The Nintendo Switch, despite what the harshest of critics may say, has proven itself to be an amazing way to play Triple A games. The Switch is the fastest selling system of this generation and has sold over 8.7 million units from March 2017 to November 2018. Part of its success comes the massive third-party support it has received, on top of the first-party support from Nintendo. That’s why I believe that the Switch could be the perfect new home for future MMO and MMORPG games.
Just last month, one of the biggest free-to-play games Warframe made its debut unto the Switch and proven that the Switch is more than capable of playing games of that caliber. Heck, there’s even talk by Naoki Yoshida, producer on FFXIV, who’s showed interest in bringing the second largest MMO, Final Fantasy XIV to the portable handheld. Why stop there, games like Elsword, a free-to-play, 2.5D action MMORPG and MapleStory 2, a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game, would also be great fits for the Switch, with the right optimization of course. The market and demographic reach for these titles would be a lot more than leaving them on PC alone and would rejuvenate the dying MMO market in a new way.
Of course not all MMO/MMORPGs can or should be brought to the Switch. I can’t see something Black Desert or ArcheAge ever running on Switch yet but what I’m saying is that, if it CAN be brought to the Nintendo Switch, then should. And if future MMO developers are currently creating new MMO IP’s, then they too should consider making a version for the Switch. With the Switch portability, the online world would be more populated for longer duration and have a more active fanbase since most people are taking their Switch on the go and playing on breaks during work and school breaks.
I mean, look what happened with the Indie scene. Indies have traditionally always released on the PC and most of them get buried under the noise of many triple A games and MMO’s that comes with playing on PC. However, after the Switch came out and developers of these Indie games started porting their games to the Switch, they saw a surge in popularity and profit for their games and playing indie games on the Switch somehow felt natural. Games like Dead Cells’, ‘Hollow Knight’ & ‘Celeste’ are some of the example that have done well on the Switch.
Some might argue that because these indie games are best enjoyed in a 25 – 45 minute burst, and have less processing power, it would make sense for these games to do well on the Switch. So in turn, MMOs would probably do poorly given the amount of time you’d have to invest to really get something out of it. Of course then, when you look at Warframe, you can see why that argued doesn’t hold up anymore. Times are changing and in order to survive, you gotta adapt and evolve.
Honestly, the Switch could very well be the hero or savior the MMO genre needs. These are just my opinion of course and I’d like to hear on whether or not you agree or disagree with my ideas. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
