5 days ago
Indie game studios position themselves for Switch 2 boom
TOKYO - Players line up inside Nintendo's booth at a Japanese game fair to try upcoming Switch 2 titles, but, for once, the company's chirpy red-capped mascot Mario is nowhere to be seen.
The three games on display are all made by smaller-scale, independent developers seeking to impress users of the device that became the world's fastest-selling console after its launch last month.
But with Nintendo game sales long dominated by in-house franchises -- from "Super Mario" to "Donkey Kong" to "Animal Crossing" -- it can be hard for outsiders to break through.
"The Switch 2 has certainly gotten off to a strong start," said Krysta Yang of the Nintendo-focused Kit & Krysta Podcast.
But so far, "for third-party game creators, the success of Switch 2 didn't necessarily translate into strong sales".
Many Switch 2 owners bought the gadget to play Nintendo exclusives, such as "Mario Kart World", and the high price of the console and its games mean consumers have been less keen to splash out on a range of titles, Yang told AFP.
Also, many non-Nintendo games currently sold on the Switch 2, such as "Cyberpunk 2077", were already available on rival platforms such as Sony's PlayStation 5.
"Nintendo is incentivised to keep their third-party developer relationships strong as they understand to sustain a console lifecycle they will need (their) support," Yang said, but warned "there certainly are challenges" ahead for the developers.
The Switch 2 is more powerful than its hugely popular predecessor, and that "opens up the space for what can be made", said Ryan Juckett of the US studio Hypersect.
Nintendo's own games "can be quite expensive, so there's a gap for cheaper, easier-access games that people can play on the fly", said Kent Burgess from New Zealand, part of the team behind the game "Bashful Adoration".
Gaming industry consultant Serkan Toto said Nintendo once had "an almost legendary reputation of being hard to negotiate with" for outside gamemakers.
"But that changed with the Switch 1", which launched in 2017 after the company's previous console, the Wii U, was "a total flop" -- opening the way for more third-party games, including indie titles, Toto said.
