@sixrings@rallydefault 3DS games were significantly cheaper to develop than Switch titles. This has been stated in interviews for years, and we've seen how many companies have had to drop from making series because of the rise of costs. So yeah, that much is true.
What's far less true is that Switch games cost significantly less than PS4/XB1 titles to make. Quite frankly, between the expected length of games being longer, the graphics being HD and not significantly behind modern consoles (let's face it, PS3 vs PS4 vs PS5 graphics didn't exactly see huge cost increases in making, unlike PS2 vs PS3). Obviously there are outlier titles that have significant voice acting, motion capture, graphics to the limit, etc. But I'd wager most $60 Switch games cost in the same general cost bracket as most $60 PS4/XB1 games to make. And on top of that, I'm also going to wager games go up in price for XB1 / PS5, probably to $70 or $80.
And on top of all that... if we're getting the same quality experiences now, why should the game price change? After all, PC games cost the same price whether they're on a high end gaming computer or being run on the low end of a laptop. If the game itself is intrinsically the same, it should be identically priced regardless of the hardware. Not saying there aren't cases of the Switch violating that (DKCR:TF for starters), but Doom: Eternal shouldn't be cheaper on Switch than PS5 or XB1 just because it's got a portable experience.
You know a game that did this right? Shovel Knight. It started as 15 dollars, which made sense, but then when it added more and more, they raised the base price (instead of screwing early adapters by making it paid DLC or whatever), when it was worth that money. Tbh, right now it has AAA amounts of content (or again, AAA before they relied on boring 100+ hour games), but with an 8 bit look that did not cost a AAA budget to make, probably even after all this time.
You know who else who did it right? Hyrule Warriors. 60 dollars games, absurd amount of content. Switch version obviously came later but came with the DLC for free. Now granted, any version of Hyrule Warriors, if you're into it, is arguably worth 60 bucks just because how much content there is. But it still is consumer friendly and reasonable to keep the price the same in exchange for adding all the DLC.
Tell me Link's Awakening or Pokemon Sword/Shield is worth as much as these. I don't see it. The fact that Link's Awakening put a nothing pseudo-Zelda dungeon maker thing in as an excuse to make it seem like a 60 dollar game, was a mistake. Don't bother with that! Just release a 40 dollar game! And no quality is not an automatic justification, as Shovel Knight is maybe the best game of the decade and costs less.
@kkslider5552000 I don't think anyone would argue either of those games are worth 60$. I'd give Link's Awakening 50$ only because they pushed remaking a gameboy game close to as far as they can go without moving into a reimagining. But 60$ was too much for that.
But games like Pokemon, Link's Awakening, DKC Returns Tropical Freeze, etc you don't see people defending poor pricing on around here really. Look at Layton's Mystery Journey: It's 40 on 3DS and 40 on Switch. Just because this console supports 60$ quality games doesn't mean every game on the system has to hit that price point, and honestly I can't recall any home console I had that had so many games release below the max. A ton of retail games (Civ VI, Just Dance, Minecraft, Lego games, Narcos, Megaman, Super Monkey Ball etc) come out at the $30-40 range because they are the scope of old portable games, and that's pretty good.
Honestly, I'd prefer to see more pricing of games what they're worth in the future, rather than pricing every title at the same level on a system.
Getting back to the topic at hand, I definitely feel that there may be a direct in January. I think they will likely want to show off more of Animal Crossing in the run up to it's release and give some general time-frames for the releases through the year. We know a fair few are currently just saying coming in 2020 so a schedule of games would be a great way to ring in the new year.
Looking at the past schedules, we can see that they have been doing January/February directs so I'd be willing to wager that the same is happening in 2020
@alpacatears Seems pretty likely. I was thinking they might do a "Mini Direct" like in January of 2018 to introduce some games for the first half of 2020, then show off the Q4 heavy hitters at E3.
