Switch Versions Of Oceanhorn And forma.8 Outsell Console Rivals

This is all very promising news! Even though some people don't consider indies as actual "games" or "third party support", there are some great titles out there both already on and coming to the Switch.

I'll get forma.8 but not Oceanhorn

Played and finished Oceanhorn, not a bad game really. Have been thinking of getting forma.8 but got other games to play at the moment, and still looking for the elusive last few shrines in Zelda to be honest. Also with Rayman out on Thursday, and still waiting for my pre-order (but not sent) Binding of Isaac from Amazon, going to be busy until Mario in October. So will probably wait until its discounted then play it later

I got them cheaper quite a while back on iOS. Good mobile games. Lack of games did help the switch sell them, plus it was advertised a lot on various Nintendo websites unlike the PlayStation counterparts.

Good news, but I suspect sales on the other consoles are smaller because there is greater competition from bigger budget "AAA" releases which currently the Switch does not get.

It's good to see Nindies seeing success!

I think a large demographic of the Switch are lapse gamers looking for old-skool experiences. The indie library provides this in bucketloads.

Considering what's available on the switch compared to the Xbox one, PS4 , and PC (nevermind ios), this should be no surprise. Games like these get buried on the other platforms.

im considering getting oceanhorn but waiting till I try the demo first to see if I like it. I got Minecraft recently with the £5 off for Paypal but not sure I actually like it so going to be more cautious from now on!

@OGGamer Agreed!

@Blister & @OGGamer Creating an environment in which good games aren't buried and can be profitable is part of the job of the platform holder though.

Nintendo have clearly been doing that well so far on the Switch. They could have paid the big publishers to pad out the launch with loads of late ports of 2015/2016 PS4 games (much like they did at the Wii U launch) but that would have made it more difficult for these early indie titles to find their own audiences.

Of course I'm sure they'd rather have new AAA games from big publishers pushing the Switch versions of their games heavily but that's never going to happen and its absence they are establishing significant success stories on Switch that will hopefully sow the ground for the future.

I've not played these but I have recently bought both Retro City and Shovel knight on Switch having thought about it for a long time on PS4. Maybe that's my memories of the Nes and Snes that associates these types of game with Nintendo, or the added ability to play as a portable such as a GameBoy (ok that's basically the same thing).

It seems to me that Nintendo gamers are more open to these types of games as opposed to playing yearly updates of sports and the various fps games. I'd love to know the ratio of sales for Sonic Mania

This basically gives indies and 3rd Parties even less of an excuse not to bring their stuff over to Switch. They can't possibly use the excuse that their content wouldn't sell nearly as well on Switch as they do on rivals when news like this is hitting the headlines on a nearly regular basis.

"Oh, we're not sure our content will sell on Switch-"
points to Switch versions of games outclassing all other combined versions released on several games
"Oh..."

At least we now know that anything that doesn't sell well on Switch will probably be because people just genuinely aren't interested in it - that or the game just sucks. The interest and attention is clearly there though, so 3rd parties are running out of excuses real fast.

@ThatNyteDaez Aside from games that just clearly wouldn't run well on the platform (I'm hardly going to judge CDProjektRed for not bringing The Witcher 3 to Switch, for example), I'm done supporting multiplats on other platforms. I'll buy them on the Switch or not at all.

I know people will say that the reason for this is less competition on the eShop...but I wonder if it's also because Indies represent a lot of what's important to Nintendo. (and it's fans)

I mean speaking for myself I feel like Nintendo and Indies have a lot in common in the sense that they march to the beat of their own drum and they often create games that are colourful and different. So I wonder if Nintendo fans are more likely to reward games like that?

I'm going to try the demo for Oceanhorn, but I don't know if I'll get the whole game. I keep seeing people saying it's not very good, but it look fine to me.

Once the demo for Oceanhorn comes out, and I can see how it controls, I think I might jump in!

I've completed Oceanhorn 100%, & am still working on Forma.8. I'd rate Oceanhorn 8/10 & Forma.8 7/10.

The only indie game I bought is Gonner. I just want something short that can be played over and over like Tetris. My 2nd indie will be Dig 2, coming very soon... 🤤

Switch owners are thirsty for any type of content for their overpriced system.

"The interest and attention is clearly there though, so 3rd parties are running out of excuses real fast."

I definitely agree with this. However Nintendo has created a challenging environment for itself and developers. Time is money and development studios want to spend less time making and porting their games. The Switch hardware is different enough to make porting either difficult or impossible. When a studio can port it's often a messy inferior one.

