Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@DarthNocturnal Oh cool, on my birthday while I recover from surgery. That settles my plans for the day then

@YummyHappyPills yep. They do lots of subtle but very aggressive things to maintain their position. Most of which are invisible to the average consumer.

Of course there only being one dedicated retailer and them not in an especially secure situation limits the ways in which they can distort the market.

@JaxonH I think it’s a demonstration of Sony’s power with publishers. They can threaten them with a lack of access to PS4 or poorer visibility if games aren’t also ported to Vita.

Of course there are still millions of Vita owners so it could certainly be viable to release games like this.

The bigger question is to what extent are Sony using preferential access to PS4 as a big stick to prevent ports to Switch. And will that stick cease to be big enough when Nintendo pass 20-30 million units?

@Ralizah Considerably downgraded PS3 port with some loading screens thrown in. They could also make a P5-lite portable experience that could be a sold alongside P5 enhanced for PS4 to get the full P5 experience.
I don't know. Like i said the Vita breadcrumbs are all over P5. something bigger than the rhythm games are in the works.
Anyways Switch...

@Octane It's crazy really. Have Sony paid for exclusivity to certain games. Sure. So has every other platform holder.
They are not going after these small niche games that hardly move the needle. Catherine did ~1million across an install base of 160million+ (360+PS3).
As seen by recent trends they are much more likely to use the money to attain the marketing rights to the big AAA multiplats. That's what moves the needle.

@Octane @Fight_Teza_Fight
Regardless of of whether they are or aren't, you're WAY to eager to defend their integrity. Especially when paying for exclusives is and skipping other platforms is not some foreign tactic to Sony.

And we are here to discuss. When something happens, I'm going to discuss my take on it. If this offends you, maybe forums aren't the place for you. Or maybe it's just the fact it's Sony, who no one can speak ill of.

You can believe what you want, but don't sass me over what I believe. Please. Feel free to disagree, but the hostility is unwarranted. You don't need ever living proof of everything that happens to connect the dots.

But even you can't deny the oddity of it all. Vita may not be completely dead in Japan, but whens the last time it even remotely got a more mainstream release? These are far more mainstream that your typical Tokyo Xanadu anime crap.

And it's a reasonable conclusion. Sony doesn't want to lose ground in the Japanese market. You think they're gonna roll over and take It? Then I don't think you truly understand business. Getting 5 smaller, reasonably appealing titles can do far more for momentum than one super popular game with nothing else.

If I were Sony, and I were trying to keep my handheld alive to ward off as much of the Switch as possible, Id choose a handful of games like this to convince people it has a steady stream of releases you can't get on other handhelds. That does FAR more than spending all their money one one big release that comes out of nowhere, with nothing else all year long. And this includes crossbuy too? You mean to tell me they saw it a better investment to scale down and develop for VITA, handing out free copies, than Switch which could run as is and demand full price for every copy, on a thriving install base that will be just as large by release? Come on...

So please spare me the conspiracy theorist accusations.

Either way, my beef isn't really with Sony but 3rd parties. Because even of they did secure a handful of releases on PS4/Vita, it's only a handful. I'm more concerned with the other 99% that have no excuse.

@JaxonH Don't worry, it doesn't offend me.

What's mainsteam though? When I look at the list of Vita games, everything I see is niche, at least in my point of view. I have no idea what's popular in Japan or not. Ys Origin? Danganronpa? Steins:Gate? And I only know of these games because they are localised. I would certainly put Catherine below all of those. I'd say it's a pretty niche game...

Hate this Sony conspiracy BS that gets posted every time a game is announced for Sony platforms and nothing else.

I actually can't believe people would suggest that Sony are paying for a game like Catherine not to be released on switch. Come one people, you are reaching massively. Catherine is a niche game, doesn't sell consoles but Sony are gonna go all out to keep it from nintendo. Yeah okay, now let's get back to reality.

Switch isn't gonna get every game just like Sony and MS don't get every multi platform game.

You are just speculating with no evidence at all.

