Alongside its push on cross-platform compatibility, Bethesda has made it known that it plans to get its games on every platform possible. While this has seen much support for the Nintendo Switch, sometimes limitations can’t be avoided as the developer confirms that Fallout 76 just wasn’t possible on the hybrid console.
Bethesda marketing executive Pete Hines took to PAX Australia over the weekend, explaining that the Nintendo Switch is an important factor in all new titles by every studio under the firm’s banner. Unfortunately, management has to remain realistic about what is and isn’t a “viable platform,” reports GameSpot.
“If the game will work on it, we want it to be on every platform possible,” Hines said. Fallout 76 was simply isn’t a viable title for the Switch because it “wasn’t doable. While it isn’t “a mandate” to consider specific consoles, all of Bethesda is invested in the idea that the company is seen as “the third-party leader in terms of supporting Switch. People go, ‘Hey, you've got a lot more stuff [on Switch] than this publisher or that publisher.' That's what I want Bethesda to be known as. We're guys who will take some risks.”
Overall, Bethesda has already released plenty of new games onto the Switch, including Doom, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus and the much-ported The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Sadly, similar limitations preventing Fallout 76 from landing on the Switch were found with The Elder Scrolls Online, as Bethesda confirmed that the sheer amount of storage the game takes up means it can’t realistically work on the platform.
On a more positive note, Bethesda does have games in development for the console, as Hines hinted that “the next Wolfenstein” would appear on the Nintendo Switch. Without elaboration, it’s difficult to determine whether he meant the upcoming Wolfenstein: Youngblood standalone which has only been confirmed for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, or the third mainline entry expected a little further down the way.
KitGuru Says: Although it’s a shame that we won’t see some triple-A games reach the platform, Bethesda isn’t slowing down its efforts on the Switch one bit. What titles would you like to see come to the platform if it were possible?