37% Of Developers "Interested" In Making Games For Switch, According To Annual GDC Industry Survey

Switch 2 in 2023 it seems to me cuz switch development ain't going anywhere

That tells me Switch didn't need GPU/CPU power overload to best the Game Developers in only 3 years.

Honestly a slightly lower number than I expected given the Switch success lately but with the exclusion of EA pretty much in its entirety (which isn't a problem with me) it makes sense.

Quality over quantity right?

Well, I suppose mobile game development exists in its own dimension too. I have both a PS4 and Switch and find they’re just totally different niches, but most of what I like is from Nintendo anyway. Hell, my PS4 was a gift several years ago and I did not have any interest in it until the end of last year, because those games are never going to Switch and I never cared much for them since they weren’t titles that I was particularly drawn to. Also, my collection is basically discounted hits under $20 each and only bought because they were both critically acclaimed and cheap like Bloodborne or God of War.

I just connect more with Nintendo first party and Nintendo-inspired games; even Yooka-Laylee feels distinctly Nintendo to me because of how similar it is to DKC.

Even games like Dark Souls Remastered on Switch I didn’t care for as a port on a Nintendo console, BUT it’s the portability that sold me, even if I could get the same on PlayStation.

So there is a niche and to not know each system’s niche is foolishness.

PC is most popular because it is hands down the easiest to develop for and release on.

last year we had 45% and next year we'll have more two hardware, to me it's a good number.

Yes, some developers will still make new games and port over games still to the Switch. The Switch is portable, so it's in it's own market and will sell games just for that. Now, if that UFO and if Sony makes a handheld system, then that might eat up some of the Switch's market. I am buying the next gen Xbox and will buy some games for it but I am still making the Switch my main system, other than PC. The PC is my main because of the plethora of games for it.

Mobile developers will be happy to port their games to Switch, there are millions of them.

Developers will quickly realize that the Switch will be more cost effective. Just watch as the big budget titles of next gen sell 10 million copies and take a loss. Not to mention development time will take that much longer for each big title.

What were the numbers last year?

Pc for the win💪 By the way on steam right now metro redux is £5.59. What is the switch version price going to be?

Not sure what the Wii and Wii U percentages were in their heyday, but it seems this is the best support Nintendo’s gotten in yeaaaaars

Great news and not really a surprise. As long as games will still sell then developers will keep making the games! Another great year ahead for Switch and then a new and improved, before version will come in 2021.
Switch is here to stay in whatever guise that may be.

Isn't gdc more of an indie pc kind of thing?

Nintendo need to pull out the stops and release a load of their big guns around the same time as the PS5 release date. A new Mario, Metroid and Zelda would keep people interested, as well as mor Pokemon related DLC.

Consider that 33.3% would be the right percentage when you stop for a moment and think that there are three competing platform holders (and 33.3 multiplied by 3 makes 100). Not too shabby, but I somehow doubt that Kingdom Hearts is coming to Switch at this point.

@CupidStunt
Everything is fine and dandy, but I want to know whether your username is a spoonerism or not.

@NoTinderLife
Crap. Totally forgot to consider that. Now I'm sad.

What new console features are important to gamers?
ISFE and Ipsos Mori's GameTrack consumer survey find shorter load times a close second to better graphics; VR and handheld modes less crucial

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.gamesindustry.biz/amp/2020-01-23-what-new-console-features-are-important-to-gamers

@sixrings this is true but in the end the graphics will not be much better as almost everyone will not see any change as most developers will still be developing in 1080p and 4k doesn't show much of a difference. 8k is just a joke at this point as it is just way to expensive to even consider. As for loading times yes it is a huge concern to any gamer. It is one reason I love the switch as loading times on most games are almost nil, but faster loading times without much else being a pull is not enough for me to dish out $500 bucks at least on a new console and there will be no games that will be released that will justify that either as almost every games will be released for the current gen now and VR is just not worth a new console either as it is still just a gimmick. It's not intended for long play sessions and the games will just not be much better on the new console as it is. Give it a few years and maybe when the prices drop the new gen consoles will be worth it and more games are available and who knows maybe VR will actually be worthwhile. This is why the switch will still do well this and next year.

