Switch's "New Release Count" Has Increased By 21% This Year

Insert "we need Switch 2!! cuz graphicz!!!1" comment here.

I just wanna know what's coming in the fall and winter. New hardware can wait until next year. Unless they are actually planning a release this fall... in which case, I am open to it. I doubt it, though. The Switch still has some juice left to squeeze.

It's a shame quantity does not equate to quality.

If you spend your life always wanting to look forward to something, you don't appeciate the moment as much. - Albert Einstein.

After playing tears of the kingdom and Xenoblade3
I really want a more powerfull switch. I would preorder it right away to play games in higher resolution and framerates.
A perfect release date would be somewhere near christmass.

Question : How have you found 2023's gaming schedule so far?

Me : Well, I still hunting for more 3rd party kids games on PS4 during this year.
I have to delay a lot of Switch games purchase during this year as I want to build my PS4 games library first.

I wonder when Nintendo will make some new announcements… do we know what they are releasing beyond pikmin 4 in July?
(I mean, mp4, but goodness knows when that will be)

It’s probably hard to quantify but I’d be interested to know if this 21% increase is skewed towards growth mainly in shovelware or if we’ve seen an increase in game releases with the major publishers too.

It's not unusual for software releases to increase when a console has a user base of 130 million - Tom Jones

Weird that it feels like there's no more big games (that interest me) to look forward to after XC3's DLC and Zelda came out? lol

Seems like they're switching focus to prepping stuff for a new console which is alg with me, good time to catch up on some indie stuff too

The increase in shovelware is unwise but not illegal - Phillip Schofield

I have a good feeling Switch 2 will be awesome better than the Nintendo Switch.

But the internet told me there’s no new games on switch.

Seriously though I had to use TotK as a cut off point because I was buying so many games I don’t have time to play (at full price) so gonna wait till the winter holidays and blow out my budget. This has been a very good year so far though for me. I’m gonna try to take next year off and focus on the backlog though so I am not just accidentally hoarding. So much to play.

@SteamEngenius don't forget the obligatory "99.99999999999999% of Switch releases are shovelware and this Zelda machine served me as a paperweight between BotW and TotK"

@GrailUK it's always weirded me out to hear talks of "don't buy current gen, it's in its late years, 2/Pro/U/Advance is coming soon according to that one Insider Source of the week". A console's late years, short of a few tragic moments in history, are when its library is at its CRAZIEST and quite often when the release schedule gets full of late arrival ports the respective publishers cautiously budgeted midway through the life cycle upon seeing the userbase numbers grow. And then quite a few of these new releases go straight to YouTube epitaphs on "hidden gems that came out too late into the console's life to turn enough heads". Yeah, because gamers were busy anticipating or already getting next gen and moving on to complaining about its own "barren library" at launch. Bruh...

Every year into Switch's life is statistically a better time to have a Switch and gather a Switch library - even without not unfair Gen 10 backward compatibility expectations coming into play.

As someone who suffered through the Wii U era where you could be waiting months for a single half decent game the turnaround has been immense on Switch.

But I do also still want a new more powerful Switch (as long as its backwards compatible).

There are indeed a lot of good games coming, and many good ones have already been released. Really, really good ones. But NintendoLife doesn’t notice most of these because about all that’s ever written about here is Zelda, Metroid, Pokémon, and Bayonetta. 🫤

If you bought every Switch game released so far then you have more dollars than sense - some random on the interwebs.
😁

Well, I have 4 more indie games to add to that list soon! I just really hope that whatever new hardware Nintendo release will be backwards compatible with Switch software and we don't accidentally release the games just as everyone's holding off for a new console. Game development takes time! I can't rush them lol

As a gamer who often tries to 100% a game I can not complain about a lack of good games to play. And there is so much good stuff from past generations, I could not run out of games even if they stopped making new ones.

The Switch library is really good.

Not surprised. A lot of it will be shovelware, as mentioned, but we're still getting a decent stream of games overall.

There's talk of 3rd parties giving up on the Switch and I'm just not seeing it. Sure, there are AAA multiplats that Switch isn't getting in 2023...but that was the case in 2017-2022 also.

Personally I'm waiting anxiously for new hardware to be revealed by Nintendo as I feel I've exhausted the Switch's library (and I feel I've duck really, really deep).

I hope we'll see something from them in the next 2-3 weeks as I've got absolutely nothing to look forward to on the gaming front (and that goes for any platform I own)

The Switch successor will by a high possibility be the last gaming platform/device I'll ever buy. And I don't even have big expectations to the new games coming out for it (I simply don't think they will be for me).

