Switch has seen a year of drought despite the unified development team. Why?

trugs26 · Nov 11, 2018

I can't believe this thread turned from "why the drought happened" to "there wasn't a drought". The drought was extremely obvious. You've got smash as your only huge AAA game for the year. Then you've got a bunch of smaller projects like Mario tennis, Mario party, and the pokemon yellow reimagining (Lets Go).

One of the big selling points of a Nintendo console and their first party support. They need more than 1 per year. The *minimum* I expect is 2. Especially since they "unified" their development.

Regarding why it happened, honestly feels like they front loaded their lineup by giving too much in 2017. Xenoblade would have benefitted with more time in the oven and would have made the overall roster in 2018 stronger.

Knight in Shining Armani · Nov 11, 2018

Now that I think about it I haven't bought anything this year besides a few indies.

Jonneh · Nov 11, 2018

Sp1 said:
This is an indefensibly awful lineup by almost every standard, not counting people who never owned a different platform.

Where's Bayonetta, Celeste, Hollow Knight and all the others?

Skeeter49 · Nov 11, 2018

1 year of lack of First Party isn't a drought, especially when 3rd party support is really good, which is where most of the the 3rd party games came from on 3DS, so bringing up the unification doesn't make sense if you're singling out first party's.

If we see another year like this year, than yeah, what the fuck is going on. But you need a buildup of years like this to be concerned, where there hasn't been that big first party title. Smash is debatebly that type of title, but besides Smash, there hasn't really been that big First Party title this year for Switch.

The only way that happens though, is if both Pokemon and Metroid don't come out next year, which seems unlikely. At least one of them has to come out next year. They we'll have that one big Nintendo first party title, combined with smaller first party/ 3rd party exclusives. If both come out next year, then the slower 2018 year was worth it imo.

MechaX · Nov 11, 2018

Sp1 said:
This is an indefensibly awful lineup by almost every standard, not counting people who never owned a different platform.

Uh, you may also want to check 10 or more reviews on that selection, as you'll be missing Celeste, Hollow Knight, Vakyria Chronicles 1 and 4, Mega Man X Collection, Mega Man 11, Bayonetta, Ikaruga, Xenoblade 2: Torna, Bayonetta 2, and Okami HD.

Deleted member 10737 · Nov 11, 2018

i got the switch in 2018 so a lot of what i played has been 2017 titles, but from 2018 i've played:

bayonetta 1+2
kirby star allies
tropical freeze
captain toad
picross s2
okami
hollow knight
celeste

a lot of these are ports, but still was a pretty good year of games for me.

Puroresu_kid · Nov 11, 2018

Having owned a Gamecube and Wii U I can certainly say a drought this is not.

Champion · Nov 11, 2018

Jonneh said:
Where's Bayonetta, Celeste, Hollow Knight and all the others?

Their review scores don't fit the narrative.

Jonneh · Nov 11, 2018

Champion said:
Their review scores don't fit the narrative.

The funny thing is they do lol
https://www.metacritic.com/game/switch/celeste

Deleted member 10737 · Nov 11, 2018

Sp1 said:
This is an indefensibly awful lineup by almost every standard, not counting people who never owned a different platform.

oh wow people still use gamerankings.com?

Deleted member 1074 · Nov 11, 2018

if thats a drought then holy shit when the water turns on next year

Deleted member 3017 · Nov 11, 2018

Jonneh said:
Where's Bayonetta, Celeste, Hollow Knight and all the others?

They don't count because they're multiplatform.

Now, let me tell you about our lord and savior Monster Hunter World and Red Dead Redemption 2 on my PlayStation 4.

Edit - there are multiplatform games on that list, so I don't even know anymore lol

Pablo Mesa · Nov 11, 2018

another day another "drought thread"

Switch have had more than enough games. there is a difference between there are not games and I dont like those

kambaybolongo said:
Yeah that's a pretty weak lineup

a line up that would help em sell 20M units.

Deleted member 10737 · Nov 11, 2018

Jonneh said:
Where's Bayonetta, Celeste, Hollow Knight and all the others?

i thought maybe they only track non-indie games but then they have the messenger in there. the only indie games they're tracking (from 2017 and 18) are fast RMX and the messenger. definitely not the best run site when it comes to review aggregates.

OrbitalBeard said:
They don't count because they're multiplatform.

Now, let me tell you about our lord and savior Monster Hunter World and Red Dead Redemption 2 on my PlayStation 4.

