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Man, Western Third-Parties have really dropped the ball on the Switch. [roundtable]
 
Sure, I'm saying that with 20-20 hindsight, but this kind of seems like the Wii all over again. It looks like every large Western third-party has left an enormous amount potential sales on the table. I mean, even smartly-chosen, low-effort ports could have scored big with a hungry, engaged Switch audience. (And I'm looking forward to seeing Rockstar's rationale for continuing to hold out on a GTA port.)

Third-parties are probably starting to mobilize now. I just hope that said mobilization doesn't take the form of their half-assed, late-to-the-party efforts on Wii. Although some of that stuff was interesting. And anything would be better than nothing!

Regardless, Hamster look like freakin' geniuses! Speaking of which, does Sega-Sammy-Sega still count as a large third-party? They've announced a cool, console-appropriate slate. Actually, support from Japanese third-parties has been fairly strong, judging by the announced titles. I'll change the focus of this topic to Western third-parties.

(Personally, I've actually been loving the combination of cool indie titles, first-party stuff, and pseudo-VC (Neo Geo). I wouldn't mind a library consisting entirely of that mixture, as long as the schedule stays as consistent as it is now.)

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04/12/17, 23:54    Edited: 04/13/17, 00:02
 
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Third Parties always be dropping the ball with Nintendo. They just do dumb stuff, from what you mentioned not porting things WHEN it's time to port things (launch, droughts) to making things for the system that aren't going to do well regardless (Fifas and stuff) and then complaining when they don't do well.

Nintendo doesn't help, of course. It could be better on both sides.

At any rate, the good news for me is that there's so few third party things I want to play these days that I don't miss it. I walk through the PS4/XB1 aisle at Best Buy and scratch my head over why they are doing so well sales wise. There seems like nothing even remotely interesting to me. But I guess I'm not their target audience, so that's probably why.

I miss the days of deBlob, Zack and Wiki, and Boom Blox, but honestly those sorts of things aren't on any system now it seems. So it isn't like "Oh I wish they'd come to Switch" as much as "Oh, I wish third parties made interesting games like that these days."

EDIT: Yeah, I searched "Top PS4 games" and the only third party one I would care if came to Switch is Overwatch, and the fact that Overwatch ISN'T coming to Switch is beyond stupid to me (and that's speaking as a share holder, lol).
04/13/17, 00:17   
Edited: 04/13/17, 00:18
@J.K. Riki
My PS4 is mostly a Youtube and indie machine. There have actually been a huge amount of cool Japanese games released for it in recent months. I just always come back to Youtube and indies, due to... I dunno, convenience and accessibility?

Anyway, I would also be happy to see the kind of quirky, quality support that the Wii did receive, on occasion. EA actually did some very interesting things on the platform. And I agree with most of what you wrote, but sports games, and FIFA, in particular, are pretty huge, man. That's all that (or most of what) a lot of people I know play. And while the Nintendo audience (including me) isn't generally receptive to sports simulations, I do think that the portable throwdown potential of the Switch console could definitely attract those jock gamers (gaming jocks?) to the platform. In theory, you could play four-player Madden in a bar!


MAN, would a Boom Blox sequel on Switch hit the spot!
04/13/17, 00:38   
Edited: 04/13/17, 00:43
GTA is a huge game, it's 60+ GB on PS4 and I think like 80 on PC. I don't know what size Switch carts go up to but I think that space would have to be a concern in the event of an actual port. Even the 360 vanilla version launched with a secondary install disc so the total there was 16 GB. That's without all the updates they did to multiplayer, the extra radio stations, functionality, better visuals etc. They could compromise on all of that of course but then you'd hear the typical lack of effort complaints about such a port.

I think that Rockstar is finally done with GTA 5 though. There aren't any major MP content drops on the horizon and pretty soon they are going to be switching focus to Red Dead Redemption 2 and its multiplayer. Maybe that could be ported but at that point power might be a concern.

