Insider Gaming: Nintendo Switch 2 Will Have a 3-Phase Launch Plan For Its Games

Zacfoldor

Member
Rereading more carefully it says, "most of which are expecting the dev kits for the Switch 2 to be sent in June"

Implying some already got dev kits.

I'm guessing now but here we go:

1. Nintendo sent out dev kits already to select developers and are planning their first year of software
2. They have heavy 1st party software ready for launch and the holidays
3. They are expecting 3rd party devs to fill in the gaps

Sound right?
 

Mr Moose

Member
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Switch had a ton of 3rd party games including GTA, Assassin's Creed, Resident Evil and Dark Souls.
last gen AC games. No PS4 AC games. No PS3 GTA games. No PS4 era RE games. No PS4 era Souls games.

WTF is the point of giving devkits to devs who can barely get 720p versions of their games running on the series s.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Money is the point. More 3rd party titles is more engagement and income.
Money has always been the point, and yet no one gave two shits about the switch and it will go down in history as the best selling gaming hardware of all time.

devs who are struggling to put out 720p 60 fps versions of their games on PS5 are not terribly excited to get their hands on a console that isnt even as powerful as the PS4 in handheld mode.
 

bender

What time is it?
Money has always been the point, and yet no one gave two shits about the switch and it will go down in history as the best selling gaming hardware of all time.

devs who are struggling to put out 720p 60 fps versions of their games on PS5 are not terribly excited to get their hands on a console that isnt even as powerful as the PS4 in handheld mode.

scott bakula.jpg
 
absolute and utter nonsense.
With current development times giving 3rd party developers dev kits so late would be absolute suicide.
Maybe devkits are held back for some smaller teams, but the big hitters definitely already have had them for a long time at this point.
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
absolute and utter nonsense.
With current development times giving 3rd party developers dev kits so late would be absolute suicide.
Maybe devkits are held back for some smaller teams, but the big hitters definitely already have had them for a long time at this point.
Suicide? nintendo doesnt need third party. the switch proved that. nintendo base already owns other consoles. they buy nintendo hardware for nintendo first party games. something nintendo has been very good at churning out.

besides, what can devs do other than create an even more watered down version of a series s port. the console is barely even 1.5 tflops in handheld mode. series s with its 4 tflops is already dropping below 720p in many games while gutting visual fidelity and rt features. how are these games going to run on a 1.5 tflops handheld? perhaps docked version with its 3 tflops might be somewhat on par with the series s versions but i highly doubt it will have enough ram or cpu power. remember, this thing needs to run at 15 watts in handheld mode.
 

viveks86

Member
Clearly the devkit timing is misunderstood. It's too ridiculous to be true. The rest, I can fathom. There must be a lot of first party titles at launch for the strategy to work though. We shall see.
 
Suicide? nintendo doesnt need third party. the switch proved that. nintendo base already owns other consoles. they buy nintendo hardware for nintendo first party games. something nintendo has been very good at churning out.

besides, what can devs do other than create an even more watered down version of a series s port. the console is barely even 1.5 tflops in handheld mode. series s with its 4 tflops is already dropping below 720p in many games while gutting visual fidelity and rt features. how are these games going to run on a 1.5 tflops handheld? perhaps docked version with its 3 tflops might be somewhat on par with the series s versions but i highly doubt it will have enough ram or cpu power. remember, this thing needs to run at 15 watts in handheld mode.
It's 1.7, but still not a whole lot. Steam Deck with proper upscaling seems about right.
 
Suicide? nintendo doesnt need third party. the switch proved that. nintendo base already owns other consoles. they buy nintendo hardware for nintendo first party games. something nintendo has been very good at churning out.

besides, what can devs do other than create an even more watered down version of a series s port. the console is barely even 1.5 tflops in handheld mode. series s with its 4 tflops is already dropping below 720p in many games while gutting visual fidelity and rt features. how are these games going to run on a 1.5 tflops handheld? perhaps docked version with its 3 tflops might be somewhat on par with the series s versions but i highly doubt it will have enough ram or cpu power. remember, this thing needs to run at 15 watts in handheld mode.
A launch library based on backwards compatibility and whatever your in-house developers can muster in time is unnecessarily anemic.
There`s just no point doing this.
 
