The Kat Take: Do Switch 2 Third-Party Sales Really Matter?

It’s been two weeks since the release of the Switch 2, and we’re already discoursing.

Earlier this week, The Game Business analyzed Switch 2’s third-party sales, reporting that third-party games have posted “very low numbers.” This sparked another round of discussion on the Switch 2’s third-party prospects and what it means for Nintendo’s prospects going forward. My question: Does it really matter? This is a question I’ll explore in my weekly Kat Take. Also in this issue, I share my impressions of Donkey Kong Bananza, offer my prediction on when we’ll get our next general Nintendo Direct, and roundup all the headlines and trailers.

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As an aside before jumping into this newsletter, I was on vacation through the Donkey Kong Bananza Direct, which is why this issue is a little late. I still plan to release my convo with John Linneman about the state of NSO. Look for that next week! Okay, here we go!

The Kat Take: The Switch 2 doesn’t need AAA third-party support to thrive

Ninenkats pal Chris Dring analyzed some of the numbers behind Switch 2’s physical game sales in the latest issue of The Game Business, finding among other things that 62 percent of Switch 2 physical game sales in the U.S. were from first-party games (excluding the Mario Kart World bundle). He also found that Cyberpunk 2077 was the best-selling third-party games during the launch of Switch 2, beating launch sales of The Witcher 3 on Switch 1.

Plenty of journalists and analysts weighed in on Dring’s numbers. Jeff Gerstmann observed that many of the third-party games on Switch 2 are available on other platforms. “My first, just-woke-up guess here is that the sort of early adopters who'd buy a Switch 2 on Day 1 are also the sort of people who would've purchased many of these games elsewhere, if they were interested.”

Circana lead analyst Mat Piscatella noted that Switch 2 third-party share in the U.S. is “far better” than it was during the Switch 1 launch in 2017, but also said that it was difficult to make broad conclusions with a small data set.

“Third party unit share of Switch 2 physical software during week 1 reached just shy of 40%. For month 1 of the Switch launch it was less than 20%,” Piscatella said. “Like, it's far too early to claim best or worst this or that or whatever when it comes to Switch 2. Sheesh, the thing hasn't even been out 3 weeks yet. Cheeeeeeeel Wins-tahn.”

Here’s where I stand: I don’t think any of it really matters.

While the Switch had its share of great third-party games, it was hardly a home for the types of experiences you’d find on PlayStation and Xbox. The Switch thrived because it was portable, because it was great for kids, and because it had Nintendo games. Cool as it was to have Witcher 3 on it, it was always understood that the best experience was on more powerful consoles.

The Switch 2 has reignited conversation around Nintendo and third-party releases, and I do think there will be a short-term bump in older third-party games making their way to the platform, but ultimately I don’t think much has changed. Hardware will continue to race ahead elsewhere, and Nintendo will keep on succeeding in the areas where it’s strongest, with less technically taxing but nevertheless massive releases like Silksong, Hades 2, and Haunted Chocolatier eventually helping to fill out its library.

We’re so far past the days when being able to support the most technically sophisticated games defined a console’s fortunes. Nintendo is proving that everyday.

Donkey Kong Bananza Direct recap: Wreck-It Kong

Speaking of first-party Nintendo games, one of its oldest characters was showcased in a 17-minute Direct earlier this week. The new extended trailer revealed a host of new details about the upcoming release, including a 13-year-old version of Pauline who looks and sounds like Sarah Silverman’s Vanellope von Scheetz from Wreck-It-Ralph. In fact, the whole game has a Wreck-It-Ralph vibe to it, down to the way that Donkey Kong can smash his way through levels (alternate title stolen from Kinda Funny: Red Faction: Gorilla).

Coincidental resemblance to a 2012 animated comedy aside, DK Bananza is steeped in Donkey Kong history, from the return of characters like Cranky Kong and Rambi, to minecart challenges straight out of Donkey Kong Country. Pauline herself stepped into the spotlight with Super Mario Odyssey – itself a Switch launch window title that provides an interesting mirror to Donkey Kong Bananza. It looks like an absolute joy to play and it quickly jumped to a Day 1 purchase for me.

