While declaring that "it's been confirmed Rockstar titles are coming to Nintendo Switch" would be reading into this way too much, at least we know that the folks over at Take-Two Interactive are looking to support Nintendo's upcoming home console beyond a port of NBA 2K17.
When T2 president Karl Slatoff was caught by attendees at the Annual Credit Suisse Technology, Media & Telecom Conference — you know, that odd event where Take-Two spokespeople often share comments on various industry related topics — he was issued a few questions about the Nintendo Switch.
The Switch is the final name of Nintendo's long-teased project NX, the new home console which will be replacing the Wii U. The Switch was recently revealed to be a unique hybrid of a home and portable gaming system, featuring a docking station, removable and customizable controllers as well as a core tablet-like element.
Nintendo's systems in the recent past mostly relied on first party game support, with third party games being a tad less typical. Most AAA releases avoided both the Wii and the Wii U — which is understandable when the platform's name sounds like an ambulance (we kid, of course. Both were neat systems).
The reveal trailer of the Switch, on the other hand, featured third party games prominently. Skyrim and NBA 2K17 were used on several occasions to show off the capabilities of the new system, such as local multiplayer.
The trailer alone gave the indication that players can expect a greater measure of third-party support this time around, but the comments of Karl Slatoff gave fans even more hope. NBA 2K17 already proves that through 2K, Take-Two is already establishing a presence on the Switch. GoNintendo reported on the president's comments.
With any new hardware, there is always an element of 'wait and see,' and the install base is going to drive a lot [of Take-Two's level of support]. We're very intrigued and excited about it. The Nintendo folks I think are making a great effort to reach out to third-party developers, which I think is fantastic.
Slatoff made sure to skirt details because he's probably obligated to, but nonetheless, this kind of statement coming from a top executive has quite a bit of weight. It is, however, in the other half of his statement that truly sparked a greater measure of hope among fans that maybe the other developer under the Take-Two umbrella, Rockstar Games, might also end up developing for the Switch in the future.
I would say we're very optimistic and they're good partners. We're excited to work with them in the future on it, though we are not announcing anything specific today.
The way he worded "not announcing anything specific today" makes it sound as if they are planning to announce something specific another day. Then again, there is a higher chance that 2K will be the one pumping out Switch titles simply based on the histories of the two devs. Rockstar rarely broke the mould and generally stuck to the same directives.
Seeing a Rockstar title come to the Switch would be wildly out of character, and they already have their hands full with Red Dead Redemption 2 — which is pretty much guaranteed not to touch the Nintendo Switch. A GTA 5 port is again, rather unlikely, as that title already got 3 different versions and the audience on the Switch probably doesn't have major overlap with the typical GTA audience.
In any case, with Take-Two's backing, the third party library for the as-of-yet unreleased console is already looking a lot better than the predecessors' did. Here's hoping we'll see some Rockstar titles reach the console too.
Who's gonna be checking out the Switch?
