Rime Developer Says Switch’s Dev Tools Played Huge Part in Third Party Interest

Recently, the Nintendo Switch was officially named the fastest selling console in Nintendo history. A number of developers spoke very well of the Switch before its official release, and in an interview with Polygon, Christian Svensson, Chief Operating Officer at Sixfoot, who is publishing Rime adds his enthusiasm about what the Switch means.

"The Wii U audience never hit the broad market that, for example, the Wii did. And I think that the Switch has the ability to recapture some of the Wii magic in a couple of different ways. But a lot of it has to do with the fact that it’s a 2-in-1 system. The fact that it is trying to be a portable and a home console all in one package — first of all, it’s an easy sell from a value for money family purchase standpoint. You know, I just think that if you looked at it only as a portable system, it’s probably the best portable that has ever been. And if you look at it as a home system, it’s capable, is probably the best way I’d put it. In that regard, I think the adoption is going to be broader than the Wii U was."

He goes on to explain how the improved development tools played a key role in third party support for the Switch, over the Wii U.

"Our reasons for [porting Rime] were we wanted to reach a broad audience, and it’s the type of game that feels like it belongs on a Nintendo platform. I don’t know that you could say that for every game out there. Everyone’s gotta have their own reasons for porting. From a technical perspective, the amount of work is not trivial. There are definitely easier platforms to get to. Without getting into details, a lot of it has to do with RAM limitations relative to the PS4 and Xbox One, as an example. So it’s a trickier — even notwithstanding processing differentials between those platforms. As far as why more people are doing it, here’s an obvious one: better support for certain engines. Obviously Unreal never existed on Wii U or 3DS, and it exists — or will more properly exist eventually — on Switch. … That’s a huge thing. I think there are certain tools that exist on Switch, for performance and optimization, that never existed on Nintendo platforms before. It’s a huge step forward on those fronts. So maybe that’s what’s giving developers a little more confidence to say, “You know what? We can figure this out. We’re not sort of feeling our way through the dark.”

Rime is set to release on the Nintendo Switch On May 23 in North America, and May 26 in Europe. For more on Rime, check out the first 27 minutes of gameplay here.