It is difficult to say how having too many games on a given platform can become a dilemma of consequence, assuming game quality does not plummet. However, it is hard to not be concerned, though, that some games may suffocate under the weight of other heavy contenders, especially third-party titles.
This is true of all platforms, but more specifically, let us dive into the particulars of the Nintendo Switch and potential issues revolving around it. Switch is a success, and Nintendo as a publisher and developer can more than pull its weight, however, as the Switch becomes more profused with games, and as Switch owners become less desperate or wanting for new games, will it still be an environment where third parties can thrive?
It may sound crazy, as surely the Xbox and Playstation brands have this issue as well, but we are talking of a platform holder that developers often seem eager to abandon at the first sign of trouble, due to numerous times of previously failed confidence. Now, consumers have a limited amount of time and cash, and Nintendo titles are likely to take-up a significant dose of those funds, as it has tended to be the nature of a modern Nintendo system. Although the sales of third party games as far have been respectable, when a holiday line-up is looked upon for Switch as it is, there are far too many games for even the most dedicated Nintendo fans to purchase. Some games have to suffer in sales, likely, and Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 are likely to take a majority of Nintendo fan dollars. Skyrim and Doom do, however, pose a chance to show that third-party core retail titles can succeed beyond the initial launch period of Switch and outside of the indie environment.
EA Games, Capcom, and Activision has been initially hesitant to put much weight behind Switch, and perhaps they are missing out on lumps of cash. A portable console experience of Call of Duty would have likely done very well on Switch this holiday. It must be noted though that while there may be more games to play now on Switch than Switch fans have dollars to toss, it does not mean that third parties should rush to the system with games that will not stand above the rest. A lot of developers are flocking to Switch right now, and the environment looks to be full of promise, but as noted it brings us to wonder if compared to that of a crowd of people panicked and rushing towards the doors in the event of a fire, how many of them will make it through and survive and thrive?
There is not much that can be done at this given time, but perhaps a slower release schedule that is more spaced out may benefit the Switch and industry as a whole. Nintendo’s first-party titles have been well spaced out this year, but with the influx of games coming in this holiday – unlike before – something has to give. Maybe there is just nothing that can be done for it, besides gamers attaining more money and more free time, but it is something to keep in mind. If any Switch games of note fail, it is not necessarily indicative of the audience’s interest level, but rather that they may have been overwhelmed by better and more original games, such are the ways of competition.
Another area of concern for publishers surviving on the platform is mandatory downloads on physical games that take up a majority of Switch’s internal memory, if not all or more of it. The issue is not on digital games taking up system memory, although it can be problematic, rather physical games are plagued by this, which does not encourage people to purchase games that choose to do this. It is not difficult to purchase and use an SD card; still, the very idea of having to do so is discouraging. Allegedly, developers can circumvent this with larger Switch game cards, but the cost has caused publishers to off-set memory demands onto customers. Nintendo should in theory help alleviate this issue for third parties, but the situation with that is not currently fully known. What makes it most sour is that Nintendo games that are worthy of becoming the Game of the Year on Switch (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey), do not require any downloads of note on physical editions, and can easily fit on Switch digitally. The idea that Nintendo can develop such quality games with so little memory usage though is another topic entirely. Thinking of the storage demands exclusively, quality not taken into account of smaller storage demanding games, then the required downloads of physical games like LA Noire(14 GB), Resident Evil Revelations 1 & 2 (26 GB for Revelations 2), NBA 2k18, and WWE 2K18 (24 GB) sound like bad propositions that can turn off some consumers from hopping into these games without hesitation. Switch only has 25.8 GB of system memory usable by consumers: 6.2 GB is reserved for the system’s user interface and other essential functions. The SD cards Switch requires are not exactly cheap, and it would not be a problem if third parties more effectively used Switch card memory capacity and/or used the biggest cards Nintendo will currently allow.
Nintendo fans are very quick to turn their backs on lazy or late ports on games unless they are landmark titles like Rocket League and Skyrim (they are quality ports). Remember Batman and Mass Effect on Wii U? While Batman was good, the cost was too high and late for many to swallow. Nintendo’s own early launch ambitions also drowned it, by releasing too many titles at once. Mass Effect 3, on the other hand, effectively committed a crime for being only Mass Effect 3 and late to the platform, while the other consoles got a collection of Mass Effect 1-3 for $60. Third parties have to be careful in order to succeed on the platform. Nintendo fans remember and are very well active in online communities, and low quality will be called out and spread like wildfire.
Hopefully, this fear is unwarranted and developers find success on the platform, but there will always be those who get burnt. It seems that EA got burnt on FIFA for Switch, however, EA really should not base their entire support of the system on a sports game that did not have cross-play in an environment that has not shown the greatest interest in sports games. It is not to say that the Nintendo fanbase does not like sports games, but the system is new and people are going to put their money on the most exciting, new and unique or technically impressive games first. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2, DOOM, Skyrim, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Rocket League, and others come to mind.
There is simply so much to play on Switch that is already out and more games are coming. Rarely has a Nintendo console been so flooded with games, and while that is a better problem to have than no or few games releasing, keeping up with playing them all and not having titles suffer in the crossfire (and bitter some third parties to not want to support Switch) will be difficult.
The Games' Temple 