10 when it comes to eshop chart. How can determine that means it has not sold well?

Also how about we wait until the games you have mentioned are released. Seems to be lot of doom and gloom over nothing.

@Octane
Very true. I was going to mention that, but I would counter that with the simple fact that Switch proliferation in UK is far below not only PS and Xbox (though I hear it's starting to sell faster than Xbox), but also far below Switch sales in U.S. and Japan. There just literally aren't as many Switches to sell the games on.

In my mind it's crazy for the OP to be writing off these two games when we don't have any hard data, especially for the largest market and especially when we in the U.S. are telling you guys the games have been at the top of the best sellers chart since they've released, even improving in spot against recent popular games.

(Again - NOT saying sales are going to be great. Just saying let's wait and see some numbers.)

I think there is some validity to the OP's post.

However.

NBA 2k18 has just been patched, and since it hasn't yet released physically, it could still do well when it releases now that people are singing a different tune about it. I know I pre-ordered the game a second time after canceling, once I heard they had patched the game and fixed the issues. I imagine quite a few others will be buying the game now as well.

As for FIFA 18, the majority of everyone who has bought the game loves it. The only people who don't love it have been backseat critics who never really cared about buying the game anyways and just like to attack games they see a vulnerability in, like a shark that smells blood in the water, and whose only valid complaint thus far has been "but in comparison to..." Word-of-mouth is far more important in this case, imo, and you only need to go to Reddit to see how many people are absolutely loving this game. Those are the people that will be giving recommendations to their friends and they will basically all be saying the exact same thing I've been saying, which is that the game is excellent.

But neither of them were ever going to top the charts on Switch. Realistic sports games have never done well on Nintendo hardware so what we really should be looking for is an improvement over past releases. Will FIFA 18 outsell the Wii U version by a considerable margin? Will NBA 2k18 outperform the Wii U entry, and by how much? These are the questions that will determine future support. Because if sales are say, twice as good as before, with a rapidly growing install base, they will likely want to continue the series for future entries, especially now that the engine is up and running (let's face it, the amount of work for the first entry is infinitely more than is required for subsequent entries- and if they made the hard investment for the lower install base now, why would they not make an easier investment next year for a much larger install base... unless they are out right losing money on it).

But I think actual core games will do much better than sports. I do think sports games can find an audience, but they will have to cultivate it. Bring more entries next year and make them better, and so on. But I'm hopeful Skyrim and DOOM will at least sell a million copies each. I'm not so sure about LA Noire or Resident Evil Revelations Collection, but I'm hopeful they can push toward 1 million as well. Just keep in mind, these companies understand they have not yet cultivated an audience for their games on this platform. In fact Bethesda even said as much. But it sounds like they want to play the long game and make long time fans they can continue to sell their games to over time. They are doing everything right, and I think fans will reward them for their gesture of goodwill.

I will be supporting all of these games day one, and I can only hope my fellow Nintendo fans do the same. Not only are these great games to look forward to but they are the first ever portable version for most of them. There's plenty of reason for people to be interested. And I think people realize this is our chance to gain long-term third-party support. We missed the boat about 5 years ago, and we haven't had a chance playing these types of games on Nintendo platforms since. I think people look back on the Wii U era and realize how much it sucked not having any other games coming to the system... for years on end. And I think a lot of people that are on the fence will probably decide to support these games because they don't want to see that happen again.

Hopefully, AAA companies don't decide that, "Well, if this sports game didn't do well, then this open world action game probably won't do well either!" I feel like AAA companies are still kind of trying to find out what the audience is.

Seriously doubt many people considered those the biggest games.

On the 3rd party point though, I'm calling it now. 90% of the AAA PS4 ports the Switch will get over its lifetime will be japanese games.

Japan's love of handhelds will make it financially viable and the west will just get a version because they'll have already got an english translation for the PS4 version. That's clearly what's happening with DQ11. No way would that get a Switch version in the west if they weren't already doing an english translation for the PS4.

That's why I'm now convinced they'll do a FF15 port as well. If you look at the sales figures, FF15 has basically sold 1 million less in Japan than any other FF game. Clearly that's something to do with the move away from consoles. Nintendo and Square will want to mop up that shortfall. 1 million potential sales can easily justify the budget for a downgraded port.

@Dezzy

I think you're right. I've always believed it will follow in the footsteps of the 3DS with Japanese support, only this time the games will be full console quality games and not little handheld entries.

We see it with DQXI. We see it with Shin Megami Tensei V. We see it with I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear. We saw it with Disgaea 5. We even see it with Nintendo's own franchises, like Fire Emblem which is coming to Switch next year (previously a huge series on 3DS). We saw it with Monster Hunter XX, and I'm sure will see it with future MH titles down the line as the portable series migrates to Switch. We see it with Azure Striker Gunvolt Striker Pack. We see it with Octopath Traveller (previously Bravely Default series on 3DS). Even Ultra Street Fighter II and Resident Evil Revelations Collection, which follows in the 3DS' footsteps.

What's up everybody, it's cr1tikal...time for Switch.

This reference was my entire post. Thank you for reading.

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ok fine. But seriously, do I have to bring up Street Fighter 2 again? STREET FIGHTER 2. 40 BUCKS. IN 2017. SOLD WELL. Like, I don't know if these versions of these games will sell but tbh, it's not like I see this being the semi-serious sports game console. It's not like literally anyone does, probably not even the people who decided to put these games on Switch. So even if it does badly...everything else is doing well, what's your problem, sports games? Like if officially licensed, over marketed sports games can't sell better than a port of Disgaea 5...it ain't the console that's the problem at that point.