It would be nice to see studios making titles built from the ground up for switch. Studios these days don't seem to be too keen on spending time on another platform when they can just make one game and port it to a similarly powered machine. That goes back to time is money. Capcom spent time developing and optimizing resident evil 2 for the n64 to the point it was considered a technical marvel. Tatsunoko vs Capcom for the Wii is still, Imo, the best capcom vs fighting game out there. Bayonetta on WiiU performs and looks better than more than half of all PS4 and Xbox one games. There are other examples (Xenoblade Chronicles) but the point is studios need to be convinced. An indie studio with much less competition being successful won't do it. I hope it does open their eyes to the possibility.

@Ryno It's hard to argue with that.😂

The Switch is the new home for indies now.

There are number of Indies I haven't picked up because I have them elsewhere. Plus that Switch tax, as they say. It has stopped me from a couple of impulse purchases. Gunvolt's price prompted me to get GV2 on my 3DS, and Cave Story + pushed me over to Steam where it was then on sale for $10. So I feel they need to sort their pricing out, because some of these are budget releases on other platforms that are priced anywhere from high-end mobile pricing to full on portable premium. This isn't NEW (look at the highway robbery that is any console version of Plants Vs Zombies, vs the coffee money it cost on mobile), but since these titles are the most attractive offerings currently for the platform...It stands out.

That said, the Switch is a FANTASTIC home for these. Just last night I was clearing space on an android handheld I have, and decided to uninstall Implosion, since that has a proud home on my Switch. With some sales or price drops (or maybe just around holiday bonus time), I look forward to making the "switch" for some of these games onto this platform. The seamless transition from console to portable, the ease with which it can incorporate traditional gaming and touch input... It is the perfect indie device. And that's coming from someone who invests in GPD products, which are all about giving you Android and Win 10 OS' in a portable gaming-friendly package.

@StuTwo Nicely made points.

Got Oceanhorn, and while i haven't beat it I do enjoy it and play it here and there. It's a nice Zeldaesque clone.

I did enjoy forma.8 but it came out right before Mario ribbids so I did not finish the game. Good interesting game though. Oreanhorn I've been on the fence about maybe when I'm bored or something.

@OGGamer I think a part of the attraction of the Switch - long term and to bigger publishers - is that it's effectively mobile architecture and (regardless of how it works behind the scenes) the modifications to game design that you probably should make for a game to play well on a handheld like the Switch are changes to game design that you definitely need to make to have even a fighting chance on iOS.

So port a game to Switch and you've halfway ported it to iOS and Android. Which is doubly attractive because you can sell the game on Switch for a premium before releasing it at a much lower price on the various app stores (which are, of course, immense).

Oh and since no-one has mentioned it on this thread yet.

Capcom - Disney & Megaman Collections - Massive Sales for retro-style games early in Switch lifespan

There's a couple of missing lines in there somewhere...

For that matter if I were Microsoft I'd be considering the unimaginable: Rare Replay would sell very well on Switch - much better than it did on XBox One.

When the AAA are away the indies will play. This is obviously great news, but considering how mediocre OceanHorn is, this is just more telling that the visibility on these games is extremely high, so it's great for the developers for now, but this will change, see: Atooi's Chicken Wiggle. Essentially, when visibility is high, because the market is barren, you can make money without doing much marketing, even a terrible game can do well. When the marketplaces are crowded and do little marketing, well then your game does poorly.

@Scrummer
Oceanhorn is quite a fun game. I don't see it as a Zelda clone as much as a Zelda love letter. It has its own unique personality. It is worth the investment.

I miss seeing stories like this from well back in the earlier Wii era last I guess. This is going again and again into proving the Switch is more than just a viable platform, but can be a preferred one with that kind of movement. Despite the games maybe costing a little more on Switch (especially if physical) they're out performing their competitors of which some tend to sit in bargain basement sale rotation pits like Steam, Android and iOS.

@Ryno and you just a hater

Which is even more impressive when you consider the number of Switches out there compared to the other consoles. Although, part of the success of indies on Switch is obviously because there's not really many big AAA third titles to find on it, so it's really all about first part games and indies at this point. Great for indies regardless.

