Topic: Anyone else worried that 2023 will be a dry year for the Switch?

The only first party offerings I'm looking forward to are Fire Emblem Engage, the Xenoblade 3 story DLC and Tears of the Kingdom. Even then I have reservations about Fire Emblem looking like a mobile port and goofy character design as well as Zelda reusing the same Hyrule and being held back by aging hardware.

I feel like Nintendo is witholding their first party releases for the Switch successor which I and many others anticipate will be at least announced in 2024.

And given the gap between the PS5/XBOXSX and the Switch only continues to grow, third party ports are likely to be fewer in number and those that do make it over are either going to be cloud based or, as is sadly and increasingly the case, significantly compromised.

I'm still holding out hope that 2023 can be saved by indies. After all we've still got Silksong and hopefully a few other surprises but I'm not holding my breath.

What do you think about the Switch's prospects for 2023? Are you as pessimistic as I am about what could be the console's final year?

@Zilock I think we may still be in the shaddow of the pandemic development slowdown for 2023. Every time I think we're coming out of that lull, I end up disappointed. So, I'm trying to keep my expectations in check. This opinion is partly about padding my psychology. For me it's worse to get expectations up and have them dashed, which I've done repeatedly since 2020.

Edit: Also, I mean, I don't think the tail end of the Switch gen will ever match the first 2-3 years of the Switch. That's the feeling I have. Nintendo has a huge console sales base with the Switch. I think they're saving some games for next gen while milking the current gen.

Dry? There are at least ten games I plan on getting just on Switch next year, so no. I don't expect an exclusive every month like this year, but it already seems to be matching the Switch's track record of excellence in terms of first and third-party support.

It might be dry for you because you're only interested in playing a few different first-party series on Switch, but that's more of a personal problem than anything.

By the way, I've been hearing doom mongering about third-party support somehow disappearing since 2020, and it hasn't happened. You know why? Because the power difference between Switch and the next-gen consoles primarily matters with regard to third-party AAA games, and the Switch has never had many of those.

Honestly, 2023 is looking like another really strong year for the industry. Even Xbox is getting a (console) exclusive game. That's something to pop the champagne over, given that platform's history.

@Zilock I think it's still a bit early to tell but I think it will be a good year. Outside of the 3 titles you mentioned, the only other first-party games to be released next year that I can think of are Pikmin 4, and Kirby's Return To Dreamland Deluxe. I know there will be a few good indies for 2023. I've been looking forward to Sea of Stars for a while now. As far as third-party games go I think the only one I'm looking forward to so far is Octopath Traveller 2.

Edit: I forgot there's a few remasters that are supposed to release next year. I'm definitely going to grab the Tales of Symphonia remaster because I've never played it. I'll also grab the Suikoden 1 & 2 remaster as well. Not to mention it looks like a boat load of trails games are supposed to be coming to switch next year as well so I guess 2023 is more packed than I thought for me 😅

Not at all, we're about on course for the usual lineup announced by this point. For example by October 2021, we knew this of the 2022 Nintendo lineup:

• January 28th - Pokemon Legends Arceus
• March 4th - Triangle Strategy
• Spring 2022 - Kirby and the Forgotten Land
• 2022 - Splatoon 3
• 2022 - Bayonetta 3
• 2022 - Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
• 2022 - BotW 2 (got delayed in March 2022)

Meanwhile for 2023:

• January 20th - Fire Emblem Engage
• February 24th - Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
• May 12th - Tears of the Kingdom
• 2023 - Pikmin 4
• 2023 - XC3 DLC waves 3 and 4
• 2023 - MK8 Deluxe DLC waves 4, 5 and 6
• 2023 - Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope DLC waves 1 and 2
• 2023 - Splatoon 3 free updates and Pearl & Marina story DLC
• 2023 - Switch Sports free updates (not Golf, that's holiday 2022)

Then you have the multiplatform stuff like Octopath Traveler II on February 24th and Silksong sometime before June 2023 (there's loads more but there's 2 examples).

So I think 2023 Switch lineup will be very strong even if the Switch successor launches on May 12th.

@Zilock

The first few months of 2023 on Switch will have me busy and the I assume we'll get a Direct in February that'll outline the Spring releases. My to-buy list consists of...

