Panic Button's recent work porting games (DOOM, Rocket League, and Wolfenstein II) to Nintendo Switch has been something of a dream period for the studio, with a high level of quality across the board securing it a legion of happy, expectant fans. It would appear that fans are right to be expectant, too, as plenty more projects are on the way.
Talking to USGamer, Panic Button general manager Adam Creighton has spoken of the studio's aspirations, future plans, and what fans can expect to see. Interestingly, in addition to porting games to Switch, Panic Button is keen to create its own property going forward.
"We'll be doing both contract work and striking out on our own. We enjoy the high-profile, high-quality content we're able to do. You'll see a lot more of that in some surprising ways across multiple platforms. But we are also building our own internal properties. And there may be some things we create that are with very well-known intellectual properties."
The studio's most recent work has predominantly been for Nintendo's hybrid system, but when asked whether we should expect to see this trend continue, Creighton explained that there are multiple projects in the works across varying platforms.
"Nintendo Switch is a fantastic device for us, and we have expertise that very few studios have. So there's a lot that makes sense for us to do, and we're very in demand for extremely high-profile projects. But we're also known for our high-end development work, our 4K work things like Xbox One X and PS4 Pro—we did the 4K update for Rocket League, for example—so there are things there that people are very excited about us doing. So you'll be seeing us doing a lot of contract work on multiple platforms, but also some new original properties... sometime."
It looks like the future is bright for Panic Button, which should, in turn, mean the future is bright for fans of gaming. Here's hoping we see plenty more work from the studio on Switch in the years to come.
Are you excited to see what's coming next from Panic Button? Let us know what you'd like to see from the studio in the comments below.
[source usgamer.net]
Comments 50
I hope they work again with Bethesda for:
1. Wolfenstein Old Blood
2. Wolfenstein the New Order
3. Fallout 3 + New Vegas
4. Fallout 4
I also wouldn't mind some Dishonored games.
@Varkster Because not everyone knows how to optimise like these guys. Most studio devs are incompetent.
@Varkster At the moment, the Switch user base isn't large enough compared to PC, PS4 & Xbox for them to justify the in house resources required for the ports. Just be thankful we are getting ports.
Good for them! If it means the Switch library will be fleshed out more, fantastic!
@Zuljaras I second that! I've never played a Fallout game so I'd love to see Fallout 3 or 4 come to the system.
Nintendo seems a lot more open with dev kits and this time around. It seems like more and more studios are gaining expertise with the system. Just think of the library's potential by 2020.
@Varkster
Because they already got a huge 3rd exclusive success in octopath. Ubisoft and Bethesda also got some success with the lateral likely to port wolfensteine new blood
@Zuljaras
Is likely from that gamestop listing of the newest revealed wolfensteine game
@Nintendofan83 I can't imagine Fallout 4 on a Switch. It barely seems to run well on the more powerful consoles.
Fallout 3 and/or New Vegas would be perfect for the Switch, though, as they're much less demanding and, in my opinion, better games than FO4.
@Varkster sometimes its cheaper to outsource than to commit sections of your studio to porting previous projects. This way, you are most certainly guaranteed a large slice of the profits from the port along with continuing to work on new projects.
Add to that a proven studio like Panic Button, you are most certainly assured your port will be handled with care and come out swinging. Perfect examples are, well; each of their Switch ports so far.
It certainly makes sense in that regard.
@Arnold-Kage Yes probably Youngblood will come this year but I want the previous games as well. Old Blood was so good!
They're work is impressive! I wish they were a Nintendo 2nd party🙂 I know... wishful thinking. Great turnout of games though.
If it's going to be more ports, they are one of the most trustworthy out there. Wouldn't mind seeing the new Wolfenstein and Doom ported. Been awhile since I played Fallout 3, so that would be nice too... anything but FOS.
Bring us Subnautica !
@Varkster It's only for older titles that were developed before the Switch released.
New titles using new updated game engines, like Unreal Engine and Unity (example) should not need extra work, since these engines now support the Switch.
@Zuljaras
Would be nice ,but some would complain about getting an game that old.
This actually crossed my mind after the complete absence of major 3rd party support from Nintendo's E3. But seriously? Everyone is just going to go to the same shop?
It's stuff like this that makes me wish Nintendo would have released a powerhouse console for twice the current retail price. Heck, I'm pretty sure a lot of us would have still bought it. Or why not both?
@Dethmunk IMO it's more about dev time. The Switch is only a year and a half old - most of the games that non-indie companies are releasing this year were in development before it was even a rumour.
@Zuljaras i’d Buy any of those ports day 1 !
@Reignmaker yes indeed I think sometimes nintendo fails to seee that their major selling point is their IP’s I’d still buy a Nintendo console with 4K gaming and a 600 euro price tag!
@Varkster It would be but remember that these games are developed for the consoles with the largest user base and scope for running the game as the developers envision it. Doom on Switch is a good game but as soon as it went gold on, the Dev teams would have started on their next project. The base code was already there so they asked for another house, Panic Button, to port it. You also have to remember that the Switch won't be able to run a lot of games. Especially games that require a decent CPU & GPU.
I wish them all the success
@Varkster actually this has always been done like that. Why do you think you see multiple splash screens of different companies at the start of games?? It's a lot cheaper to just hire a company to do it than hire/train people to do it. Because those companies already have the expertise while if you want to train people, it could take years to have that same level of expertise.
