Well, looks like next gen didn't kill Switch third party support

[The_Liquid_Laser]

Bandorr said:

What's the premise for this thread?

"For years, it seemed a common claim that once the new consoles released, third party support for Switch would quickly vanish." makes me think "the switch won't be getting games that are third party on the PS5, and X1X" - like DMC SE, Watch dogs, VIkings etc.

Then I see a list involving exclusives like "bravely default', or mult console games like "Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighbourville" which aren't even out on the PS5 or X1X.

So that makes me think people are suggesting that the switch wouldn't get ANY third party games no matter what. Who actually thought that?

There have been people saying Switch only gets third party ports.  That is one reason why games like Bravely Default matter, not to mention Monster Hunter Rise.

More importantly, games like Bravely Default actually matter to the people who bought a 3DS.  I can tell you that Nintendo first party barely matters to me on handhelds.  On the 3DS I didn't play any first party games.  At best, I may go back and try one of those Fire Emblem games at some point.  I bought a 3DS specifically for Bravely Default and games like it.  I can say something similar for the DS and GBA.  I did not buy any of these systems for Nintendo first party games.  The fact that they have a lot of small to mid size games matters a lot to me, and I'd wager they matter a lot in general to handheld gamers.  Does the term AAA even make sense on past handheld systems?

Those small to mid size third party games actually matter a whole lot more than people seem to think.  What is the real difference between the 3DS and Wii U?
Wii U: Bad value hardware, decent first party library, terrible third party library, sells about 13m
3DS: Bad value hardware, decent first party library, lots of small to medium third party exclusives, sells about 75m


Of course, 3DS is also a handheld, but Switch is serving both home gamers and handheld gamers (i.e. these games still matter).  On the other hand, what happens when a system focuses so much on the really major AAA games to the point that it only has a mediocre first party library?  You get the XB1, which will probably sell around 50m lifetime.  The 3DS, with it's seemingly minor third party games, sold more systems than the XB1 which has GTA5, CoD and every other major third party game.  You might say, that people bought a PS4 instead, but that is exactly why Nintendo doesn't need the AAA third party games.  Even if it gets most or all of them, people still might buy a PS4/5 instead.  On the other hand Playstation will probably never get Bravely Default and Rune Factory and other games like this, so it's actually important that the Switch gets them.  That is more unique content.

This idea that Switch needs AAA third party games is fundamentally flawed.  It does become a better system when it gets these games, but it also doesn't really need them. Switch actually has a lot of high profile games, but they are all first party games: Zelda, Animal Crossing, etc....   These fill the same role as GTA5 and CoD on a Playstation.  However people want new games to play in between major releases.  That is why the small to medium size games also matter.