Some of the other reveals from the stream:

• Nintendo is releasing an Amiibo featuring Pauline on a version of Donkey Kong with the iconic tie from Donkey Kong Country. It can be used to unlock an in-game costume for Pauline and will be out July 17.
  

• Donkey Kong Bananza will include a co-op mode that lets a second player control Pauline, which can be accessed via one copy of the game through GameShare.
  

• In one of Bananza’s stranger features, DK will be able to turn into animals that grant him different powers, including a zebra and an ostrich. It’s one of those Nintendo logic features that somehow makes sense without making any sense at all.
  

• A Mario Paint-like mode called DK Artist will let you play with what looks like a souped up version of the Super Mario 64 title screen. Donkey Kong Bananza will also include a photo mode.
  

• Like other Nintendo platforms, Donkey Kong Country Bananza will include an Assist Mode that halves damage among other helpful options.

• Will Mario be a villain in DK Bananza? Some fans think so.
  

• Finally, for those worried about disc space, Donkey Kong Bananza will be an 8.5 GB download. That’s in comparison to 21.92 GB for Mario Kart World and 5.6 GB for the original Super Mario Odyssey.

Around 3 million people watched the Donkey Kong Bananza Direct on Nintendo of America’s YouTube channel, and the response has generally been very positive. It’s still too early to say whether it will be the breakout hit that Nintendo is looking for out of Donkey Kong, but the signs are very positive so far.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical that Donkey Kong could carry his own modern platformer, and I was more than a little disappointed that Nintendo didn’t have a Mario game to reveal for its launch window. Donkey Kong Bananza seems much more ambitious than it first appeared, though, and may well key the DK renaissance that Nintendo (or Shigeru Miyamoto?) seems to crave. After this week’s Direct, I’m here for it.

Will there be a general Direct? It doesn’t look like it

With the Donkey Kong Bananza Direct in the rearview mirror, the next question is whether Nintendo will hold a full-blown Direct for June, as it has in previous years. My feeling: It still might, but it’s looking less and less likely.

It seems as if Nintendo is content to let Donkey Kong Bananza carry the summer, after which it’ll start promoting the holiday lineup. A Pokémon Presents is also set for July 22, meaning a Direct would be sandwiched between the two streams. An informal poll of insiders who follow Nintendo closely reveals a similar amount of skepticism that a Direct is on the way.

In other words, I don’t think it’s happening. Donkey Kong might have been it.

Using the last three years as a guide, it seems likely that the next Direct will take place in either late August or early September as Nintendo sets the stage for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and the rest of its lineup (amusingly, Metroid Prime 4 was listed as being Out Now in a recent ad that was spotted in a London subway). There’s also plenty of room for a Partner Direct in that period, with Silksong being one of the major games that could feature in a potential showcase (I know, I know).

Or who knows, maybe Nintendo just wanted to give Donkey Kong Bananza its own Direct this week so it could clear the decks for a full showcase next week. We’ll know soon enough.

Nintendo Headlines: Switch 2 Gets a 7 / 10 from IGN

• IGN gave Switch 2 a 7 in its review, calling it a “vital” but ultimately incremental upgrade over the Switch that’s “about as exciting as a long-overdue phone upgrade in the larger scheme of things.”

• Delutarune Chapter 5 is officially set to release in 2026, developer Toby Fox has revealed.

• Grant Kirkhope was apparently unaware that the DK Rap, which he composed, would appear in Donkey Kong Bananza. Per usual, Nintendo is unlikely to credit him.

• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Nintendo Switch Sports are among the games to get backwards compatibility fixes, with more on the way. A firmware update also resolved issues with the majority of Limited Run’s Carbon Engine games, but the GEX Trilogy has been pulled from sale pending a patch.

• Okay, I know I said third-party doesn’t matter on Switch, but I really do hope to see Metaphor ReFantazio on Switch 2 sooner rather than later. It has now sold 2 million copies worldwide, according to Sega.

Mailbag: Achievements on Switch 2?

One of the perks of being a premium subscