Nintendo is "Being Very Selective" on Which Indie Devs Will Be Allowed On Switch eShop

meme run 2

Hopefully this is code for "Go away, RCMADIAX."

Edit> also. That Treefall Studios kid. Go away, Eli, no one likes your "games"!

I think rcmadiax is already in the switch listings though

So no to a RCMADIAX collection?

Good, nobody wants Steam Greenlight.

Definitely the right decision from a consumer perspective, but sucks to be an indie dev on the outside looking in. Hopefully can be a motivator to improve the quality of the games I make.

"We don't want to open up the floodgates quite yet"

Yet?

Good, there is way too many "unworthy" games (for lack of a better term) in the eShops. It's more of an issue when filtering games by price, because the list is still huge to the point it's irrelevant due to many quick-buck games in the list.

And yet, they let the developer of 1 2 Switch go and ahead and release that game.

Watching your actions more than your words, Nintendo.

I'm fine with this. Less junk is better.

@deemdadim What a shame. I was really excited to see what he might do on the Switch, which asset-flipped title he'll make next...

/s

I'll kind of miss the adventures of Nintendo Life articles about shovelware like Meme Run.

I can only imagine developers like Ninja Pig Studios and TreeFall Studios were the leading reason for this.

I wonder if "opening the floodgates" on Wii U and 3DS kind of helped Nintendo to recognise which developers and games were going to provide the highest quality content in the long-term future. Certainly, the Nindies Showcase seems to have indicated that, and a lot of the developers involved have already brought previous games to Nintendo platforms. Reigning it in a bit makes perfect sense for the time being.

Seems sensible enough to me.

Thank goodness. The race to the bottom we've seen over the past couple of years in the Wii U eShop drowns out the quality content.

Well that explains why RCMADIAX didn't get a dev kit...

@bluesdance You need to provide sources if you're going to spread scare stories like that around.

Besides, if RCMADIAX was already onboard, don't you think there'd be at least one confirmed game by now - it only takes them 10 minutes to make each one.

Kinda worrying that they're not opening the floodgates "yet". There should always be a high level of quality control. No one wants an eShop filled with garbage.

I do not think we need to flame one developer in particular, but I applaud this news. We are not investing our hard-earned bucks in the Switch to buy $1.49 games that belong on mobile.

@KirbyTheVampire

I think he's being very polite / diplomatic in his wording, rather than say "the junk peddlers have been pushed to the curb." Which seems to be just exactly how they've handled them, and would have taken some cojones honestly.

Aw. No more Flappy Bird clones?

@OptometristLime Haha, I would have loved to see the reaction if he actually did word it like that.

That's probably all it is. I was just a bit worried that he meant for the first while they'll keep up the quality and then start being more relaxed about it as the library fills out.

Wii U has a lot of crappy indie games. >_<
Hopefully Switch has some good indie games like Earthlock Festival of Magic, Overcooked, etc.
No more too cheap indie games with garbage quality.

@KirbyTheVampire
Do you think some of Smartphone games even crappier than Wii U or 3DS ?

Welp, there goes my chances for putting my Mario and Zelda rip offs on the eshop

That'll be me out, then..
Making a brand new freeware game every week has it's downsides.
.. no matter how good I'm getting at doing it!

Just a drive to get this prototype done ready to pitch later this year as planned!

@Megas
I too, wish Nintendo would keep their store open to everyone!
Super talented studios such as Ninja Pig were unfairly punished and I hope they come back home free one-day!/yes, this is sarcasm.

Well, I'd like to hope I'm allowed in soon...

Thank you Nintendo.

I guess this means I won't be able to order a kit just yet.

Many of the indies I talked to never managed to finish and release their Wii U games, and select examples of the games that did come out through self-publishing were of a questionable nature.

Game development is hard, yo.

Well done, we don't want an eShop flooded with low quality contents.

Consoles are a closed system of quality. Or should be anyways.

This is the right approach. I was noticing how almost all the indies announced looked interesting

I don't know if any has already seen the current Indy game list for Switch?
But over half of it is..... well how to put it tactically..... mobile port garbage.
So their screening is already failing to be honest and I shiver by the thought of them opening up even more.

