Why is the Switch still not getting big games from 3rd parties? October edition

[Mnementh]

WhatATimeToBeAlive said:

Mnementh said:

I fall in the second group. Just look at Ubisoft. They did it. They try to cater to the audience. It doesn't always work out, but it does sometimes. Just Dance was created by Ubisoft for the Wii audience. And it worked out big time, it was a really big franchise. Only that Nintendo themself was playing at the next garden and gave up on motion gaming eroded the userbase for Just Dance over time.

Switch has a much more classical userbase, but not one that is after the last graphical things (obviously). So games that sell over technical feats - mostly action games and FPS - do sell badly on Switch. That's why it is mind-boggling that Bethesda tries themself at shooters on Switch so much. Doom and Wolfenstein do sell badly on Switch, but Bethesda is unphased. I think a manger is fan of Switch. Or Bethesda wants to be the one company that sells games to the Switch audience. That might work out.

But Switch has a userbase for Platformers, Metroidvanias, Brawlers, RPGs and adventures. Therefore pretty much everything in that categories is ported to Switch and sells great. Only this forum mostly cares about shooters and action-games. Therefore it seems Switch has bad 3rd-party support, while it actually gets pretty decent support, only in different genres.

Yeah, besides that AssCreed is Ubi not EA. Just wanted to say.

But RPGs also (and games in general that focus on story and characters, so not just games "that sell over technical feats") sell better on PlayStation/Xbox. And action games contains many sub-genres, like action-adventure games (where majority of big 3rd party games belong). And just like Zelda BotW is an action-adventure game, so are games like Assassin's Creed, Tomb Raider, Red Dead Redemption,...

So when you look at big 3rd-party games support on Switch, it is lacking in action-adventure, RPG, shooter and driving genres (I would say shooters are actually on top with DOOM and Wolfenstein, since they are not last-gen ports).

You kinda make a strange argument that mixes RPGs with action games. RPGs sell well on Switch:

BattleChasers Nightwar: 55K on PS4, 41K on Switch, 30K on XB1

Ys VIII: 170K on PS4, 60K on Switch (it had 55K on PS4 at the same time after launch) and no release on XB1

Shining Resonance Refrain: 56K on PS4, 60K on Switch, 7K on XB1 (released first on PS4)

I am Setsuna: 74K on PS4, 49K on Switch, no Xbox release

Lost Sphear: 24K on PS4, 42K on Switch, no Xbox release

Switch releases of RPGs hold well against the PS4 version even as late ports and clearly outdo XBox version. Add to that exceptional sales of Switch-exclusive RPGs Octopath Traveler and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and you can clearly see that Switch has a RPG-affine userbase. It matters for RPGs without a doubt more than the XBox One and does look not bad compared to PS4. Hence as a result the flood of RPG releases and announcements for Switch.

I am also not so sure about the driving genre. As I see it there are the simulation subgenre (Gran Turismo, Forza, etc.) which focuses on realistic physics and damage models. Besides that you have arcade racing, like Mario Kart, Sonic Racing, Burnout etc. The second one does actually pretty well on Switch with lots of releases, the first one is focusing more on PS4 and Xbox One.