While it’s fair to say that fans are truly pumped for the Nintendo Switch 2, especially now that we have an even more precise date for the Nintendo Direct that will showcase the many games for the platform, it’s also fair to think that developers are excited about it as well. Why? Because they know that this will likely be a platform that moves many units on the hardware side, which means that software will move just as well if done properly. Many developers have already teased or outright said they’ll have games on the Switch 2, and that includes Firaxis, who is prepping its popular world-building game for the new system.
In a chat with IGN, Civilization VII lead designer Ed Beach and executive producer Dennis Shirk were both asked about Nintendo’s new platform and, specifically, the apparent ability of the new Joy-Cons to act like computer mice. Shirk was the only one to give a meaningful response by saying:
“It is definitely intriguing. You always do some trade-offs when you have to deal with pure console controls. And the announcement has some great stuff in it. I love what they’re doing with the controllers. It’s all very cool. That’s about all I can say about it in terms of an opinion. I think it looks awesome and they’re not wrong, so it would be cool for something like that.”
It’s not hard to think why Firaxis would be excited about this new control dynamic with consoles, as its long-running title was mostly for computers for a long time, so they know how to make mouse games work. However, they also noted recently that when they brought the 6th entry to Nintendo Switch, they were blown away by how many old and new players were getting in on the action. The team truly didn’t expect to want to play the game on the go. That’s why one of the new features in the upcoming title is the ability to transfer saves across multiple consoles via a linked 2K account. That way, you don’t have to buy the title multiple times or completely start over a game unless you choose to.
While Firaxis is an easy developer to pitch the mouse feature to, it’s going to be interesting to see how others in the gaming industry use the Nintendo Switch 2 mouse to their advantage. It could be in simply ways or it could be complex ones, it just depends on the game being made.
