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Steamworld Dig 2 developer Image & Form spoke to MCV about how Nintendo is looking to copy Valve’s method of publishing video games on Steam when it comes to Nintendo Switch.
‘Publishing for Nintendo consoles has been, in the past, not a nightmare, but pretty close,’ said Image & Form community manager Julius Guldbog before adding ‘They make sure every QA gate is good enough. It takes months, and you have to do that for every region, and if you fail, it takes even longer. You have to get a new slot, and release dates are pushed back.’
Guldbog describes publishing on the Switch as a time saver because there’s just the one version, and one launch for the entire world rather than separate versions for each territory. The Steamworld Dig developer explained how it’s a much more streamlined process than it was before, and indies are being treated somewhat differently.Â
‘Even Nintendo’s approach to how they get new indies to join the Switch family – nowadays, they see a good game at a convention and they just walk straight up to them and ask them to develop for Switch. From what I know, they’ve never done that before, so I think they are getting with the times,’ he claimed before stating that Nintendo has learned from previous mistakes with the Wii U and 3DS.
Guldbog was confident about the Switch’s ability to compete with the PS4 and Xbox One as well, both in terms of its development process and the quality of its titles.
Studios like Image & Form seem really high on what the Switch can do, comparing it to the PS4 and Xbox One in terms of ease of use when developing for it, so hopefully we’ll see a well-supported console for years to come.