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This doesn’t mean that there won’t be any third-party games at launch that would obviously be ridiculous. It just means clearly Nintendo prioritized strategic partnerships and first-party games for the launch debut.
 

ultrazilla

Gold Member
There's been mention the last few years that certain "bigger" third parties have had early dev kits for the Switch 2. I think the "big name" third parties have had
kits and Nintendo is talking more along the lines of smaller AA/Indie studios for the dev kits in June.

Anyways, really strange launch for Nintendo *IF* true.

Anyone out there care to speculate on why Nintendo would go this route for the launch?
 
I thought devs from 3rd party already had kits. No way you have games ready after only 5 months from scratch.

They won't be starting from scratch by the time they get the dev kits. Most likely, Nintendo's got some emulation environment (of sorts) set up with other hardware, and provided those tools to various 3P.

Also, they have likely provided performance targets for Switch 2, so 3P can do that development on PC with provided tools for the time being and then optimize for final Switch 2 hardware once they get the official devkits.

In short I don't think lack of devkits until June is a big detriment for 3P here.
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Since it runs Nintendo Switch games, smaller third parties can just release their stuff on Switch 1, and it automatically has Switch 2 support as well right?

So if you're releasing whatever-Indie-game the week after Switch 2 launches, it should be promoted in both the Switch 1 and the Switch 2 eShops regardless? I am expecting the Switch 2 shop to list every Switch 1 game listed on that as well.
 

Gambit2483

Member
The select, most trusted third parties will have dev kits already. But everyone else will get it after launch.
That's what I'm thinking.

Capcom
Konami
SEGA
SE
Bandai Namco
Rockstar, etc

All have launch/launch window games ready to go. All of the smaller AA devs and indie devs will get units later. There's no way 3rd party support won't be there from jump
 
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There's been mention the last few years that certain "bigger" third parties have had early dev kits for the Switch 2. I think the "big name" third parties have had
kits and Nintendo is talking more along the lines of smaller AA/Indie studios for the dev kits in June.

Anyways, really strange launch for Nintendo *IF* true.

Anyone out there care to speculate on why Nintendo would go this route for the launch?
They are more confident than usual and don't mind relying on their first party and close partners for now.
 

ikbalCO

Banned
this is kinda dumb??? But on the bright side they must have a solind 1st party ready for the launch. Tbh, at this point i am going to buy with no games available so i dont think my thoughts matter that much
 

KenaiPhoenix

Neo Member
If this is true, it is not THAT bad of a strategy:

Because the console has been available since June (theoretically), you can avoid scalpers making everyone Christmas miserable, this year because most of the supply issues has probably been solved at this point (People that will bend and get a Switch 2 for a ridiculous overprice tag, would get his/hers on June).

Releasing the third party and packs with first party game on Christmas is the way to give a reason and expectation so more people will make the jump on the console this year.
 
Nintendo fans: We sell more hardware than the competitors without full third party support. Nintendo is about first party whimsy. To hell with third party brown shooters.

Also Nintendo fans: No third party support yet?! What?! How?! This can't be possible!

Nintendo continues to shit on its customer base and yet that same customer base will still consume most product like a faithful cult. I love it and cannot wait to watch the meltdowns.
 

Elios83

Member
I don't think this can be true, it's suicidal for the lineup quality of the system during the first year and Nintendo can't seriously expect external developers to develop and release games in a matter of months even if they're just all ports of old stuff.
Also given the completely boring and iterative nature of the Switch 2 there's really nothing to protect in terms of ideas, it's just a more powerful Switch with controllers that can work as a mouse?

So I think and hope for Nintendo this is made up speculation.
 
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Fake

Member
This pretty much tell that NS2 is indeed a NSpro.

They want to end this confusion about the product, saying the games that run on NS are NS2 games.
 

cireza

Member
3rd parties don’t have dev kits yet???
Don't worry, they will have a running emulator before they get their kits.
/jk

Not believing the no third party at launch anyway.

This is the Wii U all over again. Their software has to kill it.
Wii U had a lot of third party support at launch, including Zombi U which was an original game (and very good one).
 
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Woopah

Member
I don't think this can be true, it's suicidal for the lineup quality of the system during the first year and Nintendo can't seriously expect external developers to develop and release games in a matter of months even if they're just all ports of old stuff.
Also given the completely boring and iterative nature of the Switch 2 there's really nothing to protect in terms of ideas, it's just a more powerful Switch with controllers that can work as a mouse?

So I think and hope for Nintendo this is made up speculation.
I think another factor is that people with access to a development kit and therefore not under NDA are more likely to speak to a journalist.
 
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