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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - NPD: More games released on Switch in 2019 than PS4 and Xbone combined

Conina on 11 January 2020

I'm mainly interested in the number of good games.

Last year Switch got 193 games with a MetaScore of 75 or higher, PS4 got 134, XBO got 107 and PC got 185

If you draw the line at MetaScore 80+ for "good games", Switch got 97, PS4 got 74, XBO got 67 and PC got 103.

If you are only interested in great games with a MetaScore of 85 or higher, Switch got 33, PS4 got 17, XBO got 19 and PC got 25.

Switch had another great year of quality games, over thirty 85+ games and almost hundred 80+ games... but this year we want more 90+ games! It's time for the next wave of big Nintendo games like Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3.

PC had the most 90+ and 80+ games, software output seems very stable... lots of good new games. And with the PC GamePass you can play many of them Day One for a very small fee, no need to wait for the next Steam Sale.

PS4 and XBO are on par... both had minor declines, but that was expected, since a lot of development time of first and third parties will go into launch games for PS5/XSX.

New quality iOS/Android games are getting very rare (from almost 200 games with 80+ in 2011/2012 to 45 games in 2018 to 11 games in 2019). Most Indie developers of high quality games seem to have found the Switch as a much more profitable platform "on the go"... or most reviewers don't care about reviewing quality mobile games anymore.



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zorg1000 on 11 January 2020
Conina said:

I'm mainly interested in the number of good games.

Last year Switch got 193 games with a MetaScore of 75 or higher, PS4 got 134, XBO got 107 and PC got 185

If you draw the line at MetaScore 80+ for "good games", Switch got 97, PS4 got 74, XBO got 67 and PC got 103.

If you are only interested in great games with a MetaScore of 85 or higher, Switch got 33, PS4 got 17, XBO got 19 and PC got 25.

Switch had another great year of quality games, over thirty 85+ games and almost hundred 80+ games... but this year we want more 90+ games! It's time for the next wave of big Nintendo games like Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3.

PC had the most 90+ and 80+ games, software output seems very stable... lots of good new games. And with the PC GamePass you can play many of them Day One for a very small fee, no need to wait for the next Steam Sale.

PS4 and XBO are on par... both had minor declines, but that was expected, since a lot of development time of first and third parties will go into launch games for PS5/XSX.

New quality iOS/Android games are getting very rare (from almost 200 games with 80+ in 2011/2012 to 45 games in 2018 to 11 games in 2019). Most Indie developers of high quality games seem to have found the Switch as a much more profitable platform "on the go"... or most reviewers don't care about reviewing quality mobile games anymore.

Very informative post, thank you



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LGBTDBZBBQ on 11 January 2020
Conina said:

I'm mainly interested in the number of good games.

Last year Switch got 193 games with a MetaScore of 75 or higher, PS4 got 134, XBO got 107 and PC got 185

If you draw the line at MetaScore 80+ for "good games", Switch got 97, PS4 got 74, XBO got 67 and PC got 103.

If you are only interested in great games with a MetaScore of 85 or higher, Switch got 33, PS4 got 17, XBO got 19 and PC got 25.

Switch had another great year of quality games, over thirty 85+ games and almost hundred 80+ games... but this year we want more 90+ games! It's time for the next wave of big Nintendo games like Breath of the Wild 2, Metroid Prime 4 and Bayonetta 3.

PC had the most 90+ and 80+ games, software output seems very stable... lots of good new games. And with the PC GamePass you can play many of them Day One for a very small fee, no need to wait for the next Steam Sale.

PS4 and XBO are on par... both had minor declines, but that was expected, since a lot of development time of first and third parties will go into launch games for PS5/XSX.

New quality iOS/Android games are getting very rare (from almost 200 games with 80+ in 2011/2012 to 45 games in 2018 to 11 games in 2019). Most Indie developers of high quality games seem to have found the Switch as a much more profitable platform "on the go"... or most reviewers don't care about reviewing quality mobile games anymore.

Great post 👍



jonathanalis on 11 January 2020

Well, Nintendo counts as software sells only for those games that have a physical version.
I consider that the number of games is not only the same that nintendo consider in their software sells report, right?



Mnementh on 11 January 2020
JRPGfan said:
Eagle367 said:
Let's be honest, Ninty probably had the most quality games this year as well. The switch is in it;s prime while PS4/Xbone had less games released from all the big publishers because they are in decline and being replaced next year

2019 was pretty decent for PS4 imo. Quality might still be on its side, even if quantity wasnt.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
Kingdom Hearts III
Dead or Alive 6
Left Alive
Devil May Cry 5
Fate/Extella Link
Assassin's Creed III Remastered
Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain
Days Gone
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland
DayZ
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
Judgment
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Black Desert Online
The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut
Control
Catherine: Full Body
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Borderlands 3
GreedFall
BG1 EE + BG22 EE + Icewind Dale EE
The Alliance Alive HD Remastered
Concrete Genie
Grid
Frostpunk
Disgaea 4 Complete+
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout
Death Stranding
Civilization VI
Big Pharma
Ashen
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Resident Evil 2
Steins;Gate Elite
Metro Exodus
Trials - Rising
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
World War Z
Mortal Kombat 11
Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World
Rage 2
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
MotoGP 19 (always liked the Moto Games, only reason its on list)
The Sinking City
They Are Billions
Wolfenstein: Youngblood
Yakuza 3
Torchlight II
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
The Surge 2
Tropico 6
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Yakuza 4
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Tokyo Ghoul: re Call to Exist

and tons and tons of others (spots, shooters, racers,sims ect).

Half of the games you listed came to Switch as well, and then it had excellent games like Luigi's Mansion 3, Ring Fit Adventure, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Dragon Quest XI, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Super Mario Maker, Astral Chain, Link's Awakening, Cadence of Hyrule and so on.

Let's look at Metacritic. On the first page (the games with the highest quality aka score) we have 30 Switch games and 20 PS4 games. I think it is safe to say both had a high amount of quality games.



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VideoGameAccountant on 11 January 2020

As others have pointed out, obviously this was a lot of ports and indie games, but the fact that companies are trying to release so many games on Switch shows they have faith in the platform. It may also be indicative of whats to come.

In 2017, no one had any faith in the Switch. Third parties assumed it would sell like this Wii U. This is how Wii U had more launch games than Switch (30 vs 12). The Wii U had more faith due to the Wii's sales and the Switch had less faith due to the Wii U's sales. Naturally this was foolish thinking because its been more often than not the new system follows the success of the old one, but I digress. In 2017, it was clear the Switch wasn't a fad and would go on to be a success. So companies scrambled to get as many games on the system as they could. Thus, the porting. Keep in mind it really didn't go into overdrive until around 2018. Game development takes around 3 years which is why we haven't really seen much besides ports and indies (which have a shorter turn around time).

What is also happening is Sony and Microsoft are joining Gen 9. Now, console launches are a big reset and it takes some time for the install base to growth. Third parties have become risk adverse which results in the cross gen games we normally see (and will see again in 2020). The Switch already has an install base of around 50 million units, while the new consoles will have 0 (obviously). I expect we'll see many publishers (namely the Japanese ones) start making games for the Switch as a way to hedge their bets on the generation. We should soon see more and more developers throw their hat into the ring.



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Conina on 11 January 2020
VideoGameAccountant said:

What is also happening is Sony and Microsoft are joining Gen 9. Now, console launches are a big reset and it takes some time for the install base to growth. Third parties have become risk adverse which results in the cross gen games we normally see (and will see again in 2020). The Switch already has an install base of around 50 million units, while the new consoles will have 0 (obviously). I expect we'll see many publishers (namely the Japanese ones) start making games for the Switch as a way to hedge their bets on the generation. We should soon see more and more developers throw their hat into the ring.

Well, if Switch performance is enough for these new games, I expect we'll see many publishers (including the Japanese ones) keep making games as multiplatform releases.

Why only cater an install base of 50 million units, if they can reach with an additional PS4 + XBO version over 200 million units (and adding a PC version over 300 million units)? PS5 + XSX will be BC compatible, so these gamers also can play these games (perhaps even in a separate definitive/enhanced edition in 4K 60+ fps). 



Eagle367 on 12 January 2020
JRPGfan said:
Eagle367 said:
Let's be honest, Ninty probably had the most quality games this year as well. The switch is in it;s prime while PS4/Xbone had less games released from all the big publishers because they are in decline and being replaced next year

2019 was pretty decent for PS4 imo. Quality might still be on its side, even if quantity wasnt.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
Kingdom Hearts III
Dead or Alive 6
Left Alive
Devil May Cry 5
Fate/Extella Link
Assassin's Creed III Remastered
Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain
Days Gone
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland
DayZ
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel III
Judgment
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Black Desert Online
The Bard's Tale IV: Director's Cut
Control
Catherine: Full Body
Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Borderlands 3
GreedFall
BG1 EE + BG22 EE + Icewind Dale EE
The Alliance Alive HD Remastered
Concrete Genie
Grid
Frostpunk
Disgaea 4 Complete+
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout
Death Stranding
Civilization VI
Big Pharma
Ashen
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Resident Evil 2
Steins;Gate Elite
Metro Exodus
Trials - Rising
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
World War Z
Mortal Kombat 11
Nelke & the Legendary Alchemists: Ateliers of the New World
Rage 2
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
MotoGP 19 (always liked the Moto Games, only reason its on list)
The Sinking City
They Are Billions
Wolfenstein: Youngblood
Yakuza 3
Torchlight II
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
The Surge 2
Tropico 6
Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Yakuza 4
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
Tokyo Ghoul: re Call to Exist

and tons and tons of others (spots, shooters, racers,sims ect).

Nah I think switch still has more

Last edited by Eagle367 - on 12 January 2020

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