Edit - there are multiplatform games on that list, so I don't even know anymore lol

there's really no logic to the games they track.
only exclusives? nope, diablo is in there
only non-indies? no, fast RMX is in there
only games with physical release? nope again
overall, they have only 36 switch games in their database.

Skeeter49 · Nov 11, 2018

I can see people not counting ports if they're a hardcore Nintendo fan, and owned a Wii U. When threads like this are made, it's importnat to keep in mind there are 2 types of people. People who never owned a Wii U, and people who did. To the people who never owned a Wii U, there have been a shitload of games on the system that you never played, and they're exclusive. Arguably this year is better than last for those type of people. For the people who owned a Wii U, this year has had a Kirby game, a new IP JRPG with Octopath, a Smash game, and a low tier Pokemon game (could be wrong on this since the game isn't out yet), plus a lot of indies and ports of games they most likely played on Wii U so these might might not be for you. It's not bad, but Octopath and Smash are really the only titles that seem like must buys, it's enough to keep you engaged in the system, but I don't feel like it's enough.

Just giving my 2 cents, since it's easy to see this thread as a "narrative against Nintendo thread", but it's important to understand that there's a justifiable reason for this year being underwhelming for some people.

Captain Toad is the second best game I played this year. I love everything about it. So while I understand it's a remaster, I'm glad these games exist during a debatable dry spell.

MechaX · Nov 11, 2018

OrbitalBeard said:
They don't count because they're multiplatform.

Now, let me tell you about our lord and savior Monster Hunter World and Red Dead Redemption 2 on my PlayStation 4.

Edit - there are multiplatform games on that list, so I don't even know anymore lol

Hell, most of his list is multiplatform games, so I am genuinely confused as to what point he was trying to make

Jonneh · Nov 11, 2018

Skeeter49 said:
I can see people not counting ports if they're a hardcore Nintendo fan, and owned a Wii U. When threads like this are made, it's importnat to keep in mind there are 2 types of people. People who never owned a Wii U, and people who did. To the people who never owned a Wii U, there have been a shitload of games on the system that you never played, and they're exclusive. Arguably this year is better than last for those type of people. For the people who owned a Wii U, this year has had a Kirby game, a new IP JRPG with Octopath, a Smash game, and a low tier Pokemon game (could be wrong on this since the game isn't out yet), plus a lot of indies and ports of games they most likely played on Wii U so these might might not be for you. It's not bad, but Octopath and Smash are really the only titles that seem like must buys, it's enough to keep you engaged in the system, but I don't feel like it's enough.

Just giving my 2 cents, since it's easy to see this thread as a "narrative against Nintendo thread", but it's important to understand that there's a justifiable reason for this year being underwhelming for some people.

Captain Toad is the second best game I played this year. I love everything about it. So while I understand it's a remaster, I'm glad these games exist during a debatable dry spell.

Likewise Dragon Quest Builders was new to me and I had a tremendous time with it.

There were a lot of ports this year so I can see why it let a few people down if they've already played them. That said...the indie scene was rocking

Skeeter49 · Nov 11, 2018

Jonneh said:
Likewise Dragon Quest Builders was new to me and I had a tremendous time with it.

There were a lot of ports this year so I can see why it let a few people down. That said...the indie scene was rocking

I still need to get that game, and check out what hte differences are between PS4 and Switch. If the Switch version has a lot of new stuff, I might get it on Switch. If it's the same game, I'll probably default for the cheaper PS4 version.

Dekuman · Nov 11, 2018

Skeeter49 said:
I can see people not counting ports if they're a hardcore Nintendo fan, and owned a Wii U. When threads like this are made, it's importnat to keep in mind there are 2 types of people. People who never owned a Wii U, and people who did. To the people who never owned a Wii U, there have been a shitload of games on the system that you never played, and they're exclusive. Arguably this year is better than last for those type of people. For the people who owned a Wii U, this year has had a Kirby game, a new IP JRPG with Octopath, a Smash game, and a low tier Pokemon game (could be wrong on this since the game isn't out yet), plus a lot of indies and ports of games they most likely played on Wii U so these might might not be for you. It's not bad, but Octopath and Smash are really the only titles that seem like must buys, it's enough to keep you engaged in the system, but I don't feel like it's enough.

Just giving my 2 cents, since it's easy to see this thread as a "narrative against Nintendo thread", but it's important to understand that there's a justifiable reason for this year being underwhelming for some people.

Captain Toad is the second best game I played this year. I love everything about it. So while I understand it's a remaster, I'm glad these games exist during a debatable dry spell.

Yeah and to elaborate on Jonneh 's point, some people also dileberately discount ports of 3rd party titles to artificially push the drought narrative.

