Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

No, this is likely just a coincidence.

Now Deus Ex and Mass Effect 3 on Wii U, THAT was sabotage. I'm still mad at how the best version of Human Revolution, legit one of the best Wii U games, was screwed over.

3rd parties probably see most of their sales coming from double dips for the portability, or Switch only users anyway. speaking of, Burnout remastered could've easily been on Switch when the other versions released.

@Grumblevolcano
They always do that every single time a game comes to Switch. Out of the last hundred games I must’ve seen 90 of them on sale the week of their Switch release.

Idk why. It’s almost as if they want as many people as possible to buy on other platforms so they can truly gage how many extra sales they’re getting with a Switch release. That or they just want increased revenue and figure the combined bump from a sale + new platform release will maximize profit.

But I doubt it’s going to pull any sales away from Switch. If someone just wanted to play the games the cheapest way possible without any regard for anything else other than price, they probably already own the games since they’ve been on sale multiple times over the years. If they’ve waited 5 years and passed on Bioshock during every other $10 sale, Idk why this one would suddenly turn their head. Anyone interested in the Switch version either A already owns the games elsewhere and wants to double dip for hybrid play, or B just isn’t interested if it’s TV only, but is interested with hybrid advantage and gyro.

edit
Was bummed when Tony Hawk didn’t get announced for Switch. How big of a rock to these goofs live under? It’s not one of my favorite games of all time or anything, but it’s a great game play focused game that’s good to just pick up and play. Exactly the kind of game I like and exactly the kind of game that’s a good fit for Switch.

But since I’ve been playing my Win 2 handheld again lately, once I remembered it was a portable GameCube/Wii clamshell with 4.5 hrs battery life in Dolphin, I decided why not just play Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 on GC? There were half a dozen different entries on the system but I think that’s the best one. It doesn’t look as good as some of Nintendo‘s games because the assets weren’t hi res, but it looks good enough and it plays great all the same. So I’ve totally got portable Tony Hawk. Why am I fretting? Not to mention, the Steam version may even end up playable on low settings. That would be even better.

I do hope they’re just planning for a later Switch release to capitalize on double dippers. But with Activision it seems like, if it’s not a cartoon, they see no market for it on Switch. So I’m glad I have other options. Still, a Switch release would be preferable.

Honestly I doubt that most of the actual developers would be doing this. But I completely believe the business side would. Bringing ports of 3rd party titles to Switch is something that requires extra work compared to bringing a PS4/Xbone or PC game to one of the others. That extra work translates to extra cost and businesses are always looking for any possible excuse to cut cost. Having the "excuse" that previous releases didn't sell well on the platform is a common justification for not releasing more on it.

Hell, EA and a few other studios have openly admitted that. Even when the previously released games they referred to were deliberately and excessively inferior ports. Such as missing entire game modes or in EA's case, even straight re-releasing the same game with a new label and nothing but an updated player roster. (DidYouKnowGaming did a great video on that)

It would be like Platinum releasing "Bayonetta 3" on Switch, but it's just Bayo 2 with some new character skins and music and then releasing "the same" game on PS5, but it's a whole new entry in the series. That's what EA did with at least 2 FIFA games on Nintendo systems and later went on to say low sales were the reason they weren't releasing full new entries on the systems later on.

@JaxonH
I think it's a "Spyro" - it'll come to Switch after a bit, but they're gonna leave us wondering for awhile. I mean, it'll sell plenty on the other consoles, but on Switch...seriously, I think it would outsell either of the other consoles. I really do. Oh well (for now).

@rallydefault
I do too, actually. At least, I think it would if it was coming day and date. Because a ton of people would just buy the Switch version right away. Now theyll buy some other version first thinking it's not coming, boosting sales elsewhere, and then some wont want to buy again, lowering sales on Switch.

I think these companies are severely out of touch though. Switch will be a 100 million seller all day. Where's the support.

@JaxonH I don’t necessarily think they’re out of touch. What I think the problem most publishers have, is the thought that the Switch needs more resources to port any new games over to it and that’s something they’re seemingly not too fond of doing, regardless how well it may end up selling. It’s all about money and the less they need to spend, the happier they are.

@FragRed
With massive companies it's always a mix. I'm sure some of their decision-makers at the top are definitely out-of-touch old dudes who haven't even played a video game in decades.

@rallydefault Thats certainly true, though today’s upper management is put into position to maximise profits for shareholders while spending as little as possible in the process. It’s why Activision and EA had no problem letting hundreds of employees go despite record breaking yearly profits last year.

These are companies that employ specialists who’s sole purpose is understanding how to get people to spend more money on gambling mechanics which just goes to show how little they actually care about anything and why wasting resources on the Switch is likely not in their interest - too much money and not enough reward. They want PS/Xbox type sales with a good monthly return on in game transactions which they know they won’t get from Nintendo owners.

@FragRed
It's all about the "game as a service" model these days, sadly. You can't just release a polished, fun game. It has to have some sort of ongoing potential.

@rallydefault Unfortunately that’s going to be a real big issue moving forward as big publishers push out more of these kinds of games. We are already seeing the market become saturated with games as a service to the point 3 of them failed massively last year alone. Yet, they have kind of forced themselves to continue this trend because it is potentially incredibly lucrative and that’s what shareholders want.

In time I’m sure something else will come along that will see even greater amounts of potential revenue and they’ll all quickly move into that direction.

@FragRed
Yea...sigh

lol

I don't even know what to say anymore. I guess it's "get with the times" or start building one heck of a retro collection. And keep picking up some polished indie games every now and then. I've already put more hours into Stardew Valley than...well, probably more than anything except BotW and Mario Kart.

@rallydefault I think indie games are going to be playing a real big part of gaming moving forward in general. Whether any of these developers can make enough big selling (in terms of indie sales) games that they can grow to become the future AA developers, remains to be seen. Obviously Devolver Digital is already getting there, so the next few years will be interesting to watch.

What difficulty setting would you recommend for XCOM 2? Played plenty of tactical RPGs in the Fire Emblem style but in the XCOM style I've only played Mario + Rabbids.

@rallydefault Admittedly games as services do suck but as far as i can think of its not that prevalent in AAA games. The only games i can think of are BF5 and Fallout 76 which was launched 2 years ago and Anthem last year. Most AAA games can’t really be defined as games as service even if they do have some sort of microtransactions.

@diwdiws
What AAA games of this year aren't games as services?

@rallydefault hmmm at the top
Of my head:

RE3
FF7R
Gears tactics

For upcoming:

Cyberpunk
Dying Light 2
Total War: Troy
Halo: Infinite
Last of Us 2

@diwdiws I hate to break it to you, but last year alone there were 4 triple A games as a service launches. Anthem, Division 2 and Tom Clancy’s Breakpoint (the first was released by EA, the latter were developed and published by Ubisoft. Both triple A developers and publishers). The other game was free to play Apex Legends which was also released by EA.

@FragRed oh yeah i forgot about those. Though in dont think Apex is AAA. Regardless, thats 3 games out of what? 20+ AAA games released last year, hardly call that prevalent or being “saturated”

@diwdiws I think many would argue Apex Legends is triple A. It’s budget is right up there, it’s just unlike Anthem, it’s free to play and was actually well received. I would also throw in Call if Duty Warzone into the triple A games as a service mix too.