© NintendoSwitch’s release schedule may look a bit light at this point, but it would be reasonable to assume there are projects in the pipeline that have yet to be announced – and we’ve had arguably confirmation of that assumption from Christophe Gandon, Managing Director of Games at Virtuos, the studio responsible for such stunning third-party Switch ports like Dark Souls, Starlink and LA Noire, among others.
Speaking of the news that the Switch has overtaken the 3DS to take the credit of being Nintendo’s fifth best-selling console of all time, Gandon said:
2021 kicked off with the continued emergence of the Nintendo Switch as it now overtakes the lifetime sales of 3DS. There are many reasons for its success, including fantastic first party games and a clever design that finally breaks the gap between handheld and console. However, what really sets the Switch apart is its continued strong third-party support. Investing in the Switch ecosystem no longer means missing out on some of the biggest IPs in the world, with franchises like Bioshock and XCOM sitting in the same content library as Mario and Zelda. This can be attributed to Nintendo’s new approach to working with third parties, and their desire to make the Switch a welcoming home for developers of all shapes and sizes. We’ve been able to make good use of Nintendo’s toolkits to make games look great and work well on their hardware, and we’re excited about new projects on the horizon for this summer and beyond. There is much more to come from the Switch family.
Gandon is clearly suggesting that Virtuos has irons on fire for 2021, but his use of the phrase ‘Switch family’ is also interesting – he could possibly hint that we’ll be getting new Switch hardware in the near future, as has been heavily rumored for quite some time (despite Nintendo’s best efforts to ignore them)? Or does he just mean the Switch and Switch Lite?
Let us know your thoughts by posting a comment below – and don’t forget to also let us know which third-party titles Virtuos would like to see to Switch in 2021.