The Nintendo Switch has been getting a lot of support from 3rd Party Developers, and some like Square Enix are saying they hope to support it a lot more in the future. This leads players to wonder if other 3rd party developers will try the same. Blizzard is one of the big fan wants, especially with Overwatch. Now, Blizzard has already said that Overwatch coming to Switch is “a possibility”, but they also said that there would be challenges to it.
Now, we know specifically what those challenges are. Overwatch Director Jeff Kaplan talked with Express Online and revealed what he meant by previous statements.
“I think the problem is, we’ve really targeted our min spec in a way that we would have to revisit performance and how to get on that platform,” he said, “And also, it’s already challenging right now maintaining three platforms and patching simultaneously, which is something that we’ve finally been able to achieve.”
On the first part, the graphics, that’s understandable. Though the Nintendo Switch is powerful, as games like Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and Fast RMX have proved, it’s still not as powerful as PS4 and Xbox One, or at least not yet. That would mean that Blizzard would have to tweak the visuals so it could work on the system.
As for the later, that’s a whole nother set of issues. Multiplatform gaming can be difficult when it comes to patches and DLC, as Kaplan notes later in the interview, “Our first couple of patches would come out on PC first and then later on the consoles.”
So the Switch would be in that second tier of patches, or possibly even third because of the already established communities on Xbox and PS4. That’s a lot of work for one game, no matter how popular.
He reiterates though, that this IS STILL possible. Kaplan is a fan of the Switch. If nothing else, Blizzard just wants to make sure that they not only can bring it to the Switch, but also, maintain it to the quality standard they set for themselves.