I guess they somehow had to, since they only had Zelda as proper launch title. /sigh

Nintendo, you do understand Rocket League is class, don't you?

Let then in. Or else.

Thank God.

@JamesCoote This is a smart move. Consoles have historically had tge perception of a higher standard. PSN has become the new Greenlight (which is going away) this year (Life of Black Tiger, Skylight 2, etc) so it's definitely a welcome policy, and hopefully indies who can produce somethung of quality can get Nintendo to approve in a timely fashion, and those garbage games can flood mobile.

@MrGawain There's rumors and loaded quotes from Psyonic, so we'll see. I think the biggest issue is the network play across platforms. As progressive as Nintendo has been lately, maybe, but I don't see it happening.

I hope the Switch has greater appeal. This will allow third parties to develop for it and Nintendo will have to depend less on crappy "indie/mobile" ports to fill out the catalog. The indies that are currently being shown off right now are a step in the right direction for quality assurance.

Some good news.

I'm hoping this will out cheap shovel ware and let the real talent shine. Let's do it.

Guess the untalented will have to go back to leeching money of their loved ones. Good job Nintendo!

First Steam closes down Greenlight, now Nintendo tightens up the eShop! Both good things for gamers!

Now the Unity asset flippers can stay on Google Play... or go to the PS4, as some already have. They can have 'em!

I'm totally ok with this. Quality over quantity.

Lol poop games will always make it to a system,looking at you Tumbleweed and 1-2switch plus others. There will be loads more in the future

@JamesCoote True, but I'm sure it wouldn't be super hard to get a pitching session, and if you've got a game worth showing, Nintendo will likely greenlight it.

Good, becouse there are lots of bad games out there.

There is a developer on mobile gaming that makes awesome games. Gameloft i forgot the name of their online shooter, i would love that game to appear on the Eshop.

I'm glad they're introducing at least SOME quality control on the eshop. I too felt that the 3ds and wii u eshop were getting cluttered with low quality titles and I'm glad to see that there will be some curation.

Some people have good arguments saying this will close out some talented developers, but lets be honest there are some real bad games out there that would really look bad for the switch if they were on the eshop.

@Fuz To be fair, he's a one-guy-team and has only made one game.

Thank goodness.

Hopefully I won't have to wade through five pages of RCMADIAX games and horrifically bad pet sims and generic point n clicks to see if any good games are actually on sale in a given week.

@gcunit
Budget games aren't as big of a deal when there is a strong line up of excellent games to hide them behind. As much as people here know about those games releasing in low quality it was pretty hard to find them on the eShop. Most Wii U owners wouldn't know what you were talking about.

I have to say that the amount of indie gaming coming to Switch is even more impressive if Nintendo is being tighter on the vetting process.

I've seen a few comments dismissing the indie games announced in that video but many of them have a very good reputation or were made by impressive developers, so I felt exactly the opposite. This partly explains why.

I will say that as much as I enjoy old school pixelated graphics, though, the lineup is a little heavy with them. Could make a reputation for Switch indies that doesn't sit well with some. (No problems here!)

@Pikachupwnage Does this happen? Where does this happen? Don't most people just browse the eShop page and click on cool stuff?

@Fuz Well, Axiom Verge did come to the Wii U, however. Stardew Valley didn't and has longer legs, so that's probably why it's there. It's more relevanr right now, and it will stay "newer" longer.

And surely, quality isn't the sole criterion. WayForward is sorely missing, for example.

Blah Blah RCMADIAX Blah Blah.

I'm really happy about this. They seem to have learned from all the shovelware on the garbage Wii U Eshop. They hardly even regulated it at all!

Looks like Ninja Pig and Skunk Software are going to have to find another place to turn into a zoo.

His take on the pillars of what makes Switch what it is and how developers should view it (I like this):
“First and foremost that this is a console experience that you take on the go,” he said. “[Also] we’ve got multiplayer baked into the box and are really emphasizing the fun of multiplayer experiences, the fun of playing games with other people. And there’s the portability – the fact that you can take this on the go. Just with those elements, even without having to explain the system itself, we can explain those pillars being important to us.”

Good.

@NintySnesMan TumbleWeed looks awesome. 1-2 Switch looks like a blast as a party game (but priced too high). Those aren't even close to examples of poorly made games that should be swept away, in my opinion. You might not like them but they are well made. Next you'll say Just Dance is also "poop" and it's a multi million seller that people love to play and pay for repeatedly.

