Sorry, Nintendo Switch fans, but it seems that Gears of Breakfast’s title, A Hat in Time, won’t make it to the Nintendo Switch. While the dev studio mentioned that they had access to Nintendo Switch dev kits, back during Sept. 2017. They warned not to expect anything until there’s an official announcement.
Hey everyone, thank you so much for your continued support for A Hat in Time!! A while ago, we asked our fans to make sure to let everyone know how much you care for the game, and you really have! Humble and Gears now have access to Nintendo Switch devkits. Unfortunately we won’t have time to touch the devkits for a while now that we’re SO close to release (October 5th). Additionally, we’d like to remind everyone that there are NO PLANS for additional releases until we make any kind of official announcement.
This bit of news gave an impression that the game was more than likely coming. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. Instead, the team became concerned that they wouldn’t be able to get the title ported over to the Switch. Despite having access to the devkit. This likely could be attributed to the title being run on the Unreal Engine 3. While this game engine has powered been used in multiple games, it doesn’t support current generation consoles. Meaning the PlayStation 4, Xbox One or the Switch. This functionality was baked into Unreal Engine 4, instead.
While this doesn’t mean that a game that uses UE3 can’ t be ported to those consoles. It just takes more time, as developers will need to write custom code to get it to work. The trade-off is there’s no way to guarantee the performance will be there. A good example of this is the port of Rocket League on the Switch. While the title was ported, Panic Button Games, was forced to drop the graphical quality of the title to get it working. A lower resolution (648p), blurred graphics and lowered texture filtering round out the port on the Switch.
If A Hat in Time had been developed in UE4, perhaps the situation would be different. And while the title isn’t coming to the Switch, gamers can still check it out on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It’s definitely a fantastic platformer that shouldn’t be missed.
Credit: ResetERA, Twitter