DQ Builders aside, several great 3rd party titles hit the Switch this year. Diablo 3 seems to be doing really weel, and Personally, I had a blast with stuff like Cities Skylines and will be getting Civ 6 (despite owning both on PC).

Deleted member 10737 · Nov 11, 2018

Skeeter49 said:
Just giving my 2 cents, since it's easy to see this thread as a "narrative against Nintendo thread", but it's important to understand that there's a justifiable reason for this year being underwhelming for some people.

you're right, i can see how if you had a wii u and had all the nintendo games on it nintendo didn't have that much to offer this year. for me, this year i played four amazing wii u ports for the first time (bayo 1+2, captain toad, tropical freeze), and also have another wii u port that i haven't started (hyrule warriors).
but i don't believe everyone who calls the lineup bad had played those games on wiiu. some people just don't count ports even if they've never played them.

Jonneh · Nov 11, 2018

Skeeter49 said:
I still need to get that game, and check out what hte differences are between PS4 and Switch. If the Switch version has a lot of new stuff, I might get it on Switch. If it's the same game, I'll probably default for the cheaper PS4 version.

It's not really too different but it lends itself well to portable play (though it was already on Vita)

Doc Holliday · Nov 11, 2018

Nintendo maybe had a drought, the Switch on the other hand has been awesome.

Richietto · Nov 11, 2018

Wasn't a whole lot of drought and next year is where alltehuge shit is.

Deleted member 3017 · Nov 11, 2018

Skeeter49 said:
I can see people not counting ports if they're a hardcore Nintendo fan, and owned a Wii U. When threads like this are made, it's importnat to keep in mind there are 2 types of people. People who never owned a Wii U, and people who did. To the people who never owned a Wii U, there have been a shitload of games on the system that you never played, and they're exclusive. Arguably this year is better than last for those type of people. For the people who owned a Wii U, this year has had a Kirby game, a new IP JRPG with Octopath, a Smash game, and a low tier Pokemon game (could be wrong on this since the game isn't out yet), plus a lot of indies and ports of games they most likely played on Wii U so these might might not be for you. It's not bad, but Octopath and Smash are really the only titles that seem like must buys, it's enough to keep you engaged in the system, but I don't feel like it's enough.

Just giving my 2 cents, since it's easy to see this thread as a "narrative against Nintendo thread", but it's important to understand that there's a justifiable reason for this year being underwhelming for some people.

Captain Toad is the second best game I played this year. I love everything about it. So while I understand it's a remaster, I'm glad these games exist during a debatable dry spell.

I owned a Wii U and bought almost every major release for it. When I claim 2018 has been "fine" for Switch, I'm not including a single Wii U port from Nintendo. If I did, this year goes from "fine" to "very, very good". Bayonetta 2 and DKC: Tropical Freeze are two of the best video games released in the past decade. Hyrule Warriors and Captain Toad are also very solid titles.

GearDraxon · Nov 11, 2018

Jonneh said:
Likewise Dragon Quest Builders was new to me and I had a tremendous time with it.

There were a lot of ports this year so I can see why it let a few people down if they've already played them. That said...the indie scene was rocking

This is me, to a T: I hadn't played a DQ game, fell hard for DQXI, and so having Builders on the Switch, which I can play while my wife watches TV, etc... it's been amazing. I haven't been playing big AAA releases on my Switch like I was last year, but I'm hitting up stuff like Celeste and Iconoclasts for flights.

Manwell · Nov 11, 2018

Even just within recent time-frames we got Super Mario Party, Diablo 3 EC, with Pokemon, Smash, Civ VI, SNK Anniversary, and Warframe about to be released for the end of the year. Just because you may or may not be interested in any of these titles does not mean it is a "drought". That's just being disingenuous.

mutantmagnet · Nov 11, 2018

Numberfox said:
Believe it or not, game development takes time.

Nintendo makes a lot of games across two platforms. They actually made a lot of games even if you and the OP didn't like what they put out.

Lunchbox said:
No one is expecting that and that's not what is being discussed.

It essentially is because Nintendo put out new games every month. You may not be a fan of Labo or their ports but those projects do take time to develop and diversify their current library for the Switch.

