This is strange, I don't know how this is going to work. I mean 2K doesn't OWN Gearbox necessarily, but they ARE the publisher of the Borderlands games. So the Switch is getting support from 2K but not from one of the small studios 2K publishes for? This could be interesting, I feel like 2K could push them to put it on the Switch as well.

The developer I am honestly most disappointed the Switch got is Telltale. They literally just do the same thing over and over and over again, and it's just a story that you play little snippets of or push a button here or there. I pretty much hate their games because I feel like I'm just there watching and sure the story is good, but if I want to watch a movie, I'll go do it.

The first year is really hard on a console, it is up to Nintendo to carry this along in the first days.
Give some kind of incentive for early dev supporters Nintendo, like a extra percentage on the profits or something like that.

I think A) they are waiting to see if the thing has the power that they are looking for, and B) they are seeing if it sells well, which I personally think is a copout. Devs don't hold out on the other systems because they automatically assume that they will sell. It's a double standard that almost CAUSES the system to sell poorly because it doesn't have support, and then they won't support it because it's not selling well. It is a pretty messed up cycle.

@ bolded: Of course there is such a thing as coming to an agreement. Just because a developer might have been hoping that the Nintendo Switch would be more like a regular console like the PS4 and Xbox One doesn't mean they are going to whine and throw a tantrum and decide not to support it out of spite because they didn't get what they wanted. Like I said, they just have to deal with it. Maybe they'll say they don't want to support it because they had hoped it would be something else, but it is up to Nintendo to change that, not wait on the developer in hopes of them chaning their mind over time. Developer's primary goal when making games is simple: money.  Without making money no games can be made. When a company makes a system, it is their job to sell that system to developers and show them why it is worth supporting. Which is why, as I also said already, Nintendo needs to keep in talks with these developers to convince them to support their system, not start burning down bridges.

The idea that the only way Nintendo can gain the support of those developers is to give them exactly what they want is absurd, with enough talk i'm positive they could eventually come to an agreement even if there was a really stubborn developer out there. This is an industry, I highly doubt a developer is going to say no out of spite when there's money to be made by supporting that system. If they did that would just be foolish anyway. 

If you honestly don't see that and you truly think that a developer wouldn't listen or change their mind no matter what then we'll just have to agree to disagree.

There is such a thing as Nintendo offering something unique and still being able to get good third party support, just because we haven't seen it yet doesn't mean it is impossible or that developers are unwilling to change their mind, the examples you listed are all due to Nintendo's fuck ups in some way.

The Wii sold the most but still missed out on a majority of third party support because it was underpowered as fuck. Had it been the same power level as PS3 and Xbox 360 you could be damn sure no developer would miss out on a 100m install base, it probably would have got everything like GTA as well.

The Wii U was just a massive fuck up in general with horrible marketing, being released way too late and underpowered yet again, and general confusion of the public not even knowing what the damn thing is.

I don't know much about the era of the Gamecube or why that failed so I can't comment on that one but I have heard things about how it went with different discs where as the PS2 went with optical media or stuff like that. 

Just because Nintendo makes something unique it isn't a result of third party developers just not wanting to support it, there is always some mistake made with those consoles that just give reason for developers not to support it. I would hope that Nintendo won't make any with the Nintendo Switch this time around.

I really couldn't care less, Gearbox is trash. The only good thing they still make is Borderlands which i'm not a fan of anyways.

I would guess that they're probably waiting to see if the system will sell well too before they start supporting it. A lot of developers like Ubisoft backed the Wii U massively when it launched because after coming from the huge success of the Wii I think they assumed that the next would be just as big as well and wanted to be in on it from the beginning. So maybe some developers are having a more cautious approach this time around and waiting to see how it goes at launch and the first few months.

It does lead to a shitty cycle though, like you said, but hopefully Nintendo can avoid having a drought with the Nintendo Switch, and seeing as how all of their development teams will be working on a single platform now I would think there would be a significantly less chance of that ever happening now. So even if some third party developers do take a bit before supporting it, hopefully it won't be too many. Judging from the list of developers already supporting it though I don't think there's too many waiting. 

So...in other words, you don't mind Nintendo continually pumping out Wii U 2.0s, not caring about the competition or what makes them successful? Without caring about 3rd parties? Without 3rd parties, this will be another Wii U. But, I guess it's Nintendo, so all is good.

And devs don't care what kind of gimmick you are chasing, they will support it in some way or another. They just want enough power in your "next gen" system that they don't have to basically two separate versions of the same game just to get it on your system. And now, Nintendo's 9th gen system is considerably weaker than Sony and MS's 8th gen system. That's not going to make devs happy when they are pushing the Pro and Scorpio, but then have to turn around and figure how to degrade their games enough to make it run on the Switch.

I'm sure the ones that say they are supporting the Switch are also testing the waters too

If it's not worth it, they'll leave just like with the Wii U

Yes, Nintendo has priority to sell to its customers but it is also their priority to maintain third party support. They can do both at the same time, it doesn't have to be one or the other. There are people that would gladly buy a Nintendo system at launch but often wait till they see it at a cheap price years later because they don't bother at launch if they know they can't get  third party games and will only use it for a few Nintendo exclusives that will release throughout its life cycle.

Nintendo have allowed themselves to fall into this cycle where people don't even expect third party games on their systems anymore because of how they haven't bothered properly trying for a long time. They are notorious for making consoles that are good for their first party games in mind, which often leads to frustrations from third party developers. 

On what criteria are you judging that the third party games don't bring in any more customers? Because, as with any other console, yes the main purpose is to buy it for the exclusives but as I said just now a lot more would buy if they knew they could get it all on that one system as well and don't just see it as the "Nintendo exclusive machine" when it could just be known as any regular gaming machine if they can get everything on it.

I disagree with that anyway. I think any developer could be convinced if given enough time. Nintendo just doesn't try hard enough. 

The reason developers are so quick to stance and accept what Microsoft and Sony put out as the normal is because they know their games sell well there. With Nintendo they have the mindset of "Well our games won't sell there anyway" because Nintendo has allowed it to become like that where they only take into account their own first party development when making the hardware and not thinking about how it will be for third parties. They need to change that.

Not that i'm concerned. I'm fine with Nintendo franchises and a couple of extras (Monster Hunter, Bravely / FF / DQ, etc.). However, Nintendo should definitely encourage Bethesda, From and Rockstar to develop for their system. Aside from Capcom, Konami, Square, Activision, Ubisoft, etc., these 3 have key titles and franchises that haven't been on Nintendo Plataforms and that would attract many core gamers to the Switch.