@sixrings For me, the ability to play games at a stable 60 fps is the most important, followed by resolution/graphic, fast load time and then handheld mode.

So the PS5 has yet to sell 1 unit and it already match the Switch with publishers.

Even above the Switch on where their "Next Game" will be 🙄

Hope Switch trend do not continue into year 4 - or half that 17% are old games I played on PS4/PC anyway. The new Y's NOX and Tales Arise for Switch announcement is all I care about right now. Year 4 and I still need to beg 🤦‍♂️

@Dirty0814 I think you're being dismissive about the clarity differences between 4k and 1080p. As a former xbox one x owner the differences were substantial to me. Also for years people have said the graphics are only going to get so good or they are Good enough. But I can clearly see the difference in quality from say the original modern warfare to the one released last year. Admittedly it's subjective but for every person like yourself which down plays it there are many more like myself who are drawn to it.

Btw I hate loading times on my switch. Overcooked 2 seems like forever. I wanted cricket but people say it's on average a 2 minute load between matches. It's as if we've regressed to single speed CD roms.

@Investor9872 your list would be identical to mine. However I would like my resolution to be 1080p. It's not the stone ages.

@CupidStunt they just had a big year unopposed. Best thing they can do is just have discounts while it takes the other consoles years to get traction.

@tendonerd I agree. Price drops and discounts. $250 console versus $500 console and Nintendo select titles (arms,1-2 switch,Kirby,tennis aces, NSMBUD). Personally I'd release a docked only switch at $200 and really undercut the competition.

@sixrings
"What new console features are important to gamers?"

For me, i want more cute cartoonish games or girlie games or quirky games on newer machine.
Not interested at all by beefy specs AAA Western games.

@Anti-Matter even you know you can't use you to base a business off of. You're a complete contrarian.

@sixrings
Because not everyone looking for the games that will be played by majority audiences.
I tend to find games which only i have interest about and not so popular / underrated.
For example, i bought PS3 NOT for playing typical rated Mature Action games that played by majority gamers.
I bought PS3 for playing The Sims 3, Racket Sports, Move Fitness, Sport Champions 2, Ratchet & Clank games, Modnation, F1 Race Stars, Summer Challenge, London 2012, FF XIII, Little League Baseball 2010.

And for the next upcoming machine, let's say PS5, the games that i will looking from PS5 are NOT the rated Mature games with OMG So Disgusting Violences and Bloods Everywhere or OMG Too Realistic games. Instead, i will looking for Casual games / Cute cartoonish games that i can consider from soft launching of PS5.

@Anti-Matter that's fine. But you can't build a business model based on the minority. Well you can. You'll just be out of business.

@sixrings
Sometimes, the minority choices are the Best for me. The minor games have their own charm, only peoples like me can get attracted by certain minor games. I saw some of Major games are boring, not creative, too mainstream, too disgusting, not cute, not targeting the female gamers.

@Anti-Matter that's good for you. But again we were talking about how Nintendo in general can be successful this year.

@Xylnox i hardly doubt it nintendo owns the handheld market and that ufo thing wont come close to the switch on games or sales.

Switch Will Continue to do fine and will for the next few years

Switch Pro: developers tell us what they want from the rumored Switch upgrade

'Bigger, faster, better'

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.techradar.com/in/amp/news/switch-pro-developers-tell-us-what-they-want-from-the-rumored-switch-upgrade

@RiasGremory Well, the UFO will be for PC games but there are a lot of games that were ported over to the Switch from PC. So, the UFO will eat some of the market as some people might switch from the Switch to the UFO as they're mainly PC gamers more than they are Nintendo gamers. I am not going to support the UFO because I am a Nintendo fan. Also, if Playstation comes out with a handheld after the Vita, then there are diehard Playstation fans that will buy that rather than support the Switch. BUT I think the Switch is doing awesome as well as 3rd party support and Japanese RPG's too.