@Varkster Because most of these devs only know how to develop for PC. Which is why they demanded the XBox and Playstations became PCs. They have some unique toolkits but the development knowledge is still mostly PC based, while they know almost nothing at all about developing for mobile architectures.....so companies like Panic Button that got in early are kind of "PC to Switch specialists" and even with the contract markup for doing it for hire can probably do it in half the time on half the budget that trying to tool up in house can do. It just makes sense if you're not doing TONS of games for Switch to have someone that already knows what they're doing do it than wait forever while your own team trys to figure out what they're doing, and probably causes a mess of bugs along the way. Only if you're doing lots of mobile/Tegra/Switch work, like Bethesda or Ubi, or especially Sega/Atlas, Squeenix, etc, do you spend time building whole internal teams for it.
Nintendo should snap them up
@Varkster Still, given that both Wolfenstein: Young Blood and Doom Eternal are on IDEngine6, something that Panic Button is the only company that has ever ported to Switch, why would they switch now? And it wouldn't surprise me if they already are building a team. Panic Button wasn't attached to Fallout Shelter, that's the perfect small game to test the hardware with for a new team. And with Elder Scolls: Blades likely coming as well, I'd wager the same team will handle that.
@Ralizah
I keep wondering how people think this will happen. FO4 would likely require a massive port effort (redoing the art to make the geometry less complex, etc). This would be quite hard to justify.
Hope it's more Bethesda games.
Prey, Fallout 3-4-NV, Rage, Dishonoured.
@Dethmunk
"The current Switch userbase compared to the Xbox1 and PS4 after its first year is higher (way higher when you look at Xbox) on Switch and they had entire studios dedicated to them to develop games when they launched."
First, publishers don't care about that. They care what the userbase is now. Second, you pretty much have to combine the PS4 with XB1 and PC as they're so similar. Thirdly, Sony and Microsoft systems have historically been better environments for thirdparty games sales than Nintendo systems. Anybody desperate for thirdparty games-especially Western ones-is going to be disappointed.
@Varkster FFXV on Switch will sell way more than Octopath Traveler, especially outside Japan.
@Nincompoop "Most studio devs are incompetent"
Seriously, though? I'm constantly in awe of how the proliferation of gaming and race-to-the-bottom pricing has caused gamers to devalue the work that goes into creating them.
I mean, maybe that's not precisely what is happening here, but software development continues to be a profession for the seriously dedicated, and game development is on the difficult end of the software development spectrum.
You don't often see the work of incompetent developers because their games don't ship or release. If you are defining a studio as a professional place of work for developers, they have already made money and have likely surpassed the label of "incompetent".
As for why all games aren't optimized for all platforms, that is more a factor of shifting hardware markets, something game studios have just as much trouble predicting as anyone else. Game studios are typically focused on making a game in a timely enough manner to financially survive and often rely on publishers to help sort out markets.
Another factor is that optimizing is a particular skill that comes into use near the end of a project. Keeping someone on staff with this as their primary strength full-time is difficult unless there are multiple projects in rotation and not every studio can manage that. Shifting the task to other studios where that is their expertise and major source of income is the smart thing to do.
@aaronsullivan completely agree, but I’d wager your reasoning is waaaaay too logical and rational for those edgy kids like @Nincompoop who sure as hell know how the games industry works better than experienced professionals. SMH.
Eh am I only the one who feels like he’s trying to avoid talking about the Switch? When asked about future projects he responds to it with a standard answer and then quickly adressess 4K projects on PS4 and Xbox One.
Or did I read this wrong?
@clvr Who cares how the game factory works? I just want bug free games that run smooth and load fast.
@aaronsullivan You wrote too much, I only read twitter size posts.
@Yasume To me, it reads more like they don't want to get pigeon-holed as "that company that ports demanding games to the Switch."
These guys have already proven themselves the cream of the crop when it comes to Switch ports so I want them bringing as many games over as they can, within reason of course. I am curious as to what they could accomplish with their own IP though.
@Nincompoop and why should I even bother to try and explain it to you when you’ve just confirmed that you’re either: 1) a troll or 2) just an incredibly superficial individual who has the pretense to judge professional devs about stuff you yourself admit you are ignorant to?
Both good and bad news.
They did great work and do have experience with the system now...
But they're 1 company, and 1 company can't port all the games while others create games for other systems, avoiding all chances of building experience themselves, and eventually avoiding the cost of out-sourcing their ports. And when they still decide to do it, we get "old", "watered down" games.
Then again, Switch is my favourite system now, I have plenty to play, I can wait, and I can live with a good handheld version of an elsewhere slightly better looking game. And I'll know in advance what the actual game is like.
Love their work. I look forward to any and all games Panic Button brings to the Switch.
@Nincompoop Good to know. I think I might be subconsciously writing longer posts as a sort of filter.
Continue to do what you do best PB and you will have my honest support all the way.
Good for them. It sounds like a deserved reward/return for their hard work.
Looks weird fun!
I hope Monster Hunter World is one of them, I'm sick of hearing people say "Switch is too crappy to handle a massive game like World."...
Good work panic button! Now speak to Capcom!
Lots of high profile studios with famous properties of their own started out in the porting business.
I welcome Panic Button to the Nitendo court and look forward to seeing what they're cooking up!
@clvr Go play some games and stop picking on trolls.
Fingers crossed for Fallout 3 and GTA V.
Unlike a lot of people, I don't mind ports of great games onto the Switch. People complain about no 3rd party support, but 3rd party support IS largely ports of games from other platforms. During the Wii era there was a lot of "original" 3rd party content and people complained that it was shovelware. People are never happy.
Good for them. They deserve all of the success they're soaking in. Doom was a really good port. Can't wait to see what they do next!
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