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Axiom Verge getting a physical release on the Switch.

stalker

Member
Sorry, I did not want to sound offensive. Dan Adelman used to work for Nintendo and was in the team that handles third party relationships, particularly with indies. This makes it particularly suprising that he has not managed to get answers from Nintendo. Surely it cannot be due to lack of knowledge about how Nintendo works, that was the point I wanted to make.
 
D

Deleted member 465307

Unconfirmed Member
Seeing Dan Adelman call his former employer "douches" is certainly not what I expected to read when entering this thread.

Yeah, that was a surprise. I guess he doesn't like how the team is handling things now. Nintendo has vocalized their strategy of prioritizing new games or games with new content (or ones they see lots of sales and brand potential in) and they seem to be very deliberate about the schedule of releases. I imagine that must be very frustrating if you're a developer looking to get on the system in the first months without adding something exclusive. I also understand Nintendo's approach, though, so I'm undecided if Nintendo is making the right or wrong move.

I wonder how Axiom Verge sales on Wii U were. It's interesting how the Tomorrow Corporation games ended up on the system with few changes but not Axiom Verge. Maybe Tomorrow Corp is more closely associated with the Nintendo brand and Nintendo likes that; I oddly kind of see Axiom Verge as more of a Sony or PC thing.
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
Nintendo are being morons, it seems.

C-M2-fGXoAEvjR7.jpg:large


credit to https://twitter.com/BombosMedallion/status/856588806065180672
Yeah he said it was up to Nintendo when they announced Multiverse edition for the other platforms also

LPpyqmEh.jpg
 
I bought it on Wii U but haven't played it yet, then they announced the physical Wii U version was coming so I thought ah shit I'll buy it again!

Now a Switch physical version? Yes please! Do it!

Makes no sense at all why Nintendo wouldn't want as many games as possible in development for the thing. :\ Would really love to know reasoning why some people are being told "Nar for now thanks."
 
Isn't the Binding of Isaac Rebirth from a few years back? Cave Story is also set to release in a few months and that's *much* older than the rest.

I'd argue the fact that Nicalis was a pretty big Nintendo publisher) to begin with (and the fact that apparently most of these games are getting more exclusive content) is why those older games are getting through the process easier than Axiom Verge is.
 

jacobeid

Banned
I'd argue the fact that Nicalis was a pretty big Nintendo publisher to begin with is why those older games are getting through the process easier than Axiom Verge is.

You're definitely right. I didn't even think about the publisher attached to it. I can't think of any then.

Edit: because I'm dumb. See the post above me :)
 
Perhaps Adelman is the problem, maybe he pissed the wrong people off when he left, calling them douches on twitter aint exactly going to help
 

Robin64

Member
Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ only release in January 2017 for PC, and the Switch got it before PS4 and XB1.
 
Isaac isn't just an old game, Afterbirth+ is the latest expansion that hasn't even come to other consoles yet.

The World of Goo ones though. Old as shit right? *shrugs*
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
They definitely should be on Switch, but calling Nintendo douches probably means they're not getting on Switch.
 

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
They definitely should be on Switch, but calling Nintendo douches probably means they're not getting on Switch.

I have a hard time believing a company would make a business decision on something so personal, but perhaps that's the case. Certainly can't help.
 
Isn't the Binding of Isaac Rebirth from a few years back? Cave Story is also set to release in a few months and that's *much* older than the rest.

Afterbirth Plus came out this year. I think Cave Story has new stuff, too. Come to think of it, most of the older games in the launch window have new stuff, too, like the co-op in the 2D Boy games and the Specter Knight campaign in Shovel Knight. I hope older games start showing up on the system without developers having to add new stuff. While I don't really like Axiom Verge, it would be a huge shame if the Switch misses out on a bunch of games because Nintendo goes down the super dumb Xbox One indie parity path from a few years ago.
 

GDGF

Soothsayer
I have a hard time believing a company would make a business decision on something so personal, but perhaps that's the case. Certainly can't help.

Well, maybe current era Nintendo would let it slide, but Yamauchi era Nintendo would have made this a vendetta :)
 
D

Deleted member 465307

Unconfirmed Member
And they got a jukebox mode and simultaneous touch screen and pointer functionality for their ports.