Playstation portable talk: https://www.t3.com/us/news/5g-psp-sony-playstation-portable

Xbox handheld rumors: https://www.t3.com/us/news/nintendo-switch-move-over-microsofts-handheld-xbox-plans-revealed

UFO info:
https://www.fanatical.com/en/blog/5-things-to-know-about-the-alienwares-concept-ufo-console

@Xylnox no it wont because switch has been out much longer then the ufo so i dont see it cutting into switch sales at all plus sony knows nintendo owns the handheld market which is a fact reason why i dont see them coming out with another one after the fiasco with the vita over priced storage card.

@sixrings

"Bigger, Better, Faster" CPU and GPU. Fixed it for you!

@Xylnox There's absolutely zero reason to buy the Series X. We as gamers need to let Xbox die because they've done nothing but ruin this hobby since 2002.

Also, Nintendo owns the handheld market. Sega, Sony, Apple, and Google have all tried and failed. Microsoft even spoke out on even trying, basically saying what's the point? To be fair though they can't even support their own console they wouldn't be able to support two dying devices at the same time.

@RiasGremory Well, unfortunately if any of those other three handhelds come out, they're going to sell some units. The playstation Vita still sold around 15 million units which could've been 15 million Nintendo handhelds instead. Unless people bought both then it doesn't matter. Kind of like how I bought a PSP and a Nintendo DS. Then the only loss for Nintendo would be if a game came out for the DS and PSP but I bought it for PSP instead of the DS.

Sony would do well to come out with a 5G handheld system and that could play new games as well as stream their Playstation Now library which includes games from Playstation 2, 3 & 4. I'm sure they would put some Playstation 5 games too, when it releases.

All I am saying is that Nintendo has the market by themselves right now and they're doing extremely well. There are going to be other companies that will want that piece of pie. I mean, it used to be Playstation and Nintendo but we now have Xbox too. You don't think that the Xbox customers all were brand new customers in the console market, do you? Ofcourse some might've been but there were lots that had multiple systems and others that jumped ship to Xbox. I mean the Wii U wasn't that great and so that just boosted sales of Playstation and Xbox.

Course, the handheld market change is all hypothetical because we can only go off of projections and what we think will happen.

@Nintyfan Unfortunately, the Xbox won't die. Why? Well, you do remember all those companies that got gobbled up by Microsoft? They're going to be making a lot of exclusive games for the xbox and probably PC too. The xbox is here to stay and Microsoft is making sure of that.

that doesn't sound like a lot to me

They'll make the most games for whatever system gets them the most money, whether it's selling the most copies or having to pay the lowest licensing fees. If Nintendo is smart, it's ditched the the rule that a minimum number of digital games has to be sold before the developers or publishers get any of the profits.

I don't think the Switch needs to worry about competing with Sony and Microsoft consoles, just like how the Game Boy didn't need to worry about competing with the home consoles of it's era. When you got the only portable game console that people want to play, you essentially don't have any competition. If anything the mobile market is a bigger competitor to the Switch.

@Severian I agree entirely, we seem to feel the same way about consoles these days.

@Nintyfan I just came back from my local computer store. The newest video cards range from 1500-2500. The series X will be about 600. That alone is doing a lot for gaming.

That's not even mentioning them introducing online to consoles with instant messaging, voice chat, party chat, game invites. Add that to game pass.

@Nintyfan

Certainly speak for yourself bud. As I feel that if ANY of the 3 needs to be left for dead it's sony. I've had hardware from all 3 & theirs aree EASILY my most regretted purchases. At least with Xbox, I feel like they actually bring something to the table where as sony just seems to bite off & copy whatever is successful from someone else. So what do I need them for? Lol

That's still pretty small number

@Xylnox
The UFO isn't the first portable PC to exist: just look at the GPD Win.

