Witcher 3 Port Specialist Thinks Devs Can Get More Out Of The Nintendo Switch

I'd like to see Cyberpunk 2077, RDR2, & GTAIV. I'm a huge fan of open world games.

I also really like first person shooters & fighting games, but I can't think of any aren't already on/coming to the Switch with the exception of Tekken & COD.

I would much rather see new games designed to fully take advantage of the Switch's capabilities than have massively downgraded games from elsewhere

I would like to see Horizon zero dawn on switch

Fallout 3, New Vegas, or 4 please!

Spider-Man PS4 would be awesome! Too bad it’s a console exclusive 😢

Of course devs can get more out of the Switch. Devs can get more out of every console; the question is just whether it's worth everyone's time and the publisher's money to make it happen. The reason developers are so eager for the PS5 and Series X is to make their jobs easier, and arguably economically feasible. But what we'll see from the next gen for its first year or two won't be beyond what is still available this gen, at least not significantly. It will be after a while--about when the PS6 is available.

@carlos82 I don't think you're wrong, but the Switch needs to have third-party support if it wants to continue thriving. It's one of the reasons why the Wii U failed.

Just give me GTA

Switch needs a GTA on it

@Entrr_username
That’s not what the list of best selling Switch games says. The revisionist history over Wii U that always ignores what made the Wii a success is cute though.

@Entrr_username is that the case though? It's good to have them but none of these ports have sold in big numbers. Looking at sales the top 30 games on Switch are virtually all Nintendo made or related, somewhat ironically the best selling purely 3rd party effort is Octopath Traveler

@Urso Cannot happen.

More Dark Souls

Having missed out on the PS4/Xbox One generation I wouldn't mind more ports coming our way.

@JimmySpades You really got it all upside down! You say: "The reason developers are so eager for the PS5 and Series X is to make their jobs easier, and arguably economically feasible." That's 1.000.000.000 % wrong. How on earth did you get the idea that it is more economically feasible for developers to develop for the next generation of video games platforms? What were you drinking last night?

Monster Hunter World, Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2 remake, bloodborne, and I could go on and on but I'll stop now.

Well, if we’re talking ambitious games:
Destiny
Vanillaware Games
Soulcalibur 6
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Kingdom Hearts 3
GTA 5
RDR2

Am I missing any?

@JimmySpades Which is how it works literally every console generation.

I bet that a lot more could be done if games were made directly for the Switch, rather than for PC or PS4 and then forced to redo and edit everything to work on Switch.

@Koudai1979 you forgot soul calibur

I'd be happy with Xenoblade Chronicles X.

@Heavyarms55 That’s 100% what I believe too. Instead of getting pared down versions of older games, new experiences that take advantage of what Switch does best is the way to go. All the best third party Wii U games were ones that specifically took advantage of the hardware and I wish more devs would find novel ways to use the joy-cons. Zack and Wiki 2 would be a dream game for me, the first one is really inventive with its use of the Wiimote.

@Entrr_username

I think you both are right. Though I'd really like to see third parties create new games tailored for the Nintendo switch instead of just releasing ports. Don't get me wrong I love a good port but would love to see what third party Devs could do creating fresh games purely for the switch!

Besides Metroid Prime and 3d Zelda (skyward, wind walker, twilight) remasters, I'd really love to see Re7 and the Re2 and 3 remakes

I’m interested how Doom Eternal is going to look, I think that has the potential to surprise

@edgedino Yes! Thank you for reminding me. I haven't played a Soul Calibur game since the original on Dreamcast, both of which I still have. I would love a Soul Calibur on my Switch.

I would like to play Batman: Arkham Knight on Switch.

GTA V is absolutely possible on Nintendo Switch. I mean, some forget it was a last-gen release on Xbox 360 and PS3 before Rockstar brought the game over to PS4 and Xbox One a little later. They could either adapt and scale the current-gen version down or enhance and build upon the 360 version. I don’t think V should be ruled out as often as it is sometimes; however it's just a matter of whether Rockstar wants to port the game to the Switch. They’d see exceptional success and take a considerable amount of wind out of Saints Row’s sales on Switch with it being the best alternative we’ve received on the platform.

The Switch needs GTAV as that game needs a few more sales.

@carlos82 and I would much rather have both. Which, to be fair, is how it's long been on Switch AND elsewhere.

@Urso I would like to see that Super Mario Odyssey on PS4.

see, that's never going to happen. Stop wanting console exclusive games on other consoles.

Anthem (would be waste)

after playing bioshock collection last night im shocked how good it looks

@SalvorHardin @carlos82

Yes third party games are hugely important. It doesn’t matter whether they’re among the best sellers for the Platform or not. For a system to sell it needs a library with variety and depth. For that you need Third Parties.

