Thoughts on the Switch's current 2018 Q1-Q2 lineup?

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Cerebralbore101 said:

RolStoppable said:

Yeah... no.

Wii U's list is two big new games and nothing else.

Ports don't sell a system. New games do. Just look at the Vita vs the PSP. They both had the same weaknesses vs their Nintendo competition, but PSP sold a respectable amount. Why? Because it had more than just a bunch of ports, and C tier titles. 

Your console can play every single game of the past 30 years, but if it doesn't get big new titles it won't sell. 

XB1 sells poorly compared to PS4, because it doesn't have anything outside of big western multiplats (Yes, all those PC versions of XB1 console exclusive games are multplats). Without  big new games Switch just becomes XB1, but with eastern multiplats replacing western ones. 

This line up is not intended to sell systems.  This line up is intended to keep current customers happy.  I also think that this is mostly first quarter games and not first half.  Having said that, it is likely that Nintendo overestimates their line up this year.  Kimishima projects 20m Switches sold for 2018.  I don't think they are going to sell nearly that much.  I have been saying for a while now that 2018 will be disappointing for Switch sales, but 2019 will put 2017 to shame.  Why would I say such an arbitrary thing?

The answer is in the ports.  Why are 3rd parties porting so many games?  Because in 2017 they realized that the Switch will be a big money maker for them.   But developing games takes time.  The best they can do in 2018 is port over old games or maybe make a small, quick to develop game like SNK Heroines.  In 2019 we will start to see a different story.  In 2019, third party devs, especially the Japanese ones, are going to start putting their best games on the Switch.  Most will be simultaneous multi-plat games and some will be Switch exclusives. 

Right now the Switch is the #1 selling console in Japan by a huge margin.  Japanese devs see the Switch as the main console right now, so it should be clear that they are making their best games for it.  But those games take time to make.  In 2018, we are mostly going to see ports.