Deleted member 10737 · Nov 11, 2018

also i love a thread where the op makes it and then leaves :)

Deleted member 3017 · Nov 11, 2018

mazi said:
also i love a thread where the op makes it and then leaves :)

It's a Sammy tradition. It'd be strange if he actually engaged.

many users don't create threads for the act of discussion....they simply want to make their opinion widely visible

JCHandsom · Nov 11, 2018

I guess indies don't count

JoRu · Nov 11, 2018

It's been an ok year. It's not always either drought or god-like year, some years are just fine and this one's been that (in terms of first party, that is, as third party has been considerably better than 2017). Kirby, Mario Tennis, Mario Party, Smash and Pokémon is an ok lineup. If you didn't own a Wii U you'd be crazy to miss out on games like Tropical Freeze and Captain Toad, so pretty good to have those games on there as well.

Betty · Nov 11, 2018

Hieroph said:
Wario Ware Gold is an amazing game and would not have worked as it is on the SW. Sometimes it's like people don't even know what they're begging for.

I'm sure they could've released some form of Wario Ware on Switch though, just felt like short sighted releasing a game like that on the 3DS. I know the console is still selling but many of us have moved on from it.

Either way it's been a dry year for Switch, I haven't bought a single game for it.

Xx 720 · Nov 11, 2018

Nintendo quality games take time. On the other hand, I fear/dread nintendo is going to bring out another portable device. If that happens, expect Switch to perhaps get 1 or 2 big releases in the fall, with last gen ports, indies, filler etc. to pad out the year. If they do 1 machine....

ShinobiBk · Nov 11, 2018

mazi said:
oh wow people still use gamerankings.com?

So let's break this down

Port
This one counts fine
Port
Port
Calling this a new game is a little disingenuous. If you've played the DLC, it's really not that much new content
Port , but first on console so we'll count it
Same as above
Same as above, again
Port
Port
Port
Port
Port
Port
Port, but again first on console we'll count it
Port
Port
Port
Port
Like Celeste, quality game actually released on time with other consoles. Good

A lot of these games have been available eslewhere for months, possibly years beforehand. That doesn't mean they suck or anything but look at that list again and you'll notice a complete lack of high quality, brand new first party titles.
The first 9 months for the Switch this year were the definition of coasting, I don't see why people continue to pretend that's not what happened
The end of 2018 is crazy and 2019 looks stacked so we're out of it now, but January to September reminded me of Wii U 2013 from a first party perspective

Kyzer · Nov 11, 2018

Sammy Samusu said:
We thought there would be no droughts now that Nintendo is focused on one platform, but 2018 proved us very wrong, it has been a horrible year for Switch in terms of first party releases and pacing.

This unification was supposed to speed up development time, but clearly that didn't work as well as expected. Nintendo has released few games in 2018 for Switch, and out of those, none managed to spark excitment because they were all smaller titles.

So what went wrong with the streamlined development? Were you expecting more from Nintendo on Switch's second year in the market? And looking forward to 2019 and beyond, should the drought fear still linger in our thoughts?

Everything in this OP is miguided

Nintendo isn't only supporting one console
That wasn't ever the intention of unifying dev spaces
They didn't literally merge into Switch only and it wasn't meant to "speed up development" lol

That said, they should definitely have a lot of games behind the curtains

VegiHam · Nov 11, 2018

My problem with the Switch is that everything's too expensive. Like, 3DS games were £40 at most and everything on WiiU was cheap second hand. There's so many Switch games that I think it would be fun to try, but like; £50 for Kirby? Are you having a laugh? That's much too expensive to impulse buy to try out. And then it's £60 for Smash, like what the hell? That's twice what a game should cost. So it feels more like a drought cus it's offputtingly expensive to experiment with games I'm not sure I'll like. Compounding that, the eShop is a mess for discoverability and so it's really hard to know which of the cheaper games are good.

That all adds up to feeling like a drought to me, even if thee isn't one really.

Ridley327 · Nov 11, 2018

Betty said:
I'm sure they could've released some form of Wario Ware on Switch though, just felt like short sighted releasing a game like that on the 3DS. I know the console is still selling but many of us have moved on from it.

Either way it's been a dry year for Switch, I haven't bought a single game for it.

Sakamoto's team is small, and given that they more or less remade every microgame for Wario Ware Gold, even when they were based on tried-and-true ideas that are over 15 years old, there's only so much manpower to go around. And like I said, with all the interesting opportunities they have with the Joycons in terms of what they could do with them for microgames, making a ground-up Switch effort was never going to have a quick turnaround.

The furor over Luigi's Mansion being 3DS exclusive, I fully understand and I'm still on the side that Nintendo was shortsighted on that, but as far as Wario Ware Gold is concerned, I doubt it could have played out any other way.

