When it comes to Nintendo, absolutely no one can deny that they have hands down the greatest first party lineup of titles ever. From Mario to Splatoon, they have a genre IP for just about everything. And every console season, they do their best to bring as many of these IP to the system to make it “more valuable” and lure fans to buy the system and the games. The Nintendo Switch has done this very well…to an extent.
Because fans have noted many a time that we’ve gotten all sorts of IP on the Switch, but not necessarily the ones that fans have been asking for. Like a new Donkey Kong title, or a new F-Zero, or a remake of Golden Sun, and so on. They seem content with cranking out all sorts of Mario games, or “playing it safe” with other titles, but not with the IP that fans clearly want back. In a shareholder meeting, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa revealed “why this was”:
“It is realistically difficult to develop new titles and remakes, including sequels, for every Nintendo game that people request, but we are very grateful and appreciate the expectations our fans have for our games,” he said.
Senior managing executive officer Shinya Takahashi added this as well:
“We are always considering how to develop new titles and remakes that can be enjoyed by many players,” he said. We cannot tell you if there are any plans for future remakes of any specific game, but, during development, we are always thinking about various possibilities that players can enjoy.”
That’s a very business-way of saying that “fans don’t always get what they want”, and no doubt that’ll be frustrating to fans because they likely KNOW that these games can sell well if they’re made well and given the proper treatment. We still have a few years of the Switch left, so perhaps will get a return before too long.
