This doesn't make no sense. Why would they compete with Nintendo? None of the western publishers work on genres Nintendo excels in. They're not competing, in fact, some of the Nintendo-like games sell best on Switch, like Immortals or Crash Team Racing. That theory is nonsense. The whole "only Nintendo games sell on Nintendo consoles" thing needs to die. Everything sell well on Switch, it's the only widely available handheld in the market.
I think you are confused what is meant by “compete” here.
What people buy a specific gaming platform for matters. It dictates what most of its userbase leans to, the market they boost, the engagement they have.
On the Nintendo platform, Nintendo 1st party gaming sucks most the air out of the room. (Compare this with Xbox/PlayStation where their 1st party games don’t. They actually help facilitate similar minded 3rd party games. Their top 20-30 best selling games are more 3rd party than 1st)
So when people say certain games just can’t “compete” with Nintendo 1st party games on Nintendo platforms, they mean they can’t find room for engagement for their game that is too incongruous for what people use the platforms mostly to game.
Yes, like you said, the 3rd party games that are most similar to Nintendo 1st party games are the ones that can compete better. That’s the whole point.
The 3rd party games that can can compete very well against Xbox and PlayStation 1st party games on their platforms are generally the type that can’t compete for engagement on Nintendo platforms.
FWIW:
Nintendo’s former head of indies Dan Adelman believes that third party developers skip Nintendo platforms as they don’t think they can compete against the first party titles that are available.
mynintendonews.com
Answer to other theory... They're not "dumping" every PS360 game to Switch because they can do better than that, just by lightly "remastering" them to sell for a bigger price, as evident with Ubi and T2 releases. Ubi had HD remastered Rayman 3 and BG&E for PS360 and they stuck there, why not bringing them to modern consoles? Not just Switch, PS4 and Xbox too? Timing, a company like Ubisoft always look for maximizing the profits. Save BG&E re-release just before the BG&E2 launch for instance, ride on that hype. Switch isn't the only console missing some important last gen ports. But every publisher, save for Namco, steadily bringing their PS360 lineup to modern consoles. Switch has got many of 2K's lineup already and slowly getting Ubi's. (EA is one of the rare publishers who's not into re-releases, on any platform)
Eh, don’t get too hung up on the ps360 porting part. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.
The Switch could get/could have gotten a port of any Xbox One game if publishers really thought there was demand for it on the Switch.
...there will be a massive launch hype for this Pro. A Pro version of a super successful console of the modern times and Nintendo is unlikely to bring any exclusives for it. This is literally a retelling of GBC. Profit motivated publishers won't miss this big opportunity, they'll all have some big guns for the launch. Maybe no "drop all the games instantly" thing but this could be a pretty stacked launch year. There still could be some "dumps", like Capcom did with Resident Evil on base Switch in 2019.
Look, I have no doubt publishers will try some Drake exclusives and give it shot to see how it lands. I am expecting it. Like I said, there will be some “vanity” projects just to show off what they can do with better Switch hardware (similar to how Witcher 3 and Doom were projects to show off what could be done on OG Switch mobile hardware)
I see it working similar to the Wii U trajectory of “unprecedented support!”
Publishers were excited at the prospect of a Nintendo platform FINALLY being HD and having a normal, standard control scheme. They thought this might make their games more appealing on a Nintendo platform than usual. And there was a lot of early support and ports to the Wii U out of the gate based on these theories.
Didn’t pan out. The tie ratio of their efforts were generally abysmal.
For example, COD: Ghosts was the best selling game on the Xbox one and ps4 in 2013. Represent 6% and 7% of its total sales, respectively.
COD: Ghosts was NOT the best selling Wii U game in 2013. Probably not even in the top 20 lol. It represented less than 1% of total COD: Ghosts sales.
Come on now. Wii U had a very good first party lineup, some of them were among the best in their series: NSMBU, Mario Maker, Super Mario 3D World, WW/TP, Donkey Kong 2, StarFox, Bayo 2, Splatoon, Pikmin 3, Xeno X... Only thing missing was Animal Crossing, but I doubt absence of it was the only thing kept the console below 20m sales, as AC shines better on handhelds. Do not blame the first party lineup please.
I loved my Wii U. I used to always defend it back in the day.
But the discussion around Wii U during its lifetime was ABSOLUTELY about consistent 1st party release “droughts”. 100%. Great Wii U games were released, but not enough. A 1st party gaming machine needs continuous 1st party support.
Every Nintendo direct had people complaining how much 3ds focus there was. There was absolutely lament from Wii U owners about Nintendo focus being divided.
I think you are severely underestimating how many Nintendo gamers were
just fine getting their Nintendo gaming fix on the GBA and the 3ds. They didn’t really need the GC/Wii U that much.
The Switch having both the typical home console and typical handheld consoles together in a singular, consistent focus absolutely makes the Switch a more compelling system than the GameCube or the Wii U. I don’t know how you can argue otherwise.
Absolutely Wii U would have sold better, probably snes numbers, had the 3ds not existed and it was the only platform for Nintendo games.