ArcaneFreeze · Nov 11, 2018

Hieroph said:
Have you actually seen the games that PS4 got this year? It's been completely insane. As for Microsoft, they've gotten a lot of heat for that issue and rightly so.

They put out Spiderman, GoW, anddddd that's it. These two games are top notch and probably both fighting for my GoTY atm but to complain about Nintendo's first party output as a drought when the other publishers are putting out less in terms of first party is absurd at best.

MegaXZero · Nov 11, 2018

This year wasn't a drought. Just because you didn't like the games released, doesn't mean no games released this year.

BGBW · Nov 11, 2018

Betty said:
God I wish Wario Ware has come to Switch, such a waste.

Wario Ware Gold wouldn't have worked on Switch. It uses a lot of 3DS features like the microphone and two screens.

Deleted member 6730 · Nov 11, 2018

Lol this OP is always trolling about Nintendo.

DriftingSpirit · Nov 11, 2018

ArcaneFreeze said:
They put out Spiderman, GoW, anddddd that's it. These two games are top notch and probably both fighting for my GoTY atm but to complain about Nintendo's first party output as a drought when the other publishers are putting out less in terms of first party is absurd at best.

They also did Detroit, Astro Bot, and MLB.

Either way, the output of others doesn't change Nintendo's output.

Jonneh · Nov 11, 2018

Dubbing cutscenes in Warioware Gold was awesome on 3DS

Deleted member 10737 · Nov 11, 2018

ShinobiBk said:
So let's break this down

Port
This one counts fine
Port
Port
Calling this a new game is a little disingenuous. If you've played the DLC, it's really not that much new content
Port , but first on console so we'll count it
Same as above
Same as above, again
Port
Port
Port
Port
Port
Port
Port, but again first on console we'll count it
Port
Port
Port
Port
Like Celeste, quality game actually released on time with other consoles. Good

A lot of these games have been available eslewhere for months, possibly years beforehand. That doesn't mean they suck or anything but look at that list again and you'll notice a complete lack of high quality, brand new first party titles.
The first 9 months for the Switch this year were the definition of coasting, I don't see why people continue to pretend that's not what happened
The end of 2018 is crazy and 2019 looks stacked so we're out of it now, but January to September reminded me of Wii U 2013 from a first party perspective

i didn't post that to show all the 2018 exclusives or first-party titles. someone posted the top 2018 titles for switch on gamerankings.com, i posted the metacritic one to show how dumb the gamerankings list is since it lacks so much and only has 36 titles for switch in it's database, for both 2017 and 2018.

krlitros87 · Nov 11, 2018

Emily said:
In my opinion, the issue is pacing more than anything else.

I warned about this back in early January - days before the Nintendo Direct aired. I said Nintendo's strategy for 2018 was to rely on third party stuff + ports of Nintendo games. And then they were going to unleash a ton of games in 2019.

People are overestimating how much 3DS development has impacted Switch development. The vast majority of recent 3DS releases are either ports or remakes of older games: Kirby Extra Epic Yarn, Luigi's Mansion 1 remake, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story.

These aren't 3DS titles that require significant resources.

Assuming nothing gets delayed, 2019's Switch lineup is shaping up to be just as strong as 2017 (if not stronger). As a side note, yes, there's more Wii U ports coming in 2019 lol.

What about third-party support for next year?

Dymaxion · Nov 11, 2018

The best way to avoid a Nintendo "drought" is to not buy their hardware in the first year of its life.

chrisypoo · Nov 11, 2018

I'm trying to wrap my head around the concept of this incredible year of releases being considered a drought.....it's legitimately put my brain into a bit of a funk. Will return to this thread affter one, maybe two cups of coffee, and I may even need of a shot of bourbon in the coffee.

Deleted member 10737 · Nov 11, 2018

also something most people are ignoring is the really good dlc some exclusive titles got this year.
octo expansion for splatoon 2
donkey kong adventure for mario+rabbids
torna for xenoblade 2

Spyder_Monkey said:
Lol this OP is always trolling about Nintendo.

he's actually a nintendo fanboy (don't mean that in a bad way) of sorts :)

Mammoth Jones · Nov 11, 2018

nbnt said:
Pokemon, Mario Party, Smash, Mario Tennis, Kirby? You're not going to get Zelda or Mario every year.

This. Felt fine to me, lol. Then again there were a lot of ports I never played that I enjoyed on the switch.

JCX · Nov 11, 2018

There was only a drought if your Nintendo fandom only includes 3D Mario and Zelda. Otherwise it's been great.

Switch has seen a year of drought despite the unified development team. Why?

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