The Nintendo Switch has seen the best third party support for a Nintendo platform in recent years. Not since the Nintendo DS has a console from the Big N received such a large amount of quality titles from non-Nintendo publishers from "impossible" ports of console titles, mid-range B-tier games that fit the portable nature of the system, exclusives, indies, and remasters of console classics.
That said, it's not perfect. The Switch still regularly misses most of the biggest AAA games on PlayStation or Xbox, which may disappoint those who prefer to use it as their main console and/or don't care for portability. And often times, the relatively under-powered nature of the console means that games don't look or run as well as their home console counterparts, which may disappoint those who care about performance or visuals.
Still, you could do a hell of a lot worse, and with the successor to the Switch seemingly looming, third party support can only go up from there with more powerful hardware. So what should third party support for Switch 2 be like?
For starters, I still don't think we should expect complete 1:1 third party parity with PlayStation and Xbox. Nintendo's made it very clear at this point they're not interested in trying to be that console anymore, and they're more than likely going to continue the Blue Ocean philosophy that's arguably succeeded more times than its failed. That said, I do think Nintendo is working hard on making sure Switch 2 is fully capable of running more recent console titles at a quality level. Rumors of the Switch 2 having Ray-Tracing and DLSS compression means porting the more intensive PS4 and Xbox One games, as well as down-scaled versions of select current gen PS5 and Xbox Series games should be much easier this time. This will probably mean that more games should come to Switch 2 day and date more frequently, and franchises that sat out this gen like Madden, might return.
I also think Nintendo still wants to use the next Switch as a platform suited for smaller AA titles. Part of the Switch's success with third parties is that its portable nature, unique features, and easy-to-develop-for SoC allowed it to act as a bridge between comparatively simple smartphone games, and the high end AAA gaming on home consoles. Multi-platform titles like Octopath Traveler II, Mega Man 11, Sonic Superstars, Imortals Pheonix Rising, and others may have been available on other platforms, but they felt especially at home on Switch. I feel like Nintendo wants to continue that with the Switch 2, especially as indie publishers grow bigger.
Speaking of indies, I don't expect much to change on that front, rather, only continuing to get better. This is an area Nintendo has especially been on fire with during the Switch generation, regularly making exclusive deals and getting big hits like Hades and Untitled Goose Game first before other platforms, turning the Switch into the premiere platform for many indies. Switch 2 will probably see Nintendo strike new deals to land games first before they make it to PlayStation and Xbox.
As for straight up exclusives, I think Switch 2 will still have its fare share of them. The unique interface of the Nintendo Switch made it a console very well suited to exclusive titles, and Nintendo aggressively hyped up big ones like the original Octopath Traveler, Daemon X Machina, Monster Hunter Rise, No More Heroes III, Ninjala, and others. Even multiplatform releases and ports often incorporate the unique features of the hardware to give Switch versions their own flavor.
So for the most part, I think Switch 2's third party support will be a better version of what we have currently, which isn't a bad thing. I think the pie in the sky fantasy of Nintendo having every single AAA third party release that Sony and Microsoft get is probably never going to happen at this point, but I feel we're in for some good stuff next generation.
