IO Interactive makes some big claims about the Nintendo Switch 2, and more importantly, their ability to make games for it.
In an interview with Video Games Chronicle, franchise director Jonathan Lacaille said this:
First of all, we have an amazing engine – the Glacier engine – and one of its strengths, and why we love to keep using it at IO Interactive, it’s that it enables us to bring a game to as many platforms as possible with limited friction. So in that aspect, it’s quite easy for us, as long as there is a new platform coming out to bring a game on it.
And as far as the Switch 2 goes, Nintendo has always been a great partner with us. We had brought Hitman as a cloud version on the first Switch, and now, the Switch 2 is a powerful device – powerful enough for us to bring First Light to it natively.
As is frequently the case with any proud game developer, IO Interactive seems eager to tout the abilities of their proprietary game engines, and the flexibility of those engines to come to multiple platforms apparently remains a strong talking point. It’s a little strange to think that developers would want to bring their games to Nintendo platforms for the bragging rights, but that’s not all Lacaille said here.
While it seemed strange at the time for Nintendo to allow third party developers to bring cloud versions of their games to the original Switch, it seemed to have paid off in the realm of relations with those third parties. There was a very limited appeal to cloud versions of games on the Nintendo Switch, especially since you had to have a good online connection to play, and especially because these cloud versions had an expiration date. But what seems to matter here is that Nintendo offered these options to these developers in the first place, instead of mandating that they only be allowed to release games in a certain way.
This also seems to be relevant when it comes to the matter of Game-Key Cards. As controversial as those cards have been with Nintendo’s hardcore consumers, it looks like Nintendo gained the favor of the developers by introducing the product category. Regardless of how successful the platform is, much like cloud games on the Switch, this is certainly an aspect that fans didn’t realize would matter.
In any case, it’s very early for IO Interactive to be talking about bringing 007 First Light to the Switch 2. But seeing as they were one of the few third-parties who were favored to receive dev kits first, we can see where their enthusiasm is coming from as well. IO Interactive has certainly proven that they move to the beat of their own drum, and we’ll see if they can make it as an independent studio. While supporting another platform means additional workload for their programmers, there’s also the potential of huge success if Nintendo and third parties are able to make the Switch 2 an enticing platform for AAA games. We certainly hope to learn more about 007 First Light and its Switch 2 version sooner rather than later.
