Are Monthly Switch Releases Sustainable? Scott’s Thoughts

Since Nintendo launched Switch in March, they’ve quickly built out the library with solid 1st party hits.

Select 3rd parties, and a swath of independent developers, have also been instrumental in filling out the gaps.

From Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to Super Mario Odyssey, one can’t help but be impressed with how this hardware’s first year has been supported by stellar software.

For the first time in many years, consumers are actually starting to say “there are just too many good games. I wish they would delay some of these.”

Who can possibly manage to play Odyssey, Skyrim, and Xenoblade all back-to-back?

What’s more,  how will Nintendo maintain this breakneck development pace?

Here’s the important factor to keep in mind: Switch has a team of software designers about twice the size that Wii U had. Where did all these extra developers come from?
Well, Nintendo merged the 3DS and Wii U departments together shortly after R&D on Switch began, bringing home and portable development under one roof.

3DS is seeing it’s last days as more and more resources are allocated to developing new experiences on Nintendo’s hybrid console. And they’re selling like crazy.

I expect the manic pace to continue for the foreseeable future. It won’t be a gigantic new title like Super Mario Odyssey dropping each month, but I could see twelve releases spread over a year like so:

• 2 Wii U/ ports (think: Smash Bros.)
• 1 HD remake (think: Kid Icarus Uprising)
• 1 Kirby
• 1 Yoshi
• 2 big franchise sequels (Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Splatoon, etc.)
• 1 new IP (a la ARMS)
• 1 partnership with a 3rd party (like Rabbids)
• 1 collection (BoxBoy would work well)
• 1 party game (people must be getting tired of 1-2-Switch, right?)
• 1 crazy announcement no one could ever predict

And that’s twelve games right there. As you can see, it’s totally doable for the Big N to publish something every 4-5 weeks.
The only question remains: can our wallets and schedules keep up with the runaway hype-train?

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Scott

Scott is an author and a lifelong fan of video games. Conqueror of punishing platformers such as Celeste, Super Meat Boy, N+, The Impossible Game, and Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels. You can find him constantly changing his main character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, stuck inside a VR headset, or helplessly addicted to Fortnite.

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