I was catching up on the main Nintendo thread today and I'm confused why there is such concern over the Dane cutting off all Switch games in 2022. I'm a big fan of generations lasting as long as possible, especially when they are going as strong as the Switch is. I know we have had mostly hard cutoffs in the past as Nintendo fans (Wii and Wii U were particularly dire), but honestly even if the Dane released next year I really think the Switch is in an entirely different situation where developers will not abandon the original Switch immediately.
Most indies don't need to jump ship as the Switch is still more than powerful enough for the majority of them and it appears the Dane will be mostly or fully backwards compatible with the original so when an indie develops for the base Switch, it's a Dane game too. The smaller Japanese market means Japanese developers are going to keep developing for Switch until they see people are truly mostly picking up Dane versions of games or exclusive Dane games. We had a thread recently on Western third party support and yeah most of that is leaving Switch or already gone. Ubisoft I think will bring games where it makes sense, but Bethesda, EA, and Activision Blizzard (ew) are probably all/mostly out at this point for various reasons.
The big one where I think people are most anxious is first party Nintendo, but just because the Dane Switch comes out and games will run better on it doesn't mean any of the announced upcoming games will suddenly become Dane exclusive. Would Nintendo really market games like Bayonetta 3 and Breath of the Wild 2 and then suddenly pull the rug out and say whoa actually this is Dane only? Perhaps the sole exception I could see people argue is Metroid Prime 4 because we haven't seen literally anything from it. Even that game though, why would they allegedly be putting out a Prime Remake next year to build up to nothing. That doesn't make any sense. Unless Prime 4 doesn't make 2023, I see no reason why that game won't be cross gen. The trilogy pushed beyond its weight thanks to stellar art direction and I see no reason why Retro will let us down. The design of most Nintendo games isn't going to necessitate more powerful hardware, so there's really no reason to believe most upcoming games through 2023 at least won't be cross gen. Are we really going to say any Nintendo 2D platformers for example won't run on the old Switch? How about normal Pokemon and Fire Emblem? One final thing to consider is some of these upcoming games will be supported with DLC for a good deal of time. Splatoon 3 will see at least two years of support right there. Xenoblade 3, Breath of the Wild 2, mainline Fire Emblem, and upcoming Pokemon games likely will have extended DLC support as well.
Anyway all this is to say, there's really no reason to panic 2022 won't be awesome for Switch and 2023 will likely be awesome as well even if it won't be as bonkers as 2022 looks. We already have Metroid Prime 4 likely to look forward to in 2023 and three Trails games dated for 2023 (if you love JRPGs and aren't excited for Trails you are doing it wrong. I can say first hand Zero and Azure in particular are awesome and y'all need to be hyped for them). 2024 I think is too far out to clearly predict, but even then with indies and Japanese developers it's just more likely than not some games will still come out for it. The Dane Switch will get exclusive games no question, but it's going to take a while to build up an install base especially as the chip shortage remains in strong (or greater?) effect. It makes good business sense on multiple fronts to keep developing Switch games as it builds up and with a line up like 2022's the Switch's still growing audience is going to be reenergized and ready for more Switch games. With backwards compatibility too, all Switch games are Dane games. No effort is thus wasted and with DLSS and more power, Dane gamers will still be happy. So yes, the Switch will not see a hard end in 2022 as far as I'm concerned.
Bonus tangent here, if some of y'all are antsy with all the big games out this year, don't forget we have the Danganronpa Decadence collection and Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonderland hitting Switch in December! We still have a few cool games left before 2021 ends!
Anyway I wrote most of this as a post for the main thread, but I think the board overall has been anxious about the Switch and the Dane for months so I'll turn it over to you. Do you think 2022 is the hard end of Switch support?
Most indies don't need to jump ship as the Switch is still more than powerful enough for the majority of them and it appears the Dane will be mostly or fully backwards compatible with the original so when an indie develops for the base Switch, it's a Dane game too. The smaller Japanese market means Japanese developers are going to keep developing for Switch until they see people are truly mostly picking up Dane versions of games or exclusive Dane games. We had a thread recently on Western third party support and yeah most of that is leaving Switch or already gone. Ubisoft I think will bring games where it makes sense, but Bethesda, EA, and Activision Blizzard (ew) are probably all/mostly out at this point for various reasons.
The big one where I think people are most anxious is first party Nintendo, but just because the Dane Switch comes out and games will run better on it doesn't mean any of the announced upcoming games will suddenly become Dane exclusive. Would Nintendo really market games like Bayonetta 3 and Breath of the Wild 2 and then suddenly pull the rug out and say whoa actually this is Dane only? Perhaps the sole exception I could see people argue is Metroid Prime 4 because we haven't seen literally anything from it. Even that game though, why would they allegedly be putting out a Prime Remake next year to build up to nothing. That doesn't make any sense. Unless Prime 4 doesn't make 2023, I see no reason why that game won't be cross gen. The trilogy pushed beyond its weight thanks to stellar art direction and I see no reason why Retro will let us down. The design of most Nintendo games isn't going to necessitate more powerful hardware, so there's really no reason to believe most upcoming games through 2023 at least won't be cross gen. Are we really going to say any Nintendo 2D platformers for example won't run on the old Switch? How about normal Pokemon and Fire Emblem? One final thing to consider is some of these upcoming games will be supported with DLC for a good deal of time. Splatoon 3 will see at least two years of support right there. Xenoblade 3, Breath of the Wild 2, mainline Fire Emblem, and upcoming Pokemon games likely will have extended DLC support as well.
Anyway all this is to say, there's really no reason to panic 2022 won't be awesome for Switch and 2023 will likely be awesome as well even if it won't be as bonkers as 2022 looks. We already have Metroid Prime 4 likely to look forward to in 2023 and three Trails games dated for 2023 (if you love JRPGs and aren't excited for Trails you are doing it wrong. I can say first hand Zero and Azure in particular are awesome and y'all need to be hyped for them). 2024 I think is too far out to clearly predict, but even then with indies and Japanese developers it's just more likely than not some games will still come out for it. The Dane Switch will get exclusive games no question, but it's going to take a while to build up an install base especially as the chip shortage remains in strong (or greater?) effect. It makes good business sense on multiple fronts to keep developing Switch games as it builds up and with a line up like 2022's the Switch's still growing audience is going to be reenergized and ready for more Switch games. With backwards compatibility too, all Switch games are Dane games. No effort is thus wasted and with DLSS and more power, Dane gamers will still be happy. So yes, the Switch will not see a hard end in 2022 as far as I'm concerned.
Bonus tangent here, if some of y'all are antsy with all the big games out this year, don't forget we have the Danganronpa Decadence collection and Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonderland hitting Switch in December! We still have a few cool games left before 2021 ends!
Anyway I wrote most of this as a post for the main thread, but I think the board overall has been anxious about the Switch and the Dane for months so I'll turn it over to you. Do you think 2022 is the hard end of Switch support?
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