@JaxonH Seems like you were the one that introduced hostility into the thread.
I don't care for Sony's integrity. They provide a product that I like, so I buy it and support it.
I hate the way Nintendo nickles and dimes their consumers with overpriced accessories and ludicrous game pricing, but they provide a product that I like, so I buy it and support it.
We are nothing, but numbers to these corporations.

My 'issue' with your opinion was that your post despite being critical of Atlus/Sega/Sony for a lack of logic, ironically lacks logic.
Like I said before as I don't care to regurgitate my own post, money-hatting isn't the only reason a game is exclusive.

Is your issue with Second/Third party exclusives in general, or is it just Sony/PlayStation exclusives?

Anyways, you carry on believing what you will.

@kobashi100
You can be ignorant if you choose.

You look at indies, what do they always say... we can't afford to do exclusives. Multiplatform is a MUST. Then you see Guacamelee 2 as a PS4 exclusive.

I hate it when people refuse to think critically. As if the mere notion of a cutthroat multi billion dollar corporation paying for games to come to their platform over others is some tin foil hat concept, despite them openly doing so time and time again.

@Octane
Those games are more niche than Catherine, for sure. And it's not just Catherine. It's Secret of Mana too. It's this potential FF Collection. I'm betting there's more too. This is just the beginning, I'm sure.

And it's not that Vita can't be a viable platform, it's that... how can you, at this juncture, seem Vita viable but not Switch. And if it were just one publisher... ok. But from multiple big name publishers? All in a relatively short time span? That deserves, at the very least, to warrant the question to be asked.

@StuTwo
They do have alot of power over developers and publishers. Too much, if you ask me. PS4 has become so profitable for 3rd parties that Sony can leverage the platform in exchange for favors.

All I know is, the higher the install base grows, the more expensive it will become to pay for exclusives or pay for antiexclusives (specifically skipping one platform). Most of this stuff we'll never have any sure proof of because it's done behind closed doors. But we can see the effects. Just like the wind. You don't have to see it to observe it blowing the leaves of the trees.

Bayonetta 1&2 normal and special edition for switch available to pre order on Nintendo store uk

While I don't agree with the Sony conspiracy thing either, wouldn't it actually make more sense to go after these niche to mid-tier games when it comes to countering Switch? Put it this way, how many of the big AAA releases is the Switch gonna get anyways? Not a lot of them. The niche and mid-tier games though? Those'll make up a huge portion of the Switch's 3rd party support. So while moneyhatting one or two of these games wouldn't make much sense, doing it for a bunch of them? That'll make a huge dent on the Switch.

http://www.siliconera.com/2017/12/19/valkyria-chronicles-4-de...

Kind of cool: the protagonist of VC1 will be featured in one of VC4's DLC missions.

I'm playing Valkyria Chronicles right now, and, I have to tell you, it's fantastic. The only thing it (desperately) needs is a FF button, like in Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., so that you don't have to spend three minutes watching enemy units shuffle around every other turn. But in every other way, it's an absolute gem.

I'm so happy we're getting this on Switch!

@JaxonH and what about runner 3. Are you gonna blast Nintendo for paying for exclusivity for that game..

I have no doubt Sony, nintendo and MS pay for exclusivity for certain software and I don't have a problem with it but no I am not buying this theory that Sony paid for Catherine. That's pie in the sky stuff!

@Fight_Teza_Fight
And I take no issue with your problems with Nintendo. Personally I don't think an extra five or ten bucks is that big of a deal when Sony and Microsoft were the first ones to raise the price by 5 or 10 bucks when the generation started, but if that angers you, then by all means... I respect it.

But my post wasn't hostile toward any person here, and I don't think it lacked logic. Observing anomalies and connecting the dots is thinking critically, and an intelligent person doesn't need everything spelled out for them to form a conclusion about what's going on.

I do take issue with Sony's tactics. I've always found them to be a scummy company that will do anything to sabotage their competition in any way possible. But that doesn't really angers me because I've always known about that. I've observed these tactics for years and years and years. Really I think my frustration comes from third parties in particular, some because they go along with propositions from rival companies to shirk Switch, but most of them simply because they refuse to believe the platform can be profitable for them despite how well it's doing.