Thank the good lord. Devastating news for FreeFall Studios and RCMADIAX.

Does this mean RCMADIAX---

Oh, it looks like I'm not the only one who had that train of thought
They honestly should be bringing back that Nintendo Seal of Quality. Better to have a bunch of quality titles than a flood of complete butt paste like a big chunk of the Wii and Wii U eshop had.

So no games from Ninja Pig Studios? Oh... That's too bad...

@aaronsullivan
Nope sorry mate but your choice of gaming is low if u think they r good games,they r very poor,shovelware springs to mind. Now MK and zelda are great games even indie games can be gems but come on man 1-2 switch is horrendous and many ppl have said so in their comments
Anyways your right I think justdance is crap with a cherry on top. Don't take this the wrong way mate its just 1persons opinion that's all

Ohh, so THIS explains why EA doesn't have games on Nintendo consoles! (rimshot)

I'm a little concerned about not opening the floodgates "yet", but hopefully this continues and the days of every platform having all the mobile trash are done.

@aaronsullivan I think a lot of those games in the showcase, or for me, about half of them, look great, but the indie market REALLY needs to tone down the retro cash-in games and get with modern games to be taken seriously. I love the 8 & 16 bit formats, and I don't want them to die off totally, but it feels to me like "inide" means 80% clones, "spiritual successors" and "homages" of 1985-1995 games and 20% modern games. The only one I give a pass to there is Blaster Master because it legitimately IS the sequel to those games that never happened, from the same creator, decades later. And his attempts at modern aren't so hot... Shovel Knight was unique by using the art style, but nailing the level design by making it spot on the way it used to be done, but modernizing it to modern scale, so it feels like "what if the NES were released today" rather than an homage to old games.

I love that there's new 8 & 16 bit content, but it should be a treat like dessert, not the entree, which is where the indie market seems to be right now.

@XCWarrior What's the problem with 1-2-Switch? I think we can all agree that it is too expensive and it would have been best if it was a pack-in, but so far I have seen nobody who played it say it was bad quality.
In fact most people seem to be surprised how fun it is.

@NEStalgia In my opinion there are two reasons for the popularity of 8- and 16-bit aesthetics that kind of go hand in hand:
1.) The style is popular with a lot of gamers, probably mostly because of nostalgia.
2.) It is a lot easier to create good looking pixel-art compared to more detailed 2D graphics. And let's not even talk about the effort that goes into 3D graphics.

@XCWarrior
Am with u on this. 1-2switch won't be the last crap game for switch. Many more to come regardless of what Ninty say. If switch fails they will open the floodgates but let's hope it don't come to that

> War flashbacks of meme run

Bad policy in my opinion as it'll deter new developers to focus on the Switch. Sure.. it probably filters out some crap however they can easily reject titles based on quality. I say open up more.. forget opening the floodgates destroy the damn gate! Just imagine the gems of tomorrow going exclusive to rival platforms

I think that ratings, reviews and activity charts take care of the quality issue fine.

The problem with the Wii U and 3DS eShop was the complete lack of organization. You hit a genre button on the main page, and then slide through page after page of who knows what. There were plenty of games hidden in the eShop, but no effective way to discover them.

@NintySnesMan I don't think 1-2-Switch is a "bad" game. I just think it's (very) incorrectly priced, and they've marketed it, or included it with Switch marketing with incorrect placement because they greedily wanted to take one last aim at recreating the Wii phenomenon. It's failure (if it fails) will be good for gamers like us, as they'll spend less focus on that sort of endeavor in the future. I don't think they'll try to duplicate the "retail priced Wii games" thing again if this doesn't monetize. They might make more like it as an eShop download...and that wouldn't be a terrible thing.

@countzero I completely agree, most of that is a given. For now it's working I guess. But it's 2017. Selling games that look like 1990 games and limit their scope to games of 1990 won't stay vital forever. There's very good content there but sooner or later indies are going to have to move on to at least 1998. Hand drawn 2D graphics will never go out of style while pixel art has really become a meme. I DO want to know there will always be new 8/16 bit pixel art style games being made out there. But at some point it just can't be the majority of everything "indie."

