Topic: Does anyone else feel like the eshop has been resembling the app store?

When I went to the eshop today, it felt a lot like the app store for iOS. Just tons of shovelware and indie games. It's a bit worrying on the direction the console has been heading in.

The majority of Switch's eShop games are mobile games because those are the easiest to port, let's not forget that Switch is powered by old mobile technology. Nintendo could do a bit more to compensate this though.

It's easy to avoid iOS eShop shovelware as a physical collector. (Although many of the music/rhythm games have been getting physical releases.) Anywho, I don't mind the dilution of the eShop. I usually only go there when I have a particular purchase in mind, not to browse and pull the trigger on a random game.

What they look nothing ali- oh you mean the games?

Not sure. It's not like I know every single game on the app store.

@Yosheel Now that you mention UI I think the eshop could hugely benefit from a makeover or better organization.

I don't think it needs it. People who go to the eshop without certain games in mind are usually just bored is my guess. And because they're in a funk they're not likely to find an answer to their woes in the eshop, so they come away still in a funk, blaming the eshop's 'lack of organisation' for their funk.

You can filter by genre, you can search, you can browse the charts, new releases, coming soon. If you can't find a game you want to buy in all of that then the problem is not the eshop.

I just don't see there's a lot that can be done without a lot of work for minimal improvements and little boost in turnover.

@gcunit Well the layout leaves a lot to be desired and I am pretty sure a lot of people visit the eshop for a lot more reasons than simply being bored. For example I visit it weekly just to check out the new coming soon section and what games have been released. I am usually looking for things that interest me, but expecting everyone to always know exactly what they want is just bad design and honestly a wrongful assumption when it comes to stores. Some people are the type of people who always have something specific in mind, but they are usually the type of people who do a ton of research on their own and follow the hobby journalism very closely. A lot of people just like to browse the store to see what is out there.

Sometimes you do need to know what you want with the Eshop. It's not going to show you every game after all. For example it doesn't show me Mario Odyssey unless I specifically search for it.

That's just because of all the low-effort, look at us, we're so retro indie titles and shovelware. I blame 10tons, but it isn't their fault alone.

Not enough Free-to-play collectathon games yet to compare to the iOS store. Personally I’ve felt the eShop has built a good selection of titlea of varying genres. Yes there are those with mobile origins but thats kind of expected for a console with a tablet like design. Definitely in my opinion has a better selection than the Wii U and 3DS did. I always felt the shovelware made up a bigger % of the visible games.

Still a bit if quality control wouldn’t help for the eShop as I do fear a scenario like Steam.

@FX102A Yeah it definitely isn't as bad, but I know how the last time I checked out the eshop it just felt like I was going through what was for the most mobile phone quality games. Then again the Wii Store also had similar issues, as with the 3DS eshop.

One thing you can do is filter out the $5 games. That'll cut a lot of the chaff out.

I hate the term shovelware. Just because a game isn't AAA or the latest indie hit doesn't mean it is without merit. I'm really excited for Legendary Fishing but many would consider that shovelware. I don't think any developer sets out to make a bad game they just have more modest abilities and goals.

The Switch eshop could do with an upgrade, the Wii U eshop but faster would be nice for example.

This is overall positive. Like it or not, but the average consumer likes to buy a bunch of super cheap shovelware along their bigger purchases. The only downside is that it takes a little longer to find the gems. I've owned a PS4 for some years now and they've shoveled so much games onto their store, which have just been a good thing for me since the good ones have been very cheap and I've avoided the bad ones by looking up reviews online.

The iPhone and it's app store is very popular, so all this shovelware just means more consumers which means more good games. It's not a zero sum game, shovelware doesn't shovel out good games, it attracts more good games.

@Agriculture I suppose there is no harm in it, especially if it keeps the console popular.

I think you might be wrong about that. There are indie developers who don't try to make a good game, just a quick buck. Asset flips, broken games, and so forth are why the term "shovelware" came to be. You have to shovel through the excrement to find the decent games.

I hope so. As long as the games aren't broken like FaeKnight mentioned, I think it's only positive with more games.

@JayJ Not at all. Mobile app stores are full of cancerous ad-ridden free to play trash and mountains of clones. The Switch eshop does have a chunk of mobile ports, but it has plenty of great titles too. You'd be shooting yourself in the foot if you dismiss all indie games as being on the same level as mobile ports. Games like Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Golf Story, Iconoclasts, Night in the Woods, Binding of Issac, Undertale, Enter the Gungeon among many others are all excellent indie titles, worlds better than the vast majority of mobile games.

@BlueOcean that "old mobile technology" is still more powerful than all last gen consoles and more than capable of running outstanding games. Unlike phones and tablets, the Switch isn't bogged down with bloatware and proprietary junk-software shoved onto it by service providers. The Switch further isn't bogged down by side apps and outside features constantly sapping resources and can devote almost all of it's power toward gaming.

@Heavyarms55 I was just describing the technology it uses which was already date when the Switch launched (Tegra X1). Of course, Switch is a dedicated gaming piece of hardware, you literally can't do anything with it other than running games but it's also downclocked.