One of the biggest fears after the Switch’s initial announcement was that Nintendo’s latest console wouldn’t have any big system-selling titles. It was arguably the biggest problem facing its predecessor, the Wii U, an issue which loomed over the Switch well past its release. But now well over a year later, it’s pretty safe to say that Nintendo and the third-party developers that they worked with have been able to put together one of the most appealing lineups in the industry.
But Nintendo has no intention of slowing down, as the company is hoping to bolster the Switch’s game lineup with anywhere from 20 to 30 new titles each week for the foreseeable future.
Back in the fall of 2016 when we got our first glimpse of the Switch, many found themselves worried that even after the Wii U’s lackluster performance, Nintendo would continue its unappetizing approach to game development, at least on the indie developer front. These fears quickly faded as Nintendo and developers released title after title, soon racking up over 700 releases for its latest console.
And while that’s an extremely impressive metric to hit in the first 16th months, Nintendo has no intention of letting its momentum slow down. Nintendo’s change-of-heart with third-party developers can certainly be credited for much of the Switch’s lineup, with indie creators being to thank for many of the titles in the console’s ever-growing library.
As part of their recent 78th Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Nintendo executive Susumu Tanaka mentioned that the company is looking to have third-party developers bring anywhere from 20-30 titles to the Switch per week. That’s an absolutely crazy number of games. If met, it would result in anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 new releases per year.
Some of the indie games already released have gone on to become million sellers worldwide. In the future, we are looking to release around 20 to 30 indie games on Nintendo Switch per week, and we definitely expect to see some great games among them.
While more games to play does in fact sound like a huge benefit for the Switch, there are still a lot of issues with this proposed tactic. Up to 30 new games a week would almost definitely mean a lot of shovelware being put out by developers. It’s unclear how Nintendo will be coaxing third-party studios to produce so many titles.
Nintendo’s eShop also would definitely need an update, as its current layout isn’t ideal for search and discovery as it is, let alone with the addition of so many new titles flooding the virtual store.
But at the end of the day, this can only be good for Switch owners. Nintendo is doing everything it can to bring diversity to its lineup of titles and more games to play is sure to mean more console sales. Even if every new release isn’t as stellar as Super Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild, I’d much prefer having too many games than returning to the Wii U’s time of too few.
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