@PapaTauren

Unless Nintendo are going to pay for it you won’t see many Third Party exclusives on Switch, if any. It’s the same on other platforms and has been for a long time.

@Enigk @NintendoWiiDS

Agreed. GTA V would be very welcome on Switch.

@electrolite77 I'm not saying they aren't important, though for Nintendo they aren't anywhere near as crucial as they are for Playstation or Xbox. My point is that whilst it's nice getting these, I would much rather the big third party developers made new games specifically for the Switch and that simply isn't happening. I've owned Bioshock 1 and 2 for 10 years, I played The Outer Worlds last year, I've finished Doom Eternal elsewhere, I'd long since finished The Witcher 3 before it launched and I've had Xenoblade chronicles for god knows how long. Yes many haven't so it's great for them to have them available.

Some older games I have bought again and will do in the future but where are the new games made just for us? the Doom 64, the Red Steel, the Viewtiful Joe, the Umbrella Chronicles or Re Revelations, even a Zombi U. This is what I'm getting at, we keep hearing what games developers think they can make work rather than what games developers think they can make

Borderlands 3 it's the only way I'm ever gonna play it. And resi 7, 2 and 3 remake

I’m all for ports and remasters. There are more than 50 million Switches out there in the wild. A huge proportion of those owners won’t have multiple consoles or a gaming PC, or will have merely graduated from a 3DS or something. They could easily have missed out on classic titles - most people do.

That said, I’d love to see more contemporaneous third-party releases. It was very disappointing that Switch owners had to wait so much longer for Dark Souls Remastered when it was supposed to be released on everything at the same time.

Also, give me Cyberpunk 2077, please. And even if that’s going to take another two years, tell us now if you’re working on it or it’s going to be farmed out.

Forget about GTA V on Switch. Rockstar gave the game away for free earlier this month. Everyone has a copy by now.

https://www.rockstargames.com/newswire/article/61576/GTAV-Premium-Edition-Available-Free-on-the-Epic-Games-Store-Until-May-

@carlos82 3rd party games don't sell well enough on Nintendo hardware to warrant exclusive 3rd party support, especially next to Nintendo's own first party games. Hence why we don't see many of them.

I'm happy with old ports of their old games as long as it's ported properly and is a reasonable price.

I don't except 3rd parties to line up to make exclusive games for the Switch, it just won't happen.

@NoTinderLife yeah the same happened with Borderlands, but that won't stop me from getting it on the switch.

@Anguspuss

That’s good to hear. How does it run? I’ll be passing on it since I’ve played the games so many times and on multiple consoles/PC.

@JimmySpades we'll see a jump with so much power on tap and an even bigger one by the the end.

Open worlds are my jam.

Waych_Dogs 2? Red Dead 1 or 2? GTA Trilogy (3, VC, SA)? Sunset Overdrive?

Lay it on me.

I think Nintendo and Monolith could get more out of the system.

Dark Souls 2 and 3 are what I want. Then maybe I could stop replaying the first one all the time.

I can't imagine any port shocking me more than Crysis, and that's already happening.

Well sure; if you drop the resolution to 300x300 you could probably port anything to it.

The Switch is tapped out and was a few years before they released it. N needs a Switch 2 pronto.

@Kang81 they all run really well docked and handheld. i have them on xbox as well but they are worth it. now need get the borderlands collection as well. nice see some publishers taking time for some good ports and not just wii shovelware type garbage.

@nessisonett It ain't limited to the Wii U or Switch even. Generally the best games on any platform were made for that platform. Not always but most of the time.

It's like making a list of needed groceries instead of going to the store and just hoping you remember what you need. Or measuring how many ingredients you need instead of just eyeballing it.

Good fits for Switch that would be considered new games. Red Steel 3, ghost recon online (yes that cancelled one), Umbrella chronicles aftermath (Resi 4,5+6, rev), Zack and Wiki 2, another new Sin and Punishment, Last Story 2, new House of the dead, new Dead space, new Ridge Racer, new Titanfall, Project X zone 3, Bully 2, Nintendo land 2, Zombi 2,Rainbow six Vegas 3, Dead rising kill switch, Mass effect tales. And plenty more.

Aim high and give us Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 and The Elder Scrolls VI!

Ultra Street Fighter IV, please... thank you.

@carlos82 ok you say you looked at the sales of the top 30 best selling switch games but then give no link. Where did you look at this data and conclude that octopath at 2mil is the best selling 3rd party game? The reason I ask is because most publishers do not release sales data for specific systems. That is the main reason why most 3rd party devs don’t have games in the top selling lists. Nintendo does release sales data every quarter for their best selling games so it is easy to put their games on the list.

So I went and did a google search and I really hope you aren’t basing your comment off this Wikipedia page that clearly states most publishers do not give sales data for specific systems and that is why the list consist mostly of Nintendo games.

I can tell you for a fact Mario + rabbids has sold over 1mil and maybe even 2mil on switch, but Ubi games outside of general figures of a game sold well do not keep giving updates on the exact sales. Enter the gungeon at 1mil is on that list and while that’s a good game I can tell you with the way triple a devs are porting games to switch they are seeing more than a mil in sales.

Cdpr said Witcher sold 800k+ on switch in 2019 but they aren’t on the list. You really believe they haven’t hit a 1mil yet with how much they glow about the switch when asked?

@sanderev Actualy, Horizon Zero Dawn is not exactly a PS4 exclusive. The game is also available for PC.

Maybe they could port the WiiU title PIkMiN4!!!!

As someone that gets all the consoles, it's hard to get excited about ports. The exception would be games that are now very expensive to play legally. Thousand Year Door, Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance for examples, or games that can only be played with horrible controls like Skyward Sword. All on board for those ports.

@Puppytoucher what's Mario Rabbids got to do with anything? I'm talking about third party ports not Mario games. The main reason that there are so few third party games on even that list is not because sales aren't published but they don't sell that many. We see weekly/monthly sales charts and I've never seen them dominated by these games even when they launch, even The Witcher 3 was only the 8th best selling Switch game in its launch month according to NPD data and CDPR said it accounted for just 11% of its sales that year, so even when it was brand new on Switch, nearly 90% of its sales were on platforms where it had been on sale for 3 years.

I'm not sure what your argument is as you question my suggestion that Octopath is the best selling third party game and your best suggestion is The Witcher 3 which may have sold half as much? Surely the fact that both of us have had to look pretty hard and haven't come up with anything significant suggests that they don't sell in big numbers

@Urso PC isn't a console.

Read Dead Redemption 2!

Having picked up a copy of The Switcher 3 recently, I was shocked by how good the performance is. Of course it's a downgrade from the home console and (especially) PC versions. But, taken on its own, it's a good version of the game. One that you can play anywhere! This is a game that the home consoles had a bit of trouble handling after its initial release, and now it's running on a handheld console like a champ.

And now with XCOM 2, another game not known for performing perfectly on consoles at first, apparently working well on Switch, I'm increasingly convinced that there are very few reasons a lot of modern AAA games couldn't be ported to the system and run well enough.

The companies porting these games are doing a bang-up job of putting to shame the notion that Nintendo's little hybrid is simply too underpowered to get anything other than indies and last-gen ports. With some cuts to visual fidelity and performance compromises (and before anyone tries to sass me about this, keep in mind that, unless you're playing games on a decent PC, you're typically experiencing AAA games in a "compromised" state to begin with; at least on Switch, I get something for making those sacrifices), many home console games would run fine on the system.

Bring on the Switch ports. I'm happy to wait. TV-tethered gaming just feels archaic to me now.

@carlos82

As I’ve said elsewhere and for many years now, Third Parties hardly make exclusives anywhere anymore. And even then it’s usually funded by the Platform Holder. They just aren’t financially viable. The days of Sega splitting their teams across PS2/XBOX/GC or Resident Evil 4 being an exclusive are long gone. Even with Switch being successful why make a game for 55 million potential customers when you can put it on PS4/XB1 and reach 200 million plus however many on PC.

Street Fighter V, Bloodborne, Sunset Overdrive, Astral Chain, Bayonetta 3 etc were all paid for by Sony/MS/Nintendo

@carlos82 I think you are either missing the point or intentionally cherry-picking parts of what I said and not looking at the whole picture. The reason the games are not listed is because the companies do not release the data. They may say this game sold 80% more over this period of time but they intentionally leave it vague. That isn’t because they aren’t doing well but it’s because if you speak in generalities it is easier to push a positive narrative which will ultimately bring them more money whether by sales, increase in stock price or whatever.

If they are doing well they don’t gain much by telling you precisely how well. So I gave some numbers to put things into context for you. Witcher 3 released in late 2019 and has sold near a million before calendar year end. Octopath traveler came out summer of 2018 so Witcher 3 is selling at a faster pace. On top of that the devs have nothing but great things to say which is not a guarantee (just look at the Wii U era) and they are inclined to say these things because sales are well.

Let me put it another way. Zombi u on Wii U is considered a failure and it has near a million sales on Wii U alone. Anywhere you look estimates place it from like 800k-1.1mil on Wii U. So if you honestly believe Bethesda, 2k, Ubisoft, etc. are going to continue to bring their games over for only 1mil in sales you are not being realistic.