Yeah, I wonder if those games got fast-tracked on Switch because they showed aspects of Switch functionality that other developers had somewhat ignored. Their long history with Nintendo, including at past launches, also probably doesn't hurt. I definitely associate them with Nintendo.

Afterbirth Plus came out this year. I think Cave Story has new stuff, too. Come to think of it, most of the older games in the launch window have new stuff, too, like the co-op in the 2D Boy games and the Specter Knight campaign in Shovel Knight. I hope older games start showing up on the system without developers having to add new stuff. While I don't really like Axiom Verge, it would be a huge shame if the Switch misses out on a bunch of games because Nintendo goes down the super dumb Xbox One indie parity path from a few years ago.

It's intentional: I'm almost positive I heard Damon Baker say they wanted the first games on Switch to have something new or exclusive to them. I wonder how long that will last, though. My intuition, which is based on nothing, tells me that this might be a Year 1 policy.
 
Afterbirth Plus came out this year. I think Cave Story has new stuff, too. Come to think of it, most of the older games in the launch window have new stuff, too, like the co-op in the 2D Boy games and the Specter Knight campaign in Shovel Knight. I hope older games start showing up on the system without developers having to add new stuff. While I don't really like Axiom Verge, it would be a huge shame if the Switch misses out on a bunch of games because Nintendo goes down the super dumb Xbox One indie parity path from a few years ago.

Once a dev has a dev kit I'm pretty sure they're free to make whatever they want (its the only way vroom in the night sky can be explained) but they are being overly choosy with who gets kits at the moment
 
It's a bummer to hear that they're not hearing back from Nintendo, but I guess that's part of their approach right now? Looking at the current lineup for the Switch, just about everything is a "new" release in some form. Seems like they might be trying to avoid games that are straight ports with no new content at the moment.

Definitely lame IMO. I'd gladly play a ton of older stuff as a straight port to Switch. I'm looking at Capcom for RE4 HD...
 

tebunker

Banned
I have a hard time believing a company would make a business decision on something so personal, but perhaps that's the case. Certainly can't help.

You ain't been around long have you? Gotta remember that even though corporations are giant soulless profit seeking machines, they are still run by people. Folks with egos and insecurities and all the good and bad thay comes with people.

I have definitely witnessed the egos of ceos behind businesses get in the way. Even mid level managers etc.

My own company definitely has had this happen over th decades. Either someone got sour with a vendor and went out of their way to create a competing product to sell in our locations or just shut out the vendor and went to someone else etc.

Never underestimate the power of personal relationships. Especially since we aren't privy to all the details.


Dan shouldn't take their plans personal nor shoukd he air dirty laundry on twitter, and Nintendo should definitely be more communicative of their plans and ideas. All of it could be handled with an email or phone call and an explanation as to why they had to wait. Thats the real issue, they don't have the manpower to answer every question/inquiry and it is hurting them.
 

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
Definitely seems like an odd decision. The more games, the better.
 

jonno394

Member
Isn't it more to do with Nintendo not prioritizing self publishers when it comes to issuing dev kits for switch?

Stupid as it creates bad blood.
 

NateDrake

Member
Definitely seems like an odd decision. The more games, the better.

Yes, the more games there are, the better. But if we get ports with no new content or improvement of any sort, then there is little incentive to buy the game again when priced higher than all other versions of the game.
 

jacobeid

Banned
Isn't it more to do with Nintendo not prioritizing self publishers when it comes to issuing dev kits for switch?

Stupid as it creates bad blood.

The problem is it's not consistent at all. Yacht Club Games is both a developer and a publisher, for example. They published their own game in the US, but I think Nintendo published it in JP, so maybe that's why it's different? Who knows, but it's dumb.
 

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
Yes, the more games there are, the better. But if we get ports with no new content or improvement of any sort, then there is little incentive to buy the game again when priced higher than all other versions of the game.

The devs saying they could have had it for launch, though, definitely looks bad.
 
I think sometimes we forget how new switch is, the indie developer floodgates were only opened several months after wii u launched and I'd say theres a hell of a lot more indie games in development for switch than there was at the same point in the life of the wii u
 

NateDrake

Member
The devs saying they could have had it for launch, though, definitely looks bad.

