Koei Tecmo is the latest to jump on the Nintendo Switch 2 train, but with a pleasant surprise.
As they have revealed, Wild Hearts is returning as a Nintendo Switch exclusive. Titled Wild Hearts S, it is arriving as a Nintendo Switch 2 launch title on July 25, 2025.
What is interesting is that Koei Tecmo America is named as the publisher this time, with Omega Force still listed as developer. When Wild Hearts originally released in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, it was published by Electronic Arts, and fell under their EA Originals label.
One could have credited EA for giving the game a chance, but like Immortals of Aveum, this deal just didn’t work out for them. Omega Force wasn’t able to get the game performing to expectations on any of the platforms it came to, so it proved unpopular.
As we reported mere months after its release, EA was rumored to have already given up on Wild Hearts, choosing not to keep funding further development. As of this writing, the game is still available on other platforms, and it is still listed as an EA Originals title. So, it seems, that both parties are waiting out the end of their contract.
We can reasonably guess that either EA knew that Tecmo Koei was planning to make this game, or they were no longer interested. As we saw in the Switch 2 Direct, EA also has a launch game coming to the Switch 2 with Split Fiction. For their two flubs with the label, EA did find a hit for EA Originals in the form of Josef Fares’ Hazelight Games.
So if EA also had Switch 2 dev kits, they would have reasonably known that Tecmo Koei could have dev kits as well. Truthfully, they may have made a deal that allowed Tecmo Koei to take the rights back. But it’s also possible that they made this arrangement just for the Switch 2 release.
Since Capcom revealed early on that they still had to study the Switch 2 hardware before working on a Monster Hunter Wilds port for it, Omega Force and Tecmo Koei have a real shot at making Wild Hearts S a success today.
A lot of it will depend on how well optimized the game will be on the Switch 2. Given that Omega Force has been a longtime partner of Nintendo’s, we wouldn’t be surprised if they got extra attention to help make their original title a success on the platform. At the very least, the trailer suggests that this version will have stellar performance this time.
You can watch the trailer for Wild Hearts S below.