I don't think Nintendo has to worry anymore about the UFO competing with the Switch anymore than they have to worry than the Supaboy competing with the Switch.

@Toy_Link I think Nintendo will do just fine. I probably should've made my comments sound better but I was just trying to put a word of caution out. We also have to realize that probably most of the people who come to this site are Nintendo fans. So, we don't hear a lot from all of the other Playstation or Xbox fans and I know some of us have multiple systems too. I wonder how many people read the article vs how many actually comment.

@Smashfan502 Microsoft bought I think 5 or 6 developers in 2018. This is, I'm sure, to help push their first party games for their upcoming console and also for PC. You said Microsoft bought companies from Nintendo but I am not sure what you're talking about. Microsoft's main console competitor is Playstation because they both are doing a highend power console war while Nintendo is in a whole different "portable" market.

So 63% are not interested? Interest is not even a statement of intent.

“17% of developers said their current project would be released on the Switch, and 19% of them are planning on releasing a future game on the system.

11% of developers said they were currently developing games for the PS5 and 9% were working on games for the new Xbox.“

About as expected. Switch support will stay strong for a long time and the ‘next-gen’ systems will take a while to get going with a long transition from current systems.

@Nintyfan

No gamers do not need to let Xbox die. They make lots of good games, offer something different in terms of services and most importantly PROVIDE COMPETITION. Which is good for Consumers.

@gameboy1975

Same with Sony, any of the platform holders leaving the industry would be bad for consumers. They push each other on.

@Smashfan502 Well, the other consoles aren't here yet and you're right that not every game is a AAA highend game. That means there's a lot of games that the Switch can have ported over that may be a great port or have to sacrifice some things here and there to make the game run smoother. It's like the Witcher 3, great port but had to sacrifice some graphics and such to run smoother. For me, I have no problem with that and would play the Witcher 3 on my Switch because being able to play portable is worth it. Also, because you had I think Saber or the company that did the Witcher 3 port and they did such an excellent job, that it shows other companies that people will buy their game on Switch, even if it has less graphics than what was originally the game was made for. This is also the first time for many consoles generations that Nintendo is getting a lot of 3rd party support again.

@electrolite77 Totally agree. Having Nintendo, Xbox and Playstation helps to have a good competition and help consumers.

@Smashfan502 I just feel we don’t get good enough sales

@Smashfan502 if you forgotten sony has forced Developers to become exclusive to them through contracts to prevent other platforms from getting those games. That's not in dispute.

@Smashfan502 that's why before posting doing homework is more enlightening then one would think. PC isn't over-rated that's what created all that consoles and pc games your playing now. So Credit is due to the PC creating and porting over to consoles. Without 2nd, 3rd party support games wouldn't be where they are now. Least not forget this part of the Gaming History. Some games are exclusives only because of Graphics/CPU demands that's just a given. And porting/remastering is no guarantee it will work when waiving the Labor/Cost to final products will you eat Codes or Make Money. When you try to simply things this is when you get yourself into trouble.

@Smashfan502 Oh ya, too much to choose for games and consoles is overwhelming for people. Should you buy the Switch for portability and then save up for the next gen Playstation and/or Xbox? What about saving for PC games and/or upgrading your PC? For me, I buy PC games that mainly aren't on consoles but some games are. I will buy the next gen Xbox for sure and I already have a Switch. Plus, I kind of need to upgrade my PC and build a new one from scratch. It's fun building computers.

Anyway, today's age of gaming is so much better than years ago. We're coming to a point where eventually, your highend hardware will last much longer because we'll hit a point where advancing hardware slows down because games can only be so pretty and run smoothly. For example, streaming games won't matter as much for people's hardware because the heavy work is done by servers and then your internet just has to be good enough for the streaming. Maybe VR and AR will be the next thing after the next gen Playstation and Xbox etc. It's an awesome time to be a gamer right now.

@Smashfan502

Except they do have some exclusives (the Forza Horizon games are stunning, not to mention the obvious Gears and Halo games) and having sold over 150 million Systems in just over 18 years they have every business being in the industry.