Based on the statement I'm guessing they don't have a dev kit, but if they had one prior to launch they would have had the game ready for then. If the entire matter comes down to them simply not having a dev kit yet then this seems like a lot of unnecessary drama.
 

jonno394

Member
The problem is it's not consistent at all. Yacht Club Games is both a developer and a publisher, for example. They published their own game in the US, but I think Nintendo published it in JP, so maybe that's why it's different? Who knows, but it's dumb.

Potentially, but Spectre Knight timed exclusivity probably helped. If Nintendo are looking for things to sell the console, then exclusive stuff would be important to them.

If axiom verge is nothing but a port then at present it's not a priority for then, which is a Shame as the game is a priority for me.

Things like enter the gungeon are comparable to axiom verge imo, but the former has the benefit of a biggish publisher behind it, who Nintendo will have gotten dev kits to quickly.
 

jacobeid

Banned
Based on the statement I'm guessing they don't have a dev kit, but if they had one prior to launch they would have had the game ready for then. If the entire matter comes down to them simply not having a dev kit yet then this seems like a lot of unnecessary drama.

It took them a year AFTER LAUNCH on PS4 to get the game out on Vita. I don't buy for one minute that this could have been ready at launch, dev kits or not.

Their words regarding development time are pretty empty.
 

tebunker

Banned
Potentially, but Spectre Knight timed exclusivity probably helped. If Nintendo are looking for things to sell the console, then exclusive stuff would be important to them.

If axiom verge is nothing but a port then at present it's not a priority for then, which is a Shame as the game is a priority for me.

Things like enter the gungeon are comparable to axiom verge imo, but the former has the benefit of a biggish publisher behind it, who Nintendo will have gotten dev kits to quickly.

Spectre Knight for almost 2 months of exclusivity was definitely the sealing point. Heck they even released it as a standalone.
 

zeelman

Member
It took them a year AFTER LAUNCH on PS4 to get the game out on Vita. I don't buy for one minute that this could have been ready at launch, dev kits or not.

Their words regarding development time are pretty empty.

To be fair most games on the Vita don't sell very well so you can't surprised they dragged their feet porting it.
 

jacobeid

Banned
To be fair most games on the Vita don't sell very well so you can't surprised they dragged their feet porting it.

That's neither here nor there. My point is that they can't be trusted when they make claims like the one stating the game could have been a launch game because of their history with troubled development for other platforms.

Also, it was a PS4/Vita crossbuy game so sales per platform didn't really matter. They advertised that version leading up to launch and for a year after the fact.

If they actually did drag their feet on the port because of poor sales like you say, then we REALLY shouldn't trust their words. My two cents.

Edit: sorry. We shouldn't derail this conversation into Vita talk. My bad.
 
It took them a year AFTER LAUNCH on PS4 to get the game out on Vita. I don't buy for one minute that this could have been ready at launch, dev kits or not.

Their words regarding development time are pretty empty.

A PS4 -> Vita port is exponentially more difficult than a Vita -> Switch port would be. Specifically, most PS4 games (even a "retro" game like Axiom Verge) would need extensive optimization & possible engine changes to run well on the Vita. However, if your game runs well on the Vita, getting it to run well on a drastically more powerful platform like the Switch would be relatively easy.
 

jacobeid

Banned
A PS4 -> Vita port is exponentially more difficult than a Vita -> Switch port would be. Specifically, most PS4 games (even a "retro" game like Axiom Verge) would need extensive optimization & possible engine changes to run well on the Vita. However, if your game runs well on the Vita, getting it to run well on a drastically more powerful platform like the Switch would be relatively easy.

You would know MUCH better than I do so obviously I'll default to you, and that makes sense given what they discussed openly during the development of that version. I still don't really trust their timelines anymore though.

Regardless, I think the takeaway from all of this is that Nintendo needs to have better avenues of communication. I know you ran into similar problems, Robert.

Loving CSH right now.


I knew about the development issues
hence, part of the reason why I don't trust their claim that this could have been a launch game considering they don't have dev kits yet. They could easily run into similar snags.
but I did not know about the family issues.
 

Xando

Member
Perhaps Adelman is the problem, maybe he pissed the wrong people off when he left, calling them douches on twitter aint exactly going to help

So if this is true Nintendo is blocking games from coming to switch because they got their feelings hurt by an ex employee? That doesn't sound like they're making good business decisions at all
 
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