I think there's a good chance of Animal Crossing have its own Direct, so I don't think we have to factor that in. However, the likelihood of a general Direct about February is high, since that's a trend. Either that or a general Mini Direct since, lets be honest, aside from AC, Nintendo doesn't have much to show. lol
If we get a january Direct i’m guessing Animal Crossing is the centerpiece. Other than that a visit to Platinum and gameplay + a release window for Bayo3. Some gameplay from Xenoblade 1 and/or SMT V is also likely. The typical reel of third party games will be interesting and my guess would be ports of Metro, Vanquish, Tomb raider or Arkham and 8-10 more games.. I think the Direct will be placed in late january or very early february as to generate hype for AC and a final push for FE mirage sessions.
On second thoughts, the next Direct has to be early to mid January because of Smash. No Smash Ultimate character has been revealed outside an event:
Inkling - March 2018 Direct
All returning fighters including ones cut after Melee and Brawl - E3 2018 Direct
Daisy, Ridley - E3 2018 Direct
Simon, Richter, Dark Samus, Chrom, King K Rool - August 2018 Smash Direct
Isabelle - September 2018 Direct
Ken, Incineroar, Piranha Plant - November 2018 Smash Direct
Joker - Game Awards 2018
Hero, Banjo - E3 2019 Direct
Terry Bogard - September 2019 Direct
That said, it could be a January Smash Direct and then a general Direct being in February. But I think we'll either get a Smash Direct or general Direct sometime around January 15th.
Animal Crossing I think will just be a spotlight in the general Direct whenever it is, no dedicated Animal Crossing Direct.
As per usual, my expectations for the inevitable January Direct are close to zero.
The last fighter for SSBU is due in February. Ryu Hayabusa is still my favorite rumor, with ties to Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, he makes alot of sense. And bring a Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1+2 double pack to Switch while you're at it, Koei Tecmo.
Anywho, Q1 2020 is solid. Brain Training, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl, and Animal Crossing New Horizons. But after March, we know very little, first party wise. No More Heroes III is scheduled for 2020, but I think it'll slip to early 2021.
Bravely Default II? An August release would be my guess.
Xenoblade Chronicles DE? Would be a nice June game.
Deadly Premonition 2? That's easily the best choice for October.
As an rpg fan, 2020 is stacked.
But other than Animal Crossing, what can a casual Switch owner look forward to in 2020?
Switch Physical Collection - 1,537 games (as of December 22nd, 2025)
Switch 2 Physical Collection - 4 games (as of December 8th, 2025)
I mean, I think we can all agree we'll see a currently unknown mid size May/June title announced in either January or February, They can't let Q2 go by without a single major release (or at the moment, any release). And of the Nintendo published games currently pending, most are either too niche (XC Remake, Bayonetta 3) or too big (BotW 2) or no way they're ready (Metroid Prime 4) to occupy that slot (think Mario Maker 2 and Mario Tennis Aces type games). Plus, I'd assume at least one more major game we know about will get a release date.
@link3710 I agree but for different reasons, Xenoblade has grown enough that it would do fine on its own in June but the first half of 2020 is already rather JRPG heavy. Nintendo doesn't even have DOOM Eternal to fall back on for variety as that's being released later than the other platforms so there needs to be a game to join Animal Crossing for the crowd that isn't interested in JRPGs.
It would be really awesome if nintendo announced the sequel to last window (which is the sequel to hotel dusk) in the january direct. Also, I am hoping that they show a little teaser for botw2. Mario odyssey dlc kingdoms would be good too (or odyssey 2). What do you guys think about those ideas?
@AndreaF96 Who would even produce that? The creative staff from that game is scattered across a dozen companies, if not out of the industry entirely. And for such a character and story heavy game, I don't know how you'd get a group of new people to pull it off. Maybe a spiritual successor, but honestly I'm not sure Nintendo wants to get back into the Visual Novel field.
No way on the BotW teaser, it's gonna be E3 if we see it at all this year. And Odyssey is almost certainly getting a sequel rather than DLC at this point, it's been two and a quarter years. Odyssey 2 could acutally come out this year since it likely would've started development before BotW2, but I'd expect that in a March/April direct rather than a January one. January directs are classically focused on Q1 and Q2 titles and DLC, and nothing but a maybe a single teaser second half of the year.
I think we will see a sequel to Mario Odyssey, instead of more DLC. But if it comes this year, i think it will be announced at E3 instead of a January/February Direct.
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