Fire Emblem Engage
Labyrinth of Galleria
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
Octopath Traveler II
Atelier Ryza 3
Daymare 1994
Tales of Symphonia
Void Terrarium 2

I don't believe 2023 is the Switch's final year. I'm of the opinion that Nintendo aren't going to offer a new SoC (Switch 2, Switch Pro, Super Switch, call it whatever you'd like) until 2026. Nintendo are going to milk the Tegra X1 for as long as they can. Assuming production of the chip didn't cease last year.

I think next year has a very good chance of seeing some sort of Metroid Prime 4 teaser. I doubt it will release next year, but I think they will give us a morcel to digest.

As many others have pointed out 2023 is jam packed and we only know bits of the first half. Nintendo keeps release dates close (unless development slips) so with new entries in some of their best selling franchises plus splatoon 3 this year at this point I am expecting a new mario game to round things off.

For me, their last good year was 2020. I put tons of time into animal crossing, love hyrule warriors, and oragami king is my favorite paper Mario game, you also can’t forget Mario 3D all stars. Ever since then I have bought two first party games. Skyward sword and the new Kirby game. And the next Nintendo game I am buying is tears of the kingdom. So yeah, Nintendo has been dry for awhile now, at least for me.

@Zilock I doubt it will be. I think 2023 will be a turnaround year from Covid and the bottlenecking it caused to the industry. I believe we'll get a heavy hitter every month or so in 2023, but also believe that it'll be the last year solely focused on the current gen development. I believe Switch's successor will come in 2024, but do think that most first party games for the first year of the new console being released will be cross-gen due to the economic turmoil that'll likely still be ongoing at that time.

I also believe NSO will be cross-gen for many years before shifting focus to next-gen. Pretty sure that'll be an ecosystem service with most games coming to both console's emulators, but maybe some features being withheld from the current gen Switch.

Nah 2023 will be a solid year for the Switch. FE Engage looks great despite the goofy character design, Zelda looks amazing (and they've already shown that the version of Hyrule from BotW has gone through changes so it won't be the exact same experience), plus there's Pikmin 4 and a bunch of ongoing support for existing titles.

3rd party support for Switch has always primarily consisted of remasters and ports of older titles from the 360/PS3 generation or earlier, indies, or games built from the ground up for the system. Ports of newer AAA titles are the exception, not the rule, so nothing is really changing in that regard.

And as @Ralizah pointed out, it should be a really strong year for the industry in general. A lot of heavy hitters are scheduled like Starfield, Spider-Man 2, Street Fighter 6, Final Fantasy XVI, and Star Wars Jedi Survivor among others.

My guy this year isn't even over yet you're worried about 2023.
We already have some notable games confirmed for next year so I wouldn't even sweat it.

To name a few:

• Botw
• Fire Emblem Engage
• Octopath 2
• Kirby Dream Land Deluxe
• Pikmin 4
• Xenoblade's Story dlc

So yeah there is absolutely nothing to worry about for next year.

@IceClimbers We do get a lot of ports of anime style RPG's and fighters from PS4 as well, including new releases. Also a few PS5 games that are more abstract or anime looking as well.

Uh, no. A new FE, Pikmin and Zelda alone make the year pretty darn good to start. Not to mention Xenoblade 3 and Sparks of Hopes DLC expansions. And this is before the annual February Direct when they announce a bunch of games.

Wow, there's people that still think Nintendo announces all its games a year in advance. That's funny.

Dry? Next year is as packed as this year. New Zelda, Octopath II, New Fire Emblem, The Xenoblade story DLC, Pikmin 4, etc.

That's not taking into account the February direct that'll announce even more.

I'm really hoping they relaese metroid prime 4. But maybe they will release the remaster of metroid prime, and as metroid dread was a surprise release maybe they give us another new metroid. Or even some big release. But your correct things look the worse than I have ever seen before . I mean I'm looking for a new game to play on switch. I flicked through the 50 euro priced games on eshop and saw nothing I'd like. Then I flicked through the 30 euro selection and still found nothing. I'll end up takeing a chance on some game someone says is really good. But I have decided to play hitman 3. It's slow gameplay as I like. But just to pick 1 game from 8000 is terrible.

Lol, y'all be forgetting Wind Waker and Twilight Princess double pack.

Do we think there will be a Deluxe Switch model next year?

@GrailUK
Very, very probable. And I would also expect some quietness on the Switch front while they work on content for it's launch. Even if they're Switch compatible they'll want something to link to the new hardware and convince people to upgrade

My gut feeling is that we're probably looking at a quiet reveal early next year followed by an "E3" flood and a November-ish launch. But I'm open to the idea of it happening sooner