@Smashfan502 Please don't think you can just randomly tell me what to do, especially when what I said is perfectly simple to understand. I'm not "starting" anything. Making games for PC is easier as developers have a much broader range of PCs they can work with and aren't limited to the specifications of a console. This is just how things are. If they make a game and your PC cannot run it, we've been conditions to think "oh, it's my fault, I need a better PC" not "Oh, their game is too demanding for the average consumer's PC, it's ridiculous for them to release a game that our machines cannot run - which is what would, what does happen, when devs release games on a console that don't run well.

Making comparisons isn't starting anything. If you can't handle talking about differences, that's on you.

@Smashfan502 You can still find retro games but some are expensive. Also, Xbox and Playstation have a library of old games still. Nintendo just has a small selection right now but I actually have some games on the wii that were old.

I just read an article saying that the billions of dollars of income from gaming has now doubled the total film industry combined. We have so many games to choose from today than there ever was. We have remakes, remastered, sequels, tons of new IP's and tons of indie games and that's counting all the games from Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo, PC, all the old retro consoles and games that you can still buy and we also have tons of mobile phone games. I'd say that we're in a Gloden Age for gamers and there's so much more still to come. I can't wait for Baldur's Gate 3, the next Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls, Zelda, Dragon's Dogma 2, the next Dark Souls and a whole bunch of others.

@Heavyarms55 I agree. I would probably say that PC is the main or rather biggest platform for gaming. There are lots of programming languages and engines that are all made to work with Windows. For consoles, it's a slightly more linear approach because of their custom OS and stuff and can make it a lot harder for developing a game. That's why it was hard to program for PS3 than it was the for the Xbox 360 etc. I wonder what the ratio of PC's in the world right now vs all the consoles together are.

Looks like a Revisionist have come to camp out here. When they failed to notice if the PC didn't exists they would be playing PONG still. It takes a PC to write and port games over to consoles but they will try and try to deny it's existence for that reason. But that is where the sad reality for them starts. Right now their own typing is on PC and why are they using it if it is over-rated? But as anything once pointed out they can admit NO PC no Console games creation/development.

@Smashfan502 Fair enough, you were polite about it. I apologize for possibly overreacting. It was early morning my time and I was grumpy for other reasons.

But a console war is not remotely what I was doing. A console war is "Playstation is better than N64 because CDs are cheaper!" "No, N64 is better because it has Mario 64!"

It's a bunch of mudslinging and claims of superiority. I'm not suggesting that PC or console or one console or another is better - just making the point that PC is easier to develop for because dev don't have to work with the same restrictions they do for consoles. And a big part of that is how we've been conditioned to just accept that PC gaming demands the latest and greatest high end, super expensive tech - and if we don't have that, it's our fault. By comparison, if a dev releases a game that doesn't run well on a console, it's the developer's fault. It's simply a contrast I wanted to point out.

@Xylnox Well since PCs are used for a far larger variety of purposes, I'd bet good money on there being significantly more.

And you make another important point - that developing for PC can be done in more ways and programming languages than for consoles. It's not just that devs have to make a game that runs well within the specs of that one device, they also have to make it run on that specific OS.

@Smashfan502 Ya, I know what you mean. Back then games were creating new genres or becoming a staple of that genre like command and conquer, goldeneye, doom, civilization, guitar hero, X-COM etc. Those games stuck out and became well-loved.

@Heavyarms55 Ya, developing for PC's has a lot more choices but I would also say developing for PC is much harder than consoles. Mainly, because with PC's there's not just one type like a console, so making the game work with so much different hardware is tough. I mean, a bunch of computer games always seem to come out bug-ridden and need to have day one patches etc.

@Xylnox Well, I'm not a dev. But in my experience, I've seen and read that in general, if someone buys a PC game and it doesn't run well on their machine, the blame is on the consumer for buying a game their machine could not handle. Whereas with a console game people blame the developer for releasing a game that the console could not run well.

