The only reason Rockstars cowboy classic isnt on the Switch is because of bad timing, or at least thats what Nintendo says.
With games like Doom and Civilizations VI appearing on Switch, Nintendos support from third party publishers is slowly improving. Especially when games as thoroughly un-Nintendo as Mortal Kombat 11 get announced for the Switch.
And yet the idea of something as technically complex as Red Dead Redemption II appearing on Switch seems impossible, even though Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aimé has just implied it was merely a question of logistics.
In a new interview with Hollywood Reporter, Fils-Aimé dodges a general question about third party support before being asked about Red Dead Redemption II specifically.
Wed love for it to be there, he says. But again – and this is where there needs to be an understanding of just the development process – Red Dead has been in development for years, time that predated any communication of Nintendo Switch.
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So, from the developers mentality, they need to move forward and finish the game theyve been working on and then be in a position to look at other opportunities. Any game from a key third-party thats coming out now, typically that development started well before any conversations about Nintendo Switch.
What happens moving forward? Well see. But thats how you wind up with a situation with Red Dead not being available on our platform.
In the broadest sense Fils-Aimé is correct, in that work on Red Dead Redemption II wouldve started long before Rockstar had any idea what the Switch was.
Other developers – such as Bandai Namco with SoulCalibur VI – have also used the long development time of games to explain the lack of a Switch version, indicating that they wouldve released the game on Nintendos console if theyd known about it earlier.
But it does ignore the fact that Red Dead Redemption IIs graphics are well beyond the capabilities of the Switch. Not only that but the game comes on two Blu-rays and even Rockstars own L.A. Noire, which is essentially a last gen game, has to rely on a mixture of cartridge and downloadable data to run.
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Its also hard to imagine the recently launched Red Dead Online mode working on the Switch, given Nintendos much more primitive online service.
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But then Fils-Aimé is essentially just a marketing man and his comments always tend to be very superficial.
As an example, hes also asked about the possibility of another Classic Mini Classic, to which he gives the usual answer that future retro content will all be via the Nintendo Switch Online service – even though it currently only supports NES games.
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