I think a lot of games could do well on Switch, particularly if they inspire the whole 'Just one more mission' philosophy. Civ, XCom, Stardew would all be great fits. I also think certain games like Mass Effect where you get lots of little subplot missions would be fantastic. Skyrim will be a great fit for the Switch but it's pretty old at this point sadly.
04/13/17, 00:45   
Stardew Valley was already announced for the Switch!
04/13/17, 00:57   
@Stephen
I did think about the install size of GTA (and various other recent Western AAA games). It's a problem, but they could compress various elements. More importantly, they could move the multiplayer into a separate executable. Even download-only, potentially. Hell, even an updated GTA Trilogy port could be new to a good portion of the Switch audience.

Civilization and X-Com would definitely hit the spot. RPGs would work well, too, though I don't personally care for them. Stardew's actually already coming to the platform, with a new co-op functionality. But that's an Indie title. The Western Indie output on the switch so far has been great. If Rocket League, Samurai Gunn, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, and a few other games hit the platform, I'd be completely satisfied.
04/13/17, 00:57   
Edited: 04/13/17, 00:59
@Anand

Oh I agree Fifa and the like should be there, but I feel that it's fair to say they aren't going to sell millions on the Switch, yes? My point was more that 3rd parties go in like they will do gangbusters with Fifa, and when they don't, they pull out completely. Instead of, say, expecting reasonable (or even less than reasonable) sales on Switch for those types of games and managing their expectations. Does that makes sense? Sorry I said that wrong.

Zero said:
Stardew Valley was already announced for the Switch!

It's one of my most anticipated games for the system, too! I have a feeling sleep will take a backseat many nights when that puppy hits Switch, lol.
04/13/17, 01:00   
@Zero

Indeed it was, first to get MP too.

I'll probably end up getting it again when I get a Switch someday. Excellent game that will fit the Switch well.

@Anand

Not sure how much that would save realistically. It's the same models, same city, same engine, same music etc. A trilogy could be alright I guess but those games have not aged well. 3, in particular, is just awful.
04/13/17, 01:14   
@Stephen
Updated!

@J.K. Riki
Yeah, maybe. FIFA always sells so much more than I naturally assume it does, though.
04/13/17, 01:38   
@Anand
If you can't find enough stuff to like on PS4 may I recommend Nioh? It's excellent, so so excellent.

I also here Nier is good?! I'm on a spending freeze saving for a Switch so I cannot say.

(Don't forget RE7, RE7 is the shit!!!!! Seriously!)
04/13/17, 02:12   
Edited: 04/13/17, 02:13
I'm kind of with @J.K. Riki when it comes to Western third-parties. Maybe my tastes have changed, but I'm just not into what these companies are offering anymore.

What is EA doing with the Need for Speed franchise anymore? I don't think they've launched a new entry since Rivals which was over three or four years ago now. What about SSX? And Burnout? I'd even dig a new Def Jam Vendetta sequel at this point.

Ubisoft is doing okay, I think. I'd still like to see a new Prince of Persia game, though. And obviously a Beyond Good & Evil. But they still have Assassin's Creed and Watch_Dogs and of course Rayman. Not to mention all those Tom Clancy games. And hey, for Nintendo they're releasing Steep, which might scratch my SSX itch. Maybe. So yeah. You're still alright in my book, Ubi.

Activision kind of just does what it wants. I'm not into their Call of Duty cash-cow, and I'm genuinely sad that the Tony Hawk series is either dead or in hibernation. (I used to play the snot out of that series on GCN and DS) Wouldn't mind seeing a return of Vigilante 8. Or another once-a-generation Guitar Hero. Just don't oversaturate yourselves, guys. My kid likes Skylanders, but I wonder how long they'll keep making that series?

Who else is there? Bethesda? I guess we're getting Skyrim. Bioware? What do they even do anymore? And I guess there is Rockstar. That company seems to have become a Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead churning machine and not much else. But I don't think doing a port of an already existing game would be a good fit for Switch, mostly for the reasons @Stephen pointed out. But also because everyone has already played that game. I wouldn't mind if Rockstar stepped up to the plate and made another GTA for Nintendo - an original one. I mean, they've been making games - exclusive games - in that series for Nintendo's handhelds since the original Gameboy. Why they skipped 3DS is beyond me...but they didn't even bother to make a Vita game so maybe they are just getting out of the handheld market. Which I suppose would explain why there is no announced support for Switch. Hmm.