But it's not as though I have any numbers to back this idea up. My own experience over they years could easily just be coincidentally skewed.

@Heavyarms55 Ya, you're right. Developers try and make sure their game run on the latest graphics cards and also low and medium. If you look at the developers website forums for technical support, you'll see some random people having problems. Sometimes, the problems are wide-spread and that's when the developers patch stuff up. Over the years, I've had a couple games with problems like black screen on starting the game and crashing. There's so many things that can cause a new game to not work like you need the latest graphic drivers, sometimes you need to have certain windows updates and sometimes if your hardware is old, then you might have problems. I have held jobs were I did repairs for computers or technical support, sold computers and built computers. I grew up with computers and my dad taught me growing up on how to build computers. I have never bought a computer as I have always built might own. Plus I know a little computer programming with java but I'm about to teach myself c++, which should be fun hopefully. Hehe

Well developers find it easier to make games for pc/steam. But most of them are small/indie developers. Whats more rellevant is what major studio releases on the platform. And PS4/PS5 wins here hands down not switch

@Smashfan502

Of course I pulled the numbers. Because they’re relevant whether you like them or not.

“ Wow, I don't think a company that originally does not start in an area/field for many years.... then after many years of not doing it“

Well that’s Nintendo and Sony out of the industry as well by your rules.

“ AND they don't specialize in it either, ”

And that’s all the companies that make components for PCs gone.

“ "hey, we're gonna try this new thing" and they end up being 1 of the big 3 in/at it.”

One of only 3. Plenty of others have tried and failed yet they’re still in it. That should tell you something.

“ Doesn't feel right or sit well with me”

Thats irrelevant.

“If anybody can just "enter" like they did, I wonder why others have not tried.“

You said it yourself, nobody else has managed it.

“150 million in 18 years is not that impressive“

And yet you can only think of two companies in gaming history who have done better.

So to sum up, they provide valuable competition in the gaming industry, emphatically evidenced by the fact lots of people buy their systems.

It would be nice to have these numbers broken down by AAA, AA, and indy developers. I'm guessing the switch numbers represent a lot of indy developers / AA developers and underperform amongst the AAA developers. Not a dig, just the reality of the market.

The reality is a switch pro could probably convince some AAA developers to port some of their existing PS4 stuff, but won't help when they target the PS5, primarily. That is if Nintendo even allowed Switch pro only games, and they might not (assuming it's real). Regardless, I would still want one for the 60fps on more games personally.

Makes sense. The switch is behind. Graphically, games kinda hit a wall, the switch is about a half mile behind that wall. The next gen games to do a lot more with what is presentable on screen at once, mean int war scenes can finally look impressive in a non-rts, but in general games will look noticibky better, but not game changing. The problem is, both graphically and scalewise the switch is stuck at two generations ago I. Terms of output. You see stuff like the switch pro isn't a pro if it doesn't run at 4k. To hell with that, we need on that can run ps4 level games at 1080p first, something the current switch in general cant do at all. Say I'm a dev and have a specific idea for a game, it can't be on the switch either at all or without making a little t of concessions unless it's made on a scale with the switches limitations in mind.

@Smashfan502

Mate, if you’re going to make statements like ‘(company X) has no place in the Industry’ you’re going to get people disagree with you. No need to take it to heart. I’m just saying that given what they’ve sold and how much better they’ve done than so many contenders in the field, they’re entirely worthy of a place in the industry. You don’t have to buy into it at all but that’s not the same.

@Smashfan502

Apologies? You’re way too nice for the Internet 😉 No need to apologise, just a discussion.

@electrolite77

Agreed.

@AlexSora89 It is my birth name...... 😊

@CupidStunt
So your name is actually Cupid?
I don't know if there's anything cooler than "Stunt" as a second name. "Meet the Stunts"! BAD. [ASININE POSTERIOR].

@AlexSora89 I am just joking buddy. Cupid Stunt is a spoonerism, and Cupid Stunt is also a character from an old British comedy sketch show.