@NEStalgia To be fair the move to more modern but still retro graphics is already happening. I don't remember any specific game right now, but I remember seeing a lot of N64-style 3D platformers recently.

@Pod This isn't meant to be a knock or anything at all, so please don't take it that way. Yes, making games is hard. And so is playing football, hockey, baseball, etc. And in the same context, just because someone can play any of these sports, it doesn't mean they are good enough to play for a living. And I wouldn't expect that anyone would want to pay to see their neighbor dribble a ball halfway down the field before sucking air.

If an indie has a good enough business plan and financial wherewithal to allow for the proper time and envoronment to create and publish a great game and, most importantly, enough talent to make a great game, Nintendo would likely pick the studio up as a licensee. Or at the least a larger studio or publisher might recognize the talent and hire an individual on as an employee.

But if any of those are lacking, then I'm just as happy not to see it even offered to me as a consumer. My money is reserved for the "A" game I have no interest in funding someone's learning process for sub par games. There is so much utter trash out there, I'm surprised the market hasn't crashed 5 times over like in '84. I am probably from the old school of gaming (and an old fart for sure), but I miss the old days of packaged retail games that are licensed and filtered through the scrutiny of hardware manufacturers for some level of quality. Sure, there were games back then that were crappy. And a few crappy publishers too. But back then, there were way more good games and trustworthy publishers than there are today - by exponential margins. They cut their teeth to get to where they were and there was a large number of games and publishers who just never made the big time because of the high bar in quality.

Just because someone wants to be be an all-pro footballer doesn't mean they can or should be one. And don't make me pay my hard earned cash only to find out ot was the latter.

@Fuz That's a disgraceful omission.

I love this line from the full interview text: "Part of Nintendo’s Switch indie strategy is to partner with smaller, high-quality publishers."

That's kind of an oxymoron and defines how they're massively confusing what the term "indies" is. If they're a small publisher with portfolio of vetted games, they're not an indie! They're a publisher! Those aren't indie games!

I actually tend to much prefer those kinds of "indie(grr)" games to true indie, but I don't know when it became industry standard to refer to a portfolio of games brought through a publisher as an "indie". Why not just call Assassin's Creed "indie" while we're at it?

@countzero I think some of the bigger ones in the showcase like Snake Pass and Hover exemplify that a lot too. And, of course Rime. They're out there, and I realize that's a more expensive project to manage. It's a tightrope to walk to be sure. But if "indies" forever consists of "pick a system from 15-30 years ago and try to duplicate everything it did to cash in on a retro hook" that's the only thing indie games will be seen as, games that are intentional throwbacks. I'm not saying indies should be making games like BotW.

It also confuses matters like the above when "indies" means everything from a one man show garage developer to Yooka and Bloodstained that are at this point big budget corporate projects.

@countzero Are we reading the same reviews? I see, "it's fun in groups, but it gets tired quickly. Not sure how often I'll pick it up after this." Stuff like that.

Basically. It's a game. Nothing special. Hence 6/10

Sorry that's anywhere near what people said about Wii Sports. You were hooked. Because it was fun things to do, not milking cows, counting ice cubs, doing cowboy stare downs and whatever other stupid things it has you do.

I can't let the milking cows things go. And that's the game they led with during the big reveal. Disgusting.

@AcesHigh Totally agree.....and your football analogy was spot on - "I wouldn't expect that anyone would want to pay to see their neighbor dribble a ball halfway down the field before sucking air"

Brilliant.

@Enoch72 Thank you sir. Not bad for a "Yank", eh?

@xcwarrior good point on that one. What a contradiction when you release garbage like 1-2 Switch and charge 50.00 dollars for it. At least Nintendo land was a much better game and free. What happened to the Quality assurance team on 1-2 switch were they asleep on this or what? also in previous articles I too agree that 1-2 switch looks like a laugh for a minute or two but come on not at 50 dollars. I mean wow I get to simulate milking a cow and woo hoo I aimed my joy con at you quicker on quick draw. The casual audience there trying to sell that too are not going to drop 299.99 on a system and then 70 dollars or so for a pair of more joy cons and then drop 50.00 on 1-2 switch. I just don't see this happening with the masses. Wii grabbing the casuals well the Wii was 199.99 and then dropped to 99.99 and I believe it came with wii sports as a pack in as well and much more too do and doesn't get boring after a minute or two of laughter then sit on the shelf collecting dust as 1-2 switch would.

