Topic: The last Switch 1 first party game?

Is Xenoblade Chronicles X Definitive Edition. Figure Nintendo have pushed any future first party software to being Switch 2 exclusive. Right? Because more so than Playstation and/or Xbox, Nintendo believe first party games sell hardware.

Sure Nintendo could show up later this month with a Nintendo Direct and announce something new.

But I believe we wouldn't get more than a small segment reminding us of XCX's release next month.

What do you think? Am I right or wrong?

Well I don't see Metroid Prime 4 and Legends Z-A both releasing before next month, but I don't think it's either of those.

My guess is some Kirby spin-off will be the last game, Kirby supported 3DS a decent amount after Switch released, and I expect it to be similar here. I think this year and 2026 will both have Switch 1st party games (even if smaller scale), and maybe even going into 2027.

i think kirby robobot will arrive soon, and metroid prime will deffo be crossgen, but there HAS to be a nice swan song for our beloved switch, right? i have a feeling Z-A will be exclusive to Switch 1, or we will get some old franchise revived as a parting gift to the real fans. also i think we will be looking forward to a few switch online surprises (or is this me wishing for mother 3)

As mentioned, we already know of two Switch games due after Xenoblade.

Personally I wouldn't be surprised if we got small 1st party games in 2026 - think budget titles and remasters of old games. I'm still holding out for Wine Waker / Twilight Princess HD myself. But I think most likely after holiday 2025 is when we see the real shift of focus exclusively towards Switch 2.

The idea that you've got to brutally kill off your old console in order to promote the new one is something that appears to have fallen by the wayside. The Wii U was a major commercial failure so that had to go when the Switch launched, but we got a couple more years of 3DS releases after all.

More recently, I suppose you've got to look at what Microsoft and Sony did in the last cross-generation period and they both kept supporting their older consoles for several years. The Xbox One saw its last first-party release in August 2023 with Age of Empires 4, nearly three years after the launch of the Series X. Not to be outdone, Sony released two download-only PS4 games last year. I think they're probably done now, but that's certainly a lengthy overlap.

As such, I'd be surprised if Nintendo just let the Switch go over the edge of a cliff. There's good reason to believe that it won't be getting much that's cutting edge past MP4, because they wouldn't want to compromise games that sell themselves on visual spectacle, at least in part. However, while they're also making lo-fi games that can run on a potato and porting classics from the Wii, it'd seem strange to be passing up that 150+ million install base.

So yeah, we might still be discussing this on in 2026, possibly even 2027. I'll stick my neck out and say that it should be settled by 2028 though.

Well if Switch 2 is backwards compatible, then their won't be a last first party game.

I'd be surprised if there are no more first-party switch titles after the current 3 release. Prehaps another war ware game or a remaster of one of the new super Mario bros titles is in order.

I mean... presumably eventually all new first party Nintendo games will become Switch-2 exclusives which don't run on Switch 1.

Nintendo said earlier this month at the investor meeting that they would continue to support Switch 1 with new games for a while. So expect them to keep occasionally coming for another year or two. I assume the smaller releases will be for both Switch 1 and Switch 2 and the bigger releases will be Switch 2 exclusive.

It's true that Pokemon Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 Beyond are due this year.

But based on Furukawa's recent comments, it feels as though they're both being positioned as cross-gen games. Sure you could purchase the Switch 1 version and play that version on Switch 2. Or...you could purchase the Switch 2 version of either instead.

Naturally I could be overthinking things, but the fact that we don't have a release date for either with the Switch 2 Direct looming on the horizon (less than 42 days now) is a little suspicious.

I'm expecting a fair number of cross gen releases for the next year or two.

I have a hunch the final first party Switch 1 game will be Famicom Detective Club 4 in 2027

It should be noted that the question he was answering in your quote was will Nintendo keep releasing Switch 1 games. He gave Pokemon and Metroid as examples of how they clearly would because some are already announced. He then went on to say they would make more Switch 1 games. He then said they would do various things with both Switch 1 and Switch 2.

As for whether Pokemon Z-A is being positioned as cross -gen, perhaps we'll find out next week on Pokemon day.

Nah, Nintendo usually continues to release first party games for their previous consoles even after the new consoles have already released. I’m sure we’ll still be seeing OG Switch 1st party titles release for a few years after the Switch 2 launches.

Also I think they straight-up said that they’ll keep supporting it after the successor launches.

The last Nintendo published Wii U game was literally the day Switch came out 😆

I suppose 3DS is a fairer comparison — it continued to publish a game a month in 2017 even after Switch, had 5 games in 2018, and 3 in 2019.

It certainly won't be XCX, because Nintendo isn't going to drop 150M customers overnight. PLZA, I think will be Switch only, because GameFreak is notoriously slow in adopting new hardware.

As for what else, who knows? I think the big N will continue to support the Switch for at least another 1-2 years.

Pokémon ZA sounds like big game for Switch 1st Gen.

Speaking of Switch support after the Switch 2 comes out, Nintendo of Europe recently started selling Switch Lite units without an AC Adapter on the UK and EU My Nintendo Store sites.

Possible scenario: Some time after the Switch 2 comes out, the Switch and Switch OLED get discontinued while the Switch Lite remains in production as a budget-friendly option

We know that Switch 2 will have backward compatibility, and in this age where PC gaming dominates it's common to build games that scale graphics up or down based on system power. So what's to stop people from releasing games that run on the existing 150M Switch units already out there, but can also scale up to take advantage of the Switch 2? It would also have the benefit of allowing you to stock only one SKU instead of 2.

@cwong15 I think devs definitely will do that for some games, but also Switch 1 is such a potato that it won't be worth it for all games; a lot of current games have graphics and performance scaling which works well between e.g. a modern phone and a PS5 but isn't ported to Switch. Instead, such games will now be very easy to port to Switch 2 because Switch 2 will be in the range of abilities a lot of that scaling already targets. That said, if a dev can port a game easily to Switch 1, I assume they will continue to for quite some time.