Nintendo Is Aiming To Win Strong Third-Party Support With The Switch
Not since the days of the GameCube have Nintendo enjoyed third-party support on par with their competitors in the form of Microsoft and Sony. The Wii failed to receive any major multi-platform games while the Wii U was almost completely abandoned by everyone but Nintendo soon after its launch.
However, the Japanese firm is fully focused on fixing this issue with the Nintendo Switch when it hits store shelves in March. The company has already provided a sample of third-party partners, including Bethesda, EA, Activision, From Software, Square Enix, Sega, Konami, and Capcom, but it now seems like they are fully investing in ensuring that they maintain that support throughout the life of the console.
Speaking in a financial meeting, the company spoke about how it is looking to make the new hardware as user-friendly as possible, with tools that enable developers outside of Nintendo to make games far more easily than was previously possible.
“For our previous game platforms, creating our own development tools was a high priority for us,” says Nintendo exec Shinya Takahashi. “However, since the start of Nintendo Switch development we have been aiming to realize an environment in which a variety of different third-party developers are able to easily develop compatible software, such as by making it compatible with Unreal and Unity as well as our own development tools.”
Just last week, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed that he believed that studios would be able to convert their PC games to work on the Nintendo Switch in less than a year, dramatically reducing the time it would take to create a port of a successful game.