I hope this just means they're going to take a more active role in curating and assessing indie games and that it won't just be a case of "we're not familiar with you (the developer), so you can't develop for Switch".

I would think most people mainly want to see games like meme run or that zombie runner game getting the boot.

@Rman12 The WiiU sold a ton of units at $250. And that was to the casuals. It didn't drop to $200 until year... 4? But the first half of what you said I totally agree with.

@Dizzard Nintendo is saying, "Look, we'll have a low level of quality control unless the good devs won't develop for the system. If that happens, we'll let whatever we can get on the system." It's PR speak much like, the puppet in the WH who successfully conned the majority of America with his speech Tuesday.

@xcwarrior I did reference nintendo land in my comment about it being much better and free. But the cost factor of switch and peripherals and 1-2 switch would run a casual near 500 dollars and i just don't see a mass market for it for the casuals and i was talking about how their trying to market to the casuals and the Wii being successful because it was 199.99 and then dropped to 99.99 and came with wii sports.

So people are agreeing with Nintendo being selective on indie games on the eShop?! Good.
It's strange because I clearly remember people being perfectly happy with crap like The Letter or Meme Run being released on the eShop. Some even went as far as defending the developers' right to release whatever they wanted for whatever price they thought appropriate.
I swear I remember people saying that among the authors of masterpieces such as Spikey Walls and Tested With Robots, we may have a potential next Miyamoto, and this is a free world anyway, so if you don't want those games, just don't buy them.
And now the general opinion is that Nintendo is doing good in closing the gates.
I don't know what to say.

@Rman12 I agree with you on the Nintendo Land thing, but AGAIN, the Wii was $250 to start. It was released in November 2006, did not drop in price until November 2009, after they sold more than 50 million Wiis. That's all. $99 version didn't come until 2012.

I skipped out on the WII. I always meant to get one but I wasn't really gaming at the time and had no consoles. I was going to pick one up in April of 2013 but then the WII - U was out so i wanted that so I could have two consoles in one. I didn't realize that about the time frame in price but either way WII sports so much more you can do and more depth to the game. I just don't see casuals interested in switch for 1-2 switch at least i don't know any. Everyone I know thinks its a joke and doesn't want to pay that much to invest in simulating milking cows or counting balls. Also quick draw pointing your joy con at one another to see who draws the quickest this isn't going to appeal to casuals the way wii sports did or even the balance board with WII fit. At least those had something that appealed to the casuals and not this even though its trying to market to them. Everyone I know laughs and says heck no I wouldn't buy it.

@NintySnesMan yes you are right, and what gets me is that there are lots of tight great games that are extremely simple on other platforms comma but it's like some of these budget guys seem to forget, if it is not fun without any graphics then it won't be fun with better graphics,

One game that I have had a lot of fun with that I would consider a budget and quick throw together game is dumpster bear on Wii U, yes it has stopped things from unity and all that but it is actually a very competent platformer comma I am enjoying the heck out of that game comma and honestly they actually use the touchscreen good for bonus levels as well

I hope they stay strict, dont want it to turn into smartphone appstores, which is 99% garbage.

@Jayvir I wonder if RCMADIAX realizes how many people read this news and immediately thought of him.

@MarcelRguez That one game is a better Metroid representative than anything Nintendo has made recently. That one man came up with something better than anything Metroid related that a multi billion dollar company struggled to create over the past several years.

@spizzamarozzi Nintendo fans used to be resistant to things like Day 1 patches/DLC (or similar practices), mobile style abuse in gameplay mechanics (various Pokémon eShop titles), and releasing hardware with unfixed or broken functionality, too. (Left JoyCon connection issues.) What can I say...

"...Times change."

When RCMADIAX was in the comments of a live stream for TheBitBlock, people were telling him about the shovelware, his response was that he will be porting all his trash to the Switch...

Looks like not. Quality wins.

