Nintendo Switch 2 third party support may be limited because of lack of devkits-Michael Beckwith-Entertainment – Metro

It’s hard to believe Nintendo will have no third party games ready for launch (Nintendo)

Many smaller developers still don’t have Nintendo Switch 2 devkits, which could mean less games at launch than previously thought.

There will undoubtedly be at least one major first party game from Nintendo, available alongside the Nintendo Switch 2 when it launches this year. The rest of its launch line-up, though, will probably consist mostly of third party titles from other publishers.

This makes sense when you look at previous Nintendo console launches. The original Switch, for example, only had two first party launch titles: The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and 1-2-Switch.

That’s only a guess though and it’s currently unknown how many developers have Switch 2 devkits – modified consoles needed to make a game – but it may be less than first assumed.

For context, these rumours originated with an Insider Gaming report from last week, which alleged that Nintendo has a three phase launch plan for the Switch 2.

Phase one is said to focus on first party games, while phase two will see games from third parties arrive during the October/November period. The report went so far as to say third party studios aren’t expecting dev kits to arrive until June, which is also the widely assumed release month for the Switch 2.

In a recent video, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman corroborated this. While attending this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), he said he had heard ‘many, many, many, many developers are still without kit’ and Nintendo was ‘very slow at rolling this out to a lot of developers.’

Does this mean no other studios are able to make Switch 2 games until June? That is extremely unlikely. If this were the case, then those studios would only have a few months to familiarise themselves with the hardware and turn out new games and/or updated ports.

What’s more likely is that Nintendo has only granted dev kits to its most trusted partners. Linneman believes this to be the case, adding, ‘It just seems like a lot of medium to small developers still do not have access to development hardware. So Nintendo has been very selective with who they allow to do it [sic].’

Former GamesBeat writer Imran Khan followed this up over on ResetEra, claiming to have heard that at least one major third party, who he later revealed was Embracer Group, hadn’t been sent Switch 2 dev kits because ‘Nintendo deemed them too chaotic at the moment’ and was fearful of studios receiving dev kits, shutting down, and then losing the kits.

Insider Gaming has also clarified its report, saying that it’s the smaller studios that are lacking dev kits and most of the major third party developers already have them.

In addition, Insider Gaming says some, if not all, the dev kits lack 4K output. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean the Switch 2 won’t support 4K visuals since dev kits often don’t match the console’s final specs.

What third party games are coming to Nintendo Switch 2?

As it stands, very few third party games have been formally announced for Switch 2. Ahead of the console’s reveal, My Time At Portia studio Pathea Games and Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic Games said their next projects will launch for ‘future Nintendo platforms’, which may mean some indie studios already have access to Switch 2 devkits.

PowerWash Simulator 2 is also reportedly coming to Switch 2, though developer FuturLab has insisted that it has no concrete plans for Nintendo’s new console at the moment.

Beyond that, there are plenty of rumours and theories going around. Retail listings suggest that the likes of Tekken 8 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are inbound for Switch 2.

Microsoft is said to be one of the console’s biggest supporters, with Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Microsoft Flight Simulator (presumably the newest one) named as two big Xbox games rumoured to see Switch 2 ports.

At the very least, the Switch 2 being more powerful than its predecessor means a lot more games from the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One days should finally be ported to Nintendo’s platform.

It’s even suggested that the Switch 2’s use of upscaling tech will mean it can run the kind of games you see on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, albeit with some compromises.

Most third party devs are probably holding off Switch 2 announcements until they get the all clear from Nintendo (Playtonic)

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