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Nintendo Reveals Why the Switch Can Expect Better Third-Party Support

Compatible with Unreal and Unity.

Nintendo Switch

Nintendo has revealed its new console the Switch, and from what we’ve seen so far, it certainly looks interesting. It would be fair to say that the company is no doubt hoping that the Switch will do better than the Wii U which failed to compete with the likes of the PS4 and Xbox One. One of the reasons this happened was because there was very little third-party support for the Wii U, meaning most games on there were made by Nintendo.

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It appears Nintendo has learned from this mistake and is aiming to make the Switch a lot more appealing to third-party developers. In an English translation of the Nintendo’s investor Q&A published today, director Shinya Takahashi explained how the Switch will be more accessible to third-part developers.

“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,” Takahashi said.” As a result, even companies with only a few developers have already started making games for Nintendo Switch.”

Takahashi revealed that demonstrations of the Switch game 1-2-Switch were shown to developers as a pitch in order to show off the unique features of the console.The Switch has already gained the attention of Bethesda, who is releasing Skyrim on the platform.

“During our recent (January 13) Nintendo Switch presentation, we played a video message from the creator of Skyrim, Mr. Todd Howard of Bethesda Game Studios, in which he shared the genuine impression he had already given us when we first showed him Nintendo Switch,” Takahashi said. “Nintendo will keep on creating unique software. By doing so, I believe we will encourage third-party developers to create a number of quality software titles for Nintendo Switch.”

Famed game creator Shigeru Miyamoto also added that the Switch has also been designed for PC games, stating that PC game developers can “easily adapt” their titles for a Switch release.

“In the current development environment, I’d say that it would take less than a year for them to port a PC game to Nintendo Switch,” he said.

It certainly looks like a lot of effort has been made to ensure that the Switch is more appealing to third-party developers. Here’s hoping that they opt to release their games on the new platform. The Switch is set to be released on March 3.

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Thom Peart

Gamer, writer, honey badger wrangler.

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