@Jayenkai If your avatar is your own work, I'm already pretty intrigued. Maybe you can expand on one of those freeware games in your spare time while ALSO working on the other games (gaaaaaaaah gamedevception) and come up with something pretty cool - or you could do a compilation, sell it for a couple bucks, be the next Wario Ware!

Hopefully that means no more meme runners!

Get rid of the eshop and downloads in general. Make developers put up the cost of printing physical media and the amount of garbage should decrease quite quickly. I would also get rid of PSN and Xbox Live as well — because I am old and grumpy.

@DragonbornRito Yes, I don't think it'll be hard to get a chance to at least pitch.

Obviously every developer thinks their game is great (otherwise they'd be making something else). The big question mark is where Nintendo set the bar. There's an awful lot of middle-of-the-road games out there - good, but not "great". Well made, look good, fun. But does Nintendo need another ten retro-indie 2D pixel platformers?

It's possible Nintendo have set a rough figure for how many indie games they want released on the system this year. Simply because they only have a limited number of technical support and developer relations people to deal with all these indies. Then there's wiggle room for if something exception comes along. But for a merely average game?

My problem for Flight of Light, the game I'm making at the moment, is it superficially looks like a futuristic racer - but not quite as shiny as Redout and Fast Racing RMX. And it plays like a rhythm game, but there's already Runner 3 and Voez. On the plus side, it's family friendly, and designed for motion-control local multiplayer from the ground up. And I've been through lotcheck on Wii U twice before, so I'm not unfamiliar with Nintendo processes. I figure when I submit the finished, polished version for Wii U lotcheck, that's when I'll pitch it for Switch as well.

@AcesHigh You're American? That makes your use of the analogy even more impressive - resisting using the word "soccer" in preference to "football".....which, as we all know, is what the sport should always be called .

@AcesHigh are you an Iron Maiden fan too?

@Hordak

Haha.....a little bit of me 100% agrees with you there (grumpy old men UNITE!). Back in the 'good ole' SNES/N64 days, the "Nintendo Seal of Quality" was much easier to enforce when all games were physical cartridges. Alas, the genie is out of the bottle.....but it's encouraging to see Nintendo bringing back a bit of quality control in the digital download world.

Personally, I'd like to see a lot more quality looking "indie" games like 'Fast RMX' & 'Snakepass'....rather than retro looking 8bit/16bit games.

Good. The PSN is a joke right now and I don't want the eShop going the same way. Its about time we got a bit of curation!

@PlywoodStick I don't think you understood the point I was making.

How long did it take him to make Axiom Verge? How long will it take him to put out another game?

@Enoch72 Yup! Hey, I know my audience Huge Maiden fan. A buddy and I flew to the UK in 2008 just to see them play at Twickenham. And then flew back home the next day. LOL! Look up Aces High Las Vegas on YouTube. One o' them blokes is me.

@AcesHigh

Cool......I was at that Twickenham show too!!
I'm seeing them again at London O2 Arena in May (will be my 17th Maiden show, since first seeing them in '88 - Donington 'Monsters of Rock').

Up The Irons.......and Nintendo!!

@Enoch72 Small world! That was a great show. My first was Somewhere in Time in '87 (I think?)

Will be seeing them again this summer too. Bringing my 7 year-old (and protective earmuffs) to his first Maiden show! Been trying to get a video game publisher to hire Derek Riggs on to create art for a video game. (I know him - lives just south of me in a small town in So Cal). Would be frikkin' awesome!

@AcesHigh
Oh I'm absolutely not advocating that they re-odopt the approach they had with the Wii U. They kind of opened the floodgates and let even the most inexperienced of indies buy full price dev kits without showing any progress on any kind of game.

I'm not necessarily begrudging the unreleased projects people were working on for that system, and I do think quite many that made it out were of too dubious a nature to feel at home on the system. I hold no belief that anyone derserves to make a living from making games if they aren't any good at it.

When the market hasn't crashed the same way as back in '83 just it, I would largely attribute that to lower prices and more transparency. People will know it if a game is crap, and they typically won't have to pay very much for small games anymore.

Some might see individual parts of the market as having crashed over the years, but games as a medium has become too large a phenomenon to crash altogether, is how I see it.

@AcesHigh Wow.....that's awesome! I really wish they'd use Riggs for their artwork again

Bigley will have an even bigger revenge once the floodgates open