But for the thread topic at hand, mostly I think it's a situation where there just aren't as many western developers/publishers that aren't indies. THQ, Acclaim, Midway, etc...all these companies that used to make compelling (to me) software for Nintendo systems are just gone now. Is Eidos even a thing anymore or were they completely absorbed by Square-Enix? So it may not explicitly be that western developers/publishers aren't making as much stuff on Nintendo's latest hardware...it could just be a case of the fact that there's just not many of them anymore.
04/13/17, 02:57   
Edited: 04/13/17, 02:58
@deathly_hallows
I was pretty meh on the retail library when I got a PS4 last year, but the last few months has been crazy. Yakuza 0, Nioh, Nier, Gravity Rush 2, Horizon, RE7, Persona 5...

I'll get 'em all eventually, don't worry. Nioh is at the top of the list, but I usually wait until the GOTY edition for anything with a season pass. Almost all of my PS4 retail games are collected editions.
04/13/17, 03:08   
I'm having trouble thinking of any "western" franchise I would care about. Most things in which I would be interested would come from Japan, and they seem pretty on-board with Switch. My main hope there would be having them release outside of Japan.
04/13/17, 03:11   
@Anand

Oh yeah, I picked up Persona 5 the other day. Haven't started it yet, which seems to be my MO lately. Thanks for the reminder! Maybe I'll start it up tonight!

@Mop it up

Import! Switch is region-free, after all!
04/13/17, 03:44   
@GameDadGrant I know, but I figure that anything I'd want to play but doesn't get localised will be some sort of RPG, meaning I can't really play it without understanding the text. So I don't think that feature is gonna help me.
04/13/17, 04:01   
@Mop it up

Learn Japanese, then!

It can't be that hard. Children speak it.
04/13/17, 06:12   
@GameDadGrant

Good post. Not much to add, just saying nicely done and I agree.
04/13/17, 16:47   
@Anand
Oh man Yakuza, I've always wanted to try that series and Zero seems like the ideal starting point, there's also a remake of the original coming which is supposed to also be excellent. The problem is, how many 100+ hour open-world RPGs can one person play in a lifetime? Horizon Zero Dawn and Zelda together will take up most of 2017 for me, maybe I'll get to Yakuza next year? Man!

WAIT. What if Yakuza came out on the Switch and you could play it anywhere, at any time... Damn that would be sweet! Uh.... they put out a Yakuza game on Wii U (in Japan at least) so why not give it another go!

@GameDadGrant
GTA and Red Dead are both huge deals, those games sell tens of millions of copies. Having them on Switch would be awesome.

Also Bethesda publishes a lot more than Elder Scrolls games: Doom, Wolfenstein, Fallout, Dishonored, those are big franchise! How cool would it be to have Doom on the Switch? Oh man. I salivate thinking about playing a shooter of that quality on the go.

PS: Wolfenstein The New Colossus... get psyched!
04/13/17, 17:28   
Edited: 04/13/17, 17:30
@deathly_hallows

It seemed like his point was more that the companies aren't releasing things he wants to play, rather than "it would be bad to have Doom and Fallout on Switch." I don't think anyone would argue that!
04/13/17, 17:34   
Edited: 04/13/17, 17:34
@deathly_hallows
I did grab Yakuza 0. Unopened, of course. But I've always wanted to give the series a try. I have the first game on PS2.

(Unopened, of course.)

I think the Yakuza series will stand apart well enough from Horizon and Zelda, due to its setting. I'm also looking forward to experiencing virtual Kabukicho, since I finally went to Japan last year.

I think the Wii U had a remake of Yakuza 1 & 2, but it kind of tanked, unfortunately.

(It flopped in Japan.)

The new DOOM would be fun on Switch, but the install size of that game is absurd.
04/13/17, 21:48   
@GameDadGrant I've tried, but learning another alphabet(s) is too much for me. Shoulda done it when I was a child!

@deathly_hallows Funnily enough, I'd actually be more excited if the first two DooM games came to Switch than the new one. Which I know is weird to say, but it's still one of my fave games of all time and being able to play co-op with the Nintendo community would be great.
04/13/17, 22:50   
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