And it just seems to come from all sides. Sony working against Switch. Third parties working against Switch... even Nintendo themselves are working against Switch by leaving the system out of date with their online and voice chat and VC. And that's frustrating because this is the first system that I've truly loved to the extent that I do. And it has nothing to do with who made the system it's just a really awesome system. I really enjoyed Wii U, but I never got bent out of shape over 3rd parties because A the system just wasn't that appealing and I personally would rather play them on PS4, at that time, and B it was failing horribly so they had good reason to avoid it. As a result, Sony wasn't really going out of their way to see it's demise.

But for the first time in is long as I can remember I have the perfect platform in my hands... everyone loves it, everyone wants games on it and it seems like the entire industry is set on seeing to it that that doesn't happen.

@kobashi100
Look, I don't know if they paid for Catherine or not. All I know is the trend I see.

And trends are what matter. If there was a clear trend of Nintendo paying to keep games off rival platforms, then yes. But we both know that's not the case. And it's likely Runner 3 was a developer decision or just temporary, cause you know dang well Nintendo doesn't pay for exclusives unless they're funding the game, and they only fund games that no one else wants to back, or games they specifically want made from the ground up.

Bomberman, Octopath Traveler, Fast RMX, Runner3, De Mambo, Kamiko, Golf Story, etc... exclusives aren't... exclusive to the PS4 or Vita. Stuff like that happens all the time.

@JaxonH It's great the you love the Switch as much as you do, but seems to me like you can't see the forest for the trees. The vita is a JRPG haven. It continues to get new games on a near weekly basis, because whilst the install base is small, it's base has real purchasing power. http://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/04/drinkbox_people_dont_u... (still holds true) .
Big picture, the Switch is doing great. It'll continue to do great and if it does you can bet MS and Sony will react.

I just think it's a bit excessive getting upset over these things. The Switch just has to continue to sell well and make it impossible to be ignored. Even then exclusives, for whatever reason, are never going away- nor should they.

@Fight_Teza_Fight
99.5% of the time I am not frustrated or upset about anything. I think most people who know me here will attest to that. But this has getting under my skin a bit.

Btw, that article is almost 4 years old. Check the weekly top 20 in Japan and you'll see that information is sorely out of date. It used to be true several years ago... but not anymore. And certainly not since the Switch has launched.

@Octane
That's true, but Bomberman was a launch game. New systems almost always launch with a 3rd party exclusive (Assassins Creed Revelations for Vita). And Project Octopath is an exclusive. They do happen sometimes. I never said every single exclusive is paid for. But PS4 has had 30x the exclusives. And when even the Vita, which is literally on par with Wii U sales, is still getting exclusive releases 6 years in... can you say the same for Wii U? With 3DS it's believable because the games would need to be rebuilt for PS4/Switch, and that costs money. But when a game is releasing on PS4 and can easily be ported and run on Switch... and they choose Vita instead... the lowest selling platform over the highest, and half the sales will be free since its crossbuy... it's puzzling.

PS4/Switch/Vita... understandable
PS4/Switch... understandable
PS4/Vita... how do you conclude this is the most profitable approach?

I do see where Jaxon is coming from, since games like Catherine are somewhat less niche than most of the anime garbage the Vita gets, but I don't really think Sony is planning some glorious ressurection of the Vita or trying to steal a bunch of Switch sales. That system lost basically all steam a long time ago. I could maybe see them switching gears to make the Vita look like a more respectable platform to pave the way for a possible future handheld or something, but I don't think we can jump to that conclusion based on a few slightly less niche games that most people have never heard of and probably won't rush out to buy a Vita for.

@JaxonH I'm pretty sure Catherine: Full Body is only cross-save between the two platforms, not cross-buy.

@JaxonH Like I said, the Vita is still getting new games on a weekly basis, in Japan at least. I don't know most of them, but a good chunk of them are probably exclusive. If people didn't buy the games, they wouldn't release them on the Vita. But apparently there's still enough money to be made to warrant more releases on that system.