Some interesting discussion on the last few pages
I actually meant to make a post about 1-2 days ago about how I find it fascinating how Nintendo's relationships to third parties have changed over the last few years. Bandai Namco and Koei Tecmo working on at least three games each with Nintendo is pretty significant. So is Ubisoft making Mario & Rabbids, potentially a sequel and the Star Fox content in Starlink, perhaps even more so. With the Switch being comparatively underpowered and often not fitting into publishers' plans, it was always going to be difficult if not impossible to get all the third party games. I think this approach to partnerships makes a lot of sense for Nintendo, basically giving publishers more incentive to make exclusive games for their platforms while strengthening relations.
I wonder how interested other third parties are. The thought of Bethesda "sparing" one of their studios to work on a Nintendo-licensed game is certainly interesting and they don't seem to be opposed to it, at least theoretically. With Beth trying to get their own PC launcher off the ground and consequently needing exclusive content, I don't know how likely it is though. Especially if you consider that they already had to contract an external developer to work on a sequel for Rage. Arkane, Tango and Machine Games are three of my favourite studios right now and I would be thrilled to see one of them tackle a Nintendo franchise, I just don't think it's very likely. Neither are Activision, Electronic Arts or Take 2, for that matter.
An interesting partner for them might be THQ Nordic. They work with or even own a lot of smaller teams that have cool ideas but often lack the budget for the polish that their games would require to be really special:
Black Forest Games - Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Fade to Silence
Bugbear Entertainment - Wreckfest
Dambuster Studios (Former Free Radical Design staff) - Homefront: The Revolution
Fishlabs - Galaxy on Fire
Volition - Saints Row, Red Faction
Experiment 101 - Biomutant
A lot of these midrange games could really thrive on Switch where they don't face the same level of competition from AAA games.
I actually meant to make a post about 1-2 days ago about how I find it fascinating how Nintendo's relationships to third parties have changed over the last few years. Bandai Namco and Koei Tecmo working on at least three games each with Nintendo is pretty significant. So is Ubisoft making Mario & Rabbids, potentially a sequel and the Star Fox content in Starlink, perhaps even more so. With the Switch being comparatively underpowered and often not fitting into publishers' plans, it was always going to be difficult if not impossible to get all the third party games. I think this approach to partnerships makes a lot of sense for Nintendo, basically giving publishers more incentive to make exclusive games for their platforms while strengthening relations.
I wonder how interested other third parties are. The thought of Bethesda "sparing" one of their studios to work on a Nintendo-licensed game is certainly interesting and they don't seem to be opposed to it, at least theoretically. With Beth trying to get their own PC launcher off the ground and consequently needing exclusive content, I don't know how likely it is though. Especially if you consider that they already had to contract an external developer to work on a sequel for Rage. Arkane, Tango and Machine Games are three of my favourite studios right now and I would be thrilled to see one of them tackle a Nintendo franchise, I just don't think it's very likely. Neither are Activision, Electronic Arts or Take 2, for that matter.
An interesting partner for them might be THQ Nordic. They work with or even own a lot of smaller teams that have cool ideas but often lack the budget for the polish that their games would require to be really special:
Black Forest Games - Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, Fade to Silence
Bugbear Entertainment - Wreckfest
Dambuster Studios (Former Free Radical Design staff) - Homefront: The Revolution
Fishlabs - Galaxy on Fire
Volition - Saints Row, Red Faction
Experiment 101 - Biomutant
A lot of these midrange games could really thrive on Switch where they don't face the same level of competition from AAA games.