The Switch is an indie machine. It's obvious they'd do great and and I'm really happy I get to try non-mainstream games for once

I can't wait to see how Yooka-Laylee on Switch compares to other versions' sales (and A Hat in Time too, if that ever comes). Some games are just bound to sell better on Nintendo platforms, and that makes me even more of a mind that Playtonic should have delayed the other versions in order to have a day-one release on Switch (with the bugs squashed, no less, which would probably give it a much warmer critical response).

@Nincompoop For a short game that can be played over and over like Tetris I would recommend you LEVEL +

@ricklongo I wouldn't compare YL to these other indies. YL has had a long road of promotion dating back to it's huge Kickstarter funding and disc releases for $40 on PS4 and X1. On the flip-side it wasn't' reviewed very well. And it's coming out presumably after Mario at this point. I don't see it doing well, though it's possible a lot fo Switch owners switched their Wii U backing to Switch. I'm guessing those downloads would count as sales but I don't know. I'm also curios to see if they'll keep it at $40 now that it's been $20 on the other consoles on several occasions.

tldr; I'd say YL is less like an indie than a non-indie, not sure if that will hurt or help in this case.

I'd like to see a port of No Man's Sky on Switch, that would be interesting, such a bad launch, but so many improvements made since then. I'd consider that less indie than indie as well.

@Hen1roc Don't hate the player bro, hate the game. Nintendo fans got to celebrate every little thing when they can!

I have gotten well over half of the indie games they've released on switch so far. The fact that I'm never home (work two jobs, very physically active, commute on subway lines) means the switch suits my life much better than steam or ps4 had, and thus I'm willing to give anything even remotely amusing a chance. So keep them coming, you'll get at least one sale from me (eyes rogue legacy and nuclear throne, hopes for a port).

@rjejr You got a point, though I was talking about Yooka less for being an indie and more for being in a genre that's bound to appeal more to Nintendo audiences.

Given that the game was released in a bad techical state, it seems even more of a no-brainer to delay release and get it out on Switch for day one.

Either way, I'm still super excited for it, especially given how I still love Banjo and DK64 to this day, warts and all.

I don't have any of those titles, but I do have Fast RMX and Thumper on the indie side. Wargroove and Shakedown: Hawaii are on my list as well.

@ricklongo I bought an Xbox 1 just for Rare Replay for my kids and I as we had never played any of those games. I still haven't' played much of it, and probably never will, but watching my kid play Banjo Kazooie I can see the influence on YL. We rented YL on PS4 and while I thoroughly enjoyed world 1, world 2 was so-so, world 3 white, world 4 weird, and world 5 more stages than world. So I was pretty disappointed, but I see the BK influence so you should enjoy it. List of recent improvements is long.

And you are right about a 3D platformer on a Ntineod console, it should still sell well despite the delays, cancellation, and bad reviews. The longer it's delayed, the more other games release on Switch, the worse it probably sells. It would behoove them to be in the ND tomorrow since they missed the indie showcase. At least it's only 3.4GB so it would fit on a 4GB cart, so maybe no "Switch tax".

Heh, another indie game finds massive success on the Big N.

@Ryno did you get lost and mean to go to the Xbox one Scorpio site?

Forma.8 is gorgeous. Would recommend it in anyone's library.

The number of competing games as well as the particular genre is gonna be highly relevant.
I think platformers will nearly always do best on Nintendo.

I will say the hybrid nature has me completing more games so I'm more willing to get indies. Plus the switch is so convenient that it is making me want to double dip on games I already have but have not beaten.

This is good news. Now bring all indies, specially the more high end budget ones.

@SuperCharlie78 why? Oceanhorn is good. I love it and my partner 100% and thats rare.

@Scrummer Is a good game. Give it a try.

Oceanhorn is a mobile port...I would never buy a mobile port on the PS4. I cant wait for Stardew Valley on the Switch but this seems like stretching

OceanHorne turned out to be one of my favorites on Switch before I sold the Switch. Just turned out the Switch wasn't for me and from what's coming out over the next year probably won't be for me. So it's back to the 3DS The prices for Switch games were causing me stress with the fact that physical releases seem like a rare occurrence.

Oceanhorn is not a good game. It looked quite good and I was in the mood for a more old school Zelda type of game so I tried it but it was absolutely disappointing. Its gameplay and level design are really bad imho.
On the other hand Wonder Boy is really a fantastic game, it really deserves all its success, they made a great work. But at the same time I think it is true that the lack of competition at that moment on the Switch helped it even further probably. Anyway Wonder Boy is absolutely worth it