I mentioned Mario + rabbids because it is 3rd party game. So while yes it had Mario in it, it is still an Ubisoft game and has a couple million in sales.

3rd party games are not bombing. It’s a false narrative and it doesn’t make much sense when most people were here for the Wii U era where sales really were bad.

I have enough games for my Switch... EXCEPT.... MADDEN!!!! I want Madden so bad.

@PuppyToucher I'm not saying they're bombing, my entire point on this article was that I would rather see new games designed just for the Switch. I was only responding to somebody about the sales but no they don't sell in the millions nor do they need to to turn a profit and you are guessing that some games may have on the basis that they don't say one way or another. If anything Mario Rabbids proves my point, that a game designed for the system sold well as did Octopath so the potential is there for these companies to make new games.

@Koudai1979 Great comment and if the switch's lack of memory is an issue, I'd even be okay with longer load times or minor lag when loading in new areas. I wanna add I'd love to see the classic GTA's released in HD like they were on other consoles though. Specifically Vice City, and San Andreas, I'd pay $20 each for those.

@Anguspuss

Good to hear. I would have picked up the Borderlands collection if it released a couple of years ago on Switch. I’ve played it so much I don’t think I ever want to play it again. I got severe burnout on it. Ha

Right now I’m really looking into X-Com 2. I already own it on PS4, but never got far into it. Hopefully all the 2K releases Look and perform well.

It’s still a lousy move 2K pulled with the physical editions though. They should have just made them digital only as the carts are useless.

@carlos82 I agree to a point. I think both can be done without compromising the other, especially due to the port specialists that seem to mainly focused on ports.

@bLiNdSiDe82 I still have Vice City on my PS2, but I haven't completed it, yet. I should get around to doing that.

I also wouldn't mind seeing a port of GTA IV or the original Red Dead Redemption. I had many sleepless nights playing GTA IV on my cousin's 360.

I hope he is right. It worries me we have not seen any footage of DOOM ETERNAL running on Switch.

FFVII remake would be nice

WWZ is fantastic! Hopefully they can get it running well on the switch.

Batman: Arkham Trilogy, Fallout 3, New Vegas and 4, Dark Souls 2 and 3, GTA V, Mass Effect Trilogy, Dead Space 1 and 2, Resident Evil 2 and 3 remake, Nier Automata, Persona 5 Royal, Kingdom Hearts saga, Sekiro, Monster Hunter World,...
There are still SO many third party games that we´d love to see on Switch, that these companies focus on that could be working for ages and never stop porting XD

@Razer dude there been cases where some of the 3rd party games on switch selling far better then other console versions.

@MichaelHarvey Wow those games, man... They are way too powerful to run well on Switch. If you want to enjoy properly games like Cyberpunk 2077 or Elder Scrolls VI, I´d reccomend you go for the next gen or a good PC, or maybe PS4pro/OneX if they get to port them well there. We can´t ask for games like those on Switch, let´s be realistic heheh.

@WhiteTrashGuy switch version of doom eternal is in good hands/panic button.

I'd be happy with Wind Waker, Skyward Sword and Mario Galaxy.

Dishonored series, Mass Effect Trilogy Remastered, and Cyberpunk 2077.

@bLiNdSiDe82 yeah I'm not against ports at all just that I'd like to see new games made for Switch as well

@RiasGremory you are thinking too small, every 3rd party game on the Switch combined have probably sold less than 1 Nintendo own IP.

I mean, 3rd parties supported all of Nintendo's handhelds, not a single one of them ever sold close to 10m, in fact the closest was MonHun.

you need to look at the bigger picture.

Those are isolated situations where the games are better in handheld or were a timed exclusive. 90% of the time, 3rd party games would be better off on better hardware and ported to the Switch.

When 3rd party companies look at the best selling 3rd party game on the Switch. It's not even in the same league as the PS4.

Look at top 20 best selling games for each console. Nintendo has like 2 from 3rd parties and Sony has like 15 from 3rd parties.

You can't say "that's because Sony gets more of them" because I can point to Nintendo handhelds which emulate exactly the same trend.

There are people who refuse to purchase anything but Nintendo first party games on Nintendo hardware, use their PCs for other games.

@RiasGremory I'd say realistically, the only 3rd party developers that are really capable of getting the most out of the Switch, not just from the hardware, but from the exposure they have with the fanbase, would be both Capcom and Square.

Capcom could clean up on Nintendo hardware with MonHun and if Sqaure put an exclusive FF on the Switch, that would shift numbers too. (But even then, neither would sell even in the same league as Nintendo)

I don't see an exclusive FromSoft game, or an exclusive Ubisoft game shifting nearly as much (Ubisoft even tried and they borrowed Mario to do it, great game but sold less than an unknown IP made by Nintendo....).

That's the experience 3rd parties have with Nintendo hardware, even when they borrow their biggest mascot they couldn't sell more copies than an unknown IP that Nintendo just farted out.

I would love to see the entire Kingdom Hearts series on Nintendo Switch. I think it’s definitely a series that would feel at home on a Nintendo console, and doing so could possibly increase the size of the audience for the series. Kingdom Hearts III would be the most difficult to port to Switch, considering it’s upgraded graphics and such, but I think it would still be a doable and worthwhile investment for Square Enix. I know it’s not likely, but you never know. Maybe Square Enix will deliver another surprise. If not Switch, I could see them porting the series to PC, but it would still be nice to see the games on Switch if it ever happens.

@Razer you seriously cant blame switch wen some of the 3rd party devs like ea,2k and even capcom [email protected]$$ed the switch versions on purpose like with 2k and capcom putting one half a game on cartridge while the other downloadable same goes with game collection as well no wonder why they dont sell really well at all.

@RiasGremory I don't blame Switch for that but I do blame fans when great games like Mario and Rabbids kingdom sells less copies than an unknown IP Nintendo just randomly drops and Wii U ports

Those same fans then complain why we don't get third party games.

When you are a developer and you see a big studio like Ubisoft, borrow Mario and make a game and sell less copies than an unknown game Nintendo make.

Then you know at the same time if you make games on the PS4 Xbox and PC, they will sell more copies, you'll just decide to do that.

@RiasGremory it really just comes down to chance.

As a third party dev, you have more chance to sell 10m copies on Sony, Xbox or PC hardware than you do on Nintendo hardware.

It's that simple.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection or Rare Replay.

@Razer Do you have any attribution for your broad blanket statements? You make a lot of them on this site. 3rd parties have been especially supportive of this generation of Nintendo hardware, and they continue to be supportive. Or haven't you noticed?

Developers could get a hell of a lot more out of the Switch.....if they were designing games for it. These ports and whatnot were designed to run on different systems and are being modified to run on Switch, which isn't the same thing.

@carlos82 If all this is true, how does Saber Interactive continue to secure work for Switch ports?

@COVIDberry because they don't need to sell millions to make a profit, all of the leg work of making a game is done

The cognitive dissonance on this thread is incredible.

@electrolite77 said:
Even with Switch being successful why make a game for 55 million potential customers when you can put it on PS4/XB1 and reach 200 million plus however many on PC.

Hey fellow poster, do you realize how much work there is in optimization alone when making a game work on three different platforms/architectures? That has a cost too. You might want to think about how to target an audience, too - if a studio believes more of their customers will play on 3DS, Atlus, say, brings the sequel to their acclaimed Nocturne to an underpowered handheld. In general, I err on the side of software accessibility, but your post, and others here, seem to have a lot of uncritical negativity driving them.

If I had told you, Razer and carlos82 back in 2017 that Switch would have all these 3rd party ports, what would you have said? People even doubted that Skyrim would appear on the system, after it was clearly previewed for Switch.

@carlos82 Saber doesn't need to, no. The contracting publisher, though, might.

Funny how the Switch's popularity as a console has suddenly changed a lot of devs minds about its technical capabilities.

@COVIDberry the developers have already made their money on the original version, then they port it to Switch and the development costs won't be huge and even if you only sell half a million copies, times that by $30 or $40 and that's still a lot of money and a win win for both. I've been misunderstood a bit and I'm not against having these ports, I think 90% of my Switch games are retro or the likes of Skyrim and DOOM

What I would like is for more unique games from these big companies for Switch or designed with it in mind to maximise their potential on the system and not just be a low res version of what is elsewhere

@COVIDberry third parties have been supportive of the system but that's only when compared to previous Nintendo hardware. It's also only for ports of current gen or previous gen games, but we're not exactly getting loads of third party exclusive games.

When was our last one? Astral Chain? Nearly a year ago, look at the other hardware and you'll see, the Switch just isn't even in the same league... There's an obvious reason for that.

Because third party games have better exposure on other hardware than they do on Nintendo hardware.

You just have to look at the top 20 selling games on Nintendo platform all the way since the SNES days. It's all Nintendo dominated.

Then compare them with their competitor, outside of Sega, third parties just historically have preformed much better on other hardware. You don't need to be a genius to figure out which direction most 3rd parties will take.

I mean, it's not like the have infinite resources to distribute and make multiple exclusive games for every hardware manufacturer.

It's not a secret conspiracy theory, it's just simple logic, if you're going to sell more copies of your video game on other hardware, you're more inclined to take that route.

There are a couple of notable exceptions which I mentioned, such as Capcom and Square, but even then, I doubt any game Capcom or Sqaure put on the Switch will break the top 10.

@COVIDberry I mean, this doesn't include 3rd party ports. They still come and in solid numbers too.

Just don't hold your breath on 3rd party exclusive support. That's just not ever going to be a thing on Nintendo hardware. You'll get much better experience for that on other hardware.

But still, Nintendo has their own exclusive games running a good show, they are certainly able to hold their own without the help of 3rd party exclusive games.

@carlos82 3rd parties aren't going to do that just for Switch, but we'll get both. Nintendo games like BOTW2 will certainly take full advantage of the hardware , but it's nice to get the multiplats as well.

COD, GTA and Madden all need ports on the Switch. No excuse not to have them on the console anymore.

EA, Mass Effect Trilogy and the Sims. Maybe Star Wars.

Kingdom Hearts from Square Enix

Rockstar GTA V or GTA trilogy, RDR and Bully.

Looking forward to being surprised.

To further illustrate what I mean about exclusive 3rd party support.

People ask why Rockstar won't put GTA 5 on the Switch and I wonder that myself but you have to think that the last GTA game they put on Nintendo hardware sold criminally low for the install base.

Chinatown wars barely managed 1.3m sales on an install base of 151 million (excluding psp numbers). It's one of the best games on the system and the highest rated, most lists have it in the top 10. It had a massive franchise attached to it, so nobody can say it was unknown.

Scored a 9.3 on Metacritic and didn't even get 1% of the install base available on the just the Nintendo hardware at the time (excluding psp).

That isn't just bad.

That was a crime Nintendo fans commited. (Sony fans too)

So yeah I am annoyed we don't get GTA 5 like everyone else, i know it wouldn't be the same case this time. But you just have to know, there are reasons why they might not ever do it.

@carlos82 Fair enough, and perhaps I understand you better now.

@Koudai1979 sad thing is it became a p2w franchise but if you ever get the chance 3 is the best one before they started spamming dlc to get all characters and such.

@Razer I take your point about Astral Chain and 3rd-party exclusives. I won't disagree about greater exposure, with the exception of Xbox - or at least XB1. This generation of MS hardware has sustained itself through brand inertia, which to my mind is not sustaining oneself at all. Even so, because Xbox overlaps with PC - an open platform! - you are likely right about exposure for many games.

But not all. Your point about Chinatown Wars is an interesting one, and yeah, may explain Rockstar's present reluctance. As I wrote above, though, some studios may think their platform-specific exposure is important enough to dedicate their efforts, not just for sales, but brand awareness and audience familiarity. How many new Elder Scrolls fans have been made by Skyrim on Switch? I would love to know; but I doubt that Bethesda was looking purely at sales projections when porting. (In my mind, though, Nintendo must have approached them first.)

@edgedino 3 is awesome. My cousin used to have it on his PS2, but he accidentally ruined it when he found out that one of the cheats he put in couldn't be turned off.

I can't remember what it was called, but it made everybody in the game turn against him. He even tried turning the PS2 off and back on, but that didn't fix it.

@carlos82 @Razer I might approach this whole issue from a slightly different perspective.

When someone says "Switch 3rd-party exclusive", I think local multiplayer (on a single tablet or multiple). That is the Switch's strength, not its GPU or any other tangible hardware. In that sense, I will agree that the lack of targeted 3rd-party software is striking.

But that, to me, speaks of the current creativity deficit in this industry. I can understand that the Switch can be difficult to develop games for - every game has two usage profiles, one with deliberately underclocked performance; the main system RAM is minimal; online service is not as certain due to portable use and underdeveloped network infrastructure. Yet this industry produced many interesting and unique titles for the *DS line.

One might have expected more of the same for the Switch, especially when its success became apparent. But after the Witcher port, I blame poor optimization or low effort for a lack of ports for games developed before, say, Horizon Zero Dawn.

@COVIDberry I agree with a lot of this, I would be interested to know how well games like Skyrim and other third party games have done on the Switch. I was already a fan before, but I would think a lot jumped on board with the Switch.

I would assume that The Witcher 3 is at least at 1m sold by now, it was at 700k by Dec just gone and we had the pandemic, which saw increase in sales for all games. That's amazing for a 5 year old port.

I just think, there are a few exceptions, like MonHun or Final Fantasy, many 3rd party games are better off being ported to the Switch rather than developed for it.

Sales numbers regardless.

Quality wise it also seems to be easier to downscale a game from more powerful hardware to look decent on the Switch rather than upscale it from weaker hardware to look better on the Switch. (Witcher 3 in handheld looks better than Xenoblade DE...😣)

To be honest I am quite happy with decent ports as long as they are done right and priced reasonably.

I don’t think anybody here mentioned Metal Gear...

Quality wise it also seems to be easier to downscale a game from more powerful hardware to look decent on the Switch rather than upscale it from weaker hardware to look better on the Switch (Witcher 3 in handheld looks better than Xenoblade DE...😣)

@Razer Bahahahhahah hahaha, you may be right. My Lord. I am reading the thread about XC DE patch notes right now, so your comment is all the more entertaining. I do wonder what is up with Monolith Soft.

@Koudai1979 this is why you never use cheats on old games. Hard enough to unlock its nearly 60 character roster. and get all weapons and such and all game modes and finish all normal and custom character story modes.

@COVIDberry haha, yeah I too wonder if the developer is at fault or if it's easier to downscale rather than upscale.

But regardless, I hope we continue to at least get solid third party support as we are, in the form of ports.

Also another interesting exception may well be the upcoming Hollow Knight Silk Song. It's said to be a Switch console exclusive. The current installation has over 1.5m copies sold on the Switch I believe. Out of a total sales of 3.5m, that's rather impressive.

The key to this may be good exclusive Indie support.

@Koudai1979 RIP using a joystick.

I own a PS4, why would I want really bad ports of games I can get there?

Beyond Good and Evil 2

@RiasGremory
Oh, I know. I have faith in Panic Button, I just wish we could have a trailer.

@Trajan I see where you're coming from, but I don't have a PS4, XB1, or a gaming PC. Even if I did, there are times when I want to watch TV while someone else wants to play the game and i only have one TV.

@Koudai1979 Yeah that does suck. But a 55" 4k tv is only like $300. Of not, there's remote play I guess. I played around with it earlier this year in God of War and it worked well.

@Koudai1979 Cyberpunk would be amazing if possible.

@Trajan I forgot about remote play. I'll look into it if I can ever get a PS4. I'm unemployed at the moment, so by the time I get that kind of money, the PS5 & XBSX will probably be in stores and I'd really like to get one of them.

For now, I'm happy with my Switch.

@Koudai1979

I recommend giving Remote Play a try. I used to use it on PS4 and XB1 but after getting a Switch it just became too much hassle.

@COVIDberry

I’m not sure how pointing out the realities of Game Development in 2020 is Cognitive Dissonance. Games cost a lot more to develop than they did for PS2 or DS. Converting them across PC, PS4 and XB1 is straightforward and therefore cheap due to their Architectural similarities and shared Engines. If a game runs on Switch it can run on the Competition, which opens up millions of potential customers compared to leaving the game just on Switch.

I’m being realistic as while I welcome all the ports coming to Switch I’m aware of the reality that third-party exclusives are largely a thing of the past, which is actually good news for the Consumer. They are very rare now and for good reason.

@electrolite77 will do. Does it require internet access or just a wifi connection? Because I only have internet on my phone which gives me 10GB of hotspot data a month.

@Razer
It is very disingenuous to suggest that a 2D spin-off like GTA Chinatown Wars ever had a chance to sell even remotely as much as a mainline 3D GTA game, irregardless of its critical reception or the size of the install base.

Though I generally agree that 3rd party publishers will never prioritize Nintendo hardware platforms.

@Koudai1979

Pretty sure it’s just a WiFi Connection. I actually got the best results running an Ethernet Cable from Router to Laptop.

@electrolite77 Cool. I'll look into it tomorrow. Thanks for the info.

"we think fans will be surprised at some of the upcoming titles for it."

Yeah, definitely looking forward to being surprised by Crysis Remastered.

@Koudai1979

No worries. Good luck.

@westman98 I never said it should sell as much as the mainline GTA games.

But it didn't sell well at all, the sales figures were rather disappointing, Rockstar developed that game especially for the DS.

It's also one of the highest rated games on the DS. Easily in the top 10 reviewed by Metacritic.

Yet the game didn't garner 1% of the consoles install base.

It's a bit disingenuous to try and say this game couldn't have sold more.

It should have and the fact that it didn't was a crime.

The Division 1 and 2
RDR2
A GTA of some description
Mass Effect Trilogy
Battlefront 2
I think the Batman Arkham games will show up at some point

@Razer
I'm saying Chinatown Wars didn't perform well because it was a 2D spin-off, not because it was a NDS game. If Chinatown was somehow a 3D game comparable to the GTA entries on PSP (Liberty City and Vice City Stories), sales would have been much higher. Of course, the NDS would likely not have been able to handle such a game from a technical perspective.

