Easy and inexpensive are relative; it's easy and cheap enough that literally hundreds of PS4 games have been ported to Switch.

There are bottlenecks in production though; the main studios hands may be full already making the PS/Xbox/PC versions, so Switch ports are typically handled by specialized porting devs like Panic Button or Saber, and there's a limited number of those with a limited amount of manpower.

You're missing the point though; porting a finished game, even across a power gap like PS4 to Switch or PS5 to where the Switch successor is estimated to be, is vastly cheaper than making a game in the first place. If a game needed millions to break even on its own, a port may only need a few hundred k.

This thread is insane. A few thoughts.

1. I think Final Fantasy could sell well on PC; it's just that Square always treated the platform terribly with late (and sometimes terrible) ports. Every single player Final Fantasy release didn't release on PC day and date with the Playstation versions.

2. FF7 Remake was exclusive to the Epic Games Store for a year and it launched in a terrible state. It came to Steam a year later and it was still $70. That certainly didn't help sales. XV sold pretty well on Steam, at least for a 2 year late port. (It's 1-2m according to SteamSpy, close to the Xbox One version).

3. I don't think FF17 is coming to the Switch 2, but it's probably going full multiplatform and it will be coming to Xbox and PC day one. 7 Remake/Rebirth, 14 and probably 16 are the ones I think will be released on the Switch 2, but they won't light the world on fire considering they're all late ports.

4. GTA 6 is not going to kill the Switch 2 hype, that's ridiculous. The two can coexist together and be successful.

Switch 2 will be successful but gta6 will be the biggest released game ever and yes it will take some hype away from Switch 2, they can of course coexist but of course it will take away some sales from Switch 2. We are in not In a free money period like covid boost people won't have 1k to buy both consoles. Switch 2 will differently be very interesting to see how it does in sales.

Yeah "GTA6 will kill the hype for Switch 2" is absurd.

As big as GTA is, it is not the be-all end-all of gaming. Switch is one of the highest selling systems of all time and it got there while being the only system in still on the market that doesn't have GTA5.

I think 17 has a very good chance on Switch 2, because really what is even the point of increasing the graphics. To impress anyone to the point where it will increase sales ... you are doing what exactly? Going from 150 million budget range (probable) for FF7 Rebirth to what? $300 million like Spider-Man 2? There's no gauruntee that's going to sell them any more if going from FF15 and FF7 Remake to FF16 and Rebirth didn't move the needle at all. 

That would monumentally stupid on Square-Enix's part at this point. 

Start rebuilding the brand in Japan for one, you had a 3-4 million strong userbase there and you killed it by chasing graphical fidelity. Keep the fidelity at FF7 Rebirth levels ... that's still a nice looking game that is mega-epic, "increase" visuals as much as you can smartly by using art style instead of raw grunt power. 

I think they owe it to see if that can kick start the brand. Persona has made the jump to Switch platforms, Dragon Quest will be on Switch 2, it's time for them to give a Nintendo platform a look at a mainline FF17 and see if it can help grow the sinking brand. 

If they just keep what doing what they're doing they're not going to see a massive increase in sales just from PC alone and XBox, who even knows if that is even around as a brand 4 years from now. 

There is a massive difference between gta 5 and 6 for one. Gtav was already old by the time switch came out.  It went on to do 200 million and there hasn't been sequel for 12 years.

And the Switch is headed for over 150 million consoles sold and its successor is one of the most anticipated systems in history.

This just comes off as you downplaying and dooming Nintendo again.

I'm not dooming them at all just saying I don't expect switch 2 to be as successful. And is it really one of the most anticipated console in history it doesn't seem like gamers are waiting for switch 2 the way switch is selling.

A system still selling decently doesn't necessarily mean there's not huge anticipation for the next one. PS home consoles mostly sold well towards their final year but their successors were still majorly anticipated.

Playstation is kinda different the fans always were lined for the next console cause of graphics horse power improvements, with Nintendo it's usually more hit and miss.