I basically want a handheld platform where I can play my favorite
games in 60 fps/720(maybe 800)p. Of course it will have to be 100% backwards compatible with the Switch (with upgrade paths to achieve those 60fps).

And I sincerely hope Nintendo will release at least 2 SKUs right out of the gate. One for those who wants the removable Joy-cons/motion control option and one with a more traditional design with non-detachable sticks (think Switch Lite design, but bigger - as they won't be able to fit the hardware into such a small form factor from the get go)

That would be the perfect handheld for me. And would enable me to play my classic games in a perfect "environment"; with Steam Deck specifications (or a bit better) and in a more stable system without the need for continuous updates of games (and very drawn out system updates as well)

I of course do hope that there will be some new games for me as well; Darksiders 4 and Resident Evil IX are on my wish list (but none of them has been announced yet - so that's a bit of a pipe dream - especially the former)

And yet I still see people claim there's nothing to play, and that the switch is "dying" lol

Pandemic, likely. I just read elsewhere that Nintendo is radio-silent and that the next hardware is approaching so I'm confused.

@Divinebovine Personally I feel gaming as we've known it for the last 30 years (ever since Doom was released in 1993) is dying.

Sometimes I even wonder if Nintendo themselves has any real faith in their own business model, as it seems games are getting more geared towards the online/free to p(l)ay/micro transactions/service model.

Just look at something like Skyrim; 60 million copies sold and yet now almost 12 years later they still haven't released a true sequel.

They have released Elder Scrolls Online yes, but that just supports my point of view imo; it's online/free to p(l)ay/micro trans-actions/games as a service that a larger and larger portion of the industry sees as the future.

Nintendo hasn't really gone down that path yet (or does Splatoon come with micro transactions too?), but as I said I think that Nintendo themselves (despite their tremendous success with the Switch) are actually doubting if they can pull off another Switch level success (and after the Wii U fiasco I don't blame them - there just aren't a sure proof way to success - things also goes up and down in the video game business)

@shgamer I believe that we all think the same about Nintendo, whether we like or not what they are doing. I'll explain. After the unexpected success of Switch as the result of Nintendo throwing things and seeing what sticks, with features from home consoles, handheld consoles, Wii motion controls and even the main Wii U concept, how the successor will be is a mystery. Some people assume that it will be an upgraded Switch but that's not necessarily true. It might not even be backwards compatible, knowing Nintendo.

More games is good. It will cost more time to read about them all and filter which ones are good, but that's part of the job.
To go along the discussions, I'm all in for a Switch Pro anytime. A brand new console not retro compatible can wait till 2025 imo.
Looking at the games I already purchased but not yet started or completed, my gaming agenda is full till propably end 2024. That is not taking Silksong into account, and I am hesitant in diving into the Prime remaster(s). There will also be Illusion Island, the physical of Tunic, and probably the new Prince of Persia. So a brand new Switch could be ready 2026 with a new Zelda and Bayonetta, perfect timing.
I wouldn't want to start the next generation Nintendo with a backlog.

@shgamer TES 6 is in (long) development so I don’t think that is a good example. Bethesda has alternated between TES and Fallout and now Starfield for some time now. The MS buyout seems to have helped but it was always going to take a while to get back to the new TES game. If you keep their cycle in mind Bethesda has had steady output since Skyrim. The online games aren’t made by the same teams (zenimax online vs bethesda). Once Starfield is totally done (DLC on the way) they will switch fully to TES 6.

@Ryu_Niiyama You're probably right that the online games (there's also Fallout 76 that they haven't given up on yet) are made by a different team(s).

But Fallout 4 was released in november 2015, so that almost 8 years old when Starfield releases. I just find kinda odd that one of the best selling games of all time still hasn't got a sequel after 11½ years (but of course it's games made by artists that want to something new/different from time to time so it's kinda of understandable in the end)

@shgamer right but Starfield simply had a long development time. We have long past the days of 3-4 year turn around. Except perhaps the annual releases and many of them do an alternate dev team hand off to make that work. Welcome to 6-8 years dev time on big games. I was just saying yesterday that I can now plan gaming around my retirement. I will be in my 40’s when TES6 comes out and likely in my 50’s early 60’s when TES7 comes out. Lol.

Development houses are creating again because covid is done obviously. X|S and PS5 released at worst possible time. And they lost lost two years in development at a normal rate.