A GTAV port on Switch would perform extremely well given how much the game still sells to this day. It's technically feasible too, so it's really just up to Rockstar on whether they eant to initiate the port or not.

@Peach64

Meh, all consoles gets ports. If it isn't exclusive it's a ported version.

@StevenH

Yeah, but their point still stands.

@Ralizah

A lot of spot on logic in that post!👏

@rockodoodle

If they put Madden on the Switch, they might actually earn my 60 to 120 bucks or more (as I'd probably be inclined to buy 2 copies) instead of having me buying their game 2nd hand & them earning absolutely none of my money. That's on them though.

@gameboy1975 they announced release date.... Obviously no mention of Switch, but they did mention the next gen systems....

@westman98 to be fair, I don't know why it sold badly, your suggestions is speculative but if it is the case then it's a very poor excuse.

The game is awesome, it plays perfectly. Great gameplay and interesting missions.

By that analogy, games like Hollow Knight shouldn't be a success. But they are, either way it's hard to tell now, that was 11 years ago.

I will say this though, there are a ton of successful 2D games on the DS. That sold very well, the only difference being they were made by Nintendo.

Dead Space Trilogy, GTA5, Red Dead Redemption or RDR2, Resident Evil 7/2/3, Fallout 3/4. Those are the games i would buy without a second thought.

@Razer
GTA is not a 2D sidescroller or a Metroidvania. It is universally known as a massive 3D open-world action game. Stripping away the "massive 3D" part of the equation is going to tank it sales potential.

The Chinatown Wars port on PSP sold far, far worse than the original NDS version.

@electrolite77 There may be some misunderstanding here, so I'll parse it point by point, if you don't mind.

The cognitive dissonance I saw was in the general notion many seem to have about a lack of 3rd-party ports for the Switch. Considering Nintendo's lack of success in securing these since, oh, the original release of Resident Evil 4, I found this ludicrous. Mortal Kombat 11, DOOM 2016, Civilization 6, Hellblade, Wolfenstein, Disco Elysium et cetera ad nauseum are all current-generation games.

I can only agree that porting is "cheap" relative to the costs of the initial game development. Switch has but 3.5 GB of main system RAM - rather restrictive in 2020, or even 2017, for some genres. Portable design and architecture agnosticism have been laudable goals since the dawn of coding, but hardware imposes a limit at some point.

System exclusives are a dilemma. They are quite anti-customer in many ways, yes, but I am not certain that some popular or beloved series would have survived to the present without a patron (well, rights-holder) like Sony or Nintendo. Crash Bandicoot and Metroid come to mind. Sometimes the most anti-customer thing a corporation can do is decide never to develop a game at all. In that sense, if a game is targeted for a particular platform because that is where the audience plays, I can understand exclusivity a little better.

@Razer I have been interested in Chinatown Wars for some time. I'll try it if I can find a reasonably priced copy.

I do wonder if the game suffered from the perceived notion of many that Nintendo and the *DS are for children.

@COVIDberry

Ah I misunderstood. My apologies.

I think there will continue to be instances where the Platform Holder is needed to support a particular game. Whether that be a new IP or keeping something like Bayonetta or Street Fighter alive. But to me that’s a grey area anyway. If a game wouldn’t exist without e.g.Sony funding it, is it really a third party exclusive? It’s very different to the Developer deciding unilaterally to withhold it from other platforms.

Generally I think those crying out for third party exclusives will continue to be disappointed. They’re a dying breed for inescapable reasons.

@westman98 that's because the PSP had a 3D version of their own. Also the game was made for the DS, so it just didn't port too well to the PSP.

Have you played the game? On the DS.

You can say what you like but if you've actually played the game, you'd know it's literally one of the best games, if not the best game, on a system that sold 151m units.

Quality in a game is everything and the game was top quality.

It's just that simple. You can say "yeah but it wasn't 3D"... But not being in 3D doesn't make the game bad.

A Good game, is a good game. No two ways about it.

And a game as good as that, should never sell so few numbers. If you've played it, you wouldn't be saying anything, you'd know how good the game was.

@Razer
It doesn't matter how good or bad the game is; if it strips away all the core features of what made the mainline post-GTA3 entries popular, don't be surprised when its sales aren't very good, regardless of the size of the install base. Good word of mouth can only take you so far.

For the record, I think Chinatown Wars is a great game - possibly one of the best games on the NDS.

I would be happy with Dark Souls 3.

"Witcher 3 Port Specialist Thinks Devs Can Get More Out Of The Nintendo Switch" - Yes of course on Nintendo Switch 2 hope in next year or 2022