Partner Up for More Exclusives and Titles
Two notable titles for Switch last year came from partnerships with third-party developers, in which Nintendo entrusted their own IPs to developers such as Ubisoft. Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle especially wowed Switch owners with a surprisingly robust tactical experience that crossed over Mario and company with Ubisoft’s Rabbid mascots.
Moving forward, partnerships could be a fantastic way for content to thrive on the Switch, with Nintendo helping third parties take a stab at some of their big series. If they were willing to let Ubisoft make a Mario game with guns, it seems like nothing is out of the question at this point. Let some big developer bring back F-Zero or Golden Sun, or let Koei Tecmo tackle another property with the Warriors brand. There’s a ton of possibilities, but the idea applies to more than just Nintendo properties.
Attracting third-party developers to the system with exclusives is also another valuable tactic, and considering the Switch’s momentum at the moment totally possible. Games such as Project Octopath Traveler from Square Enix will be strong pieces for the Switch, allowing third-party exclusives to fill gaps that Nintendo might have on their own release schedule. At the same time, they’ll want to attract as many multiplatform games as possible. This seems to be going fairly well so far with third-party titles like Wolfenstein II, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Dark Souls Remastered, Mega Man 11, and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle all coming to the system. Nintendo is doing an admirable job with the Switch on their own, but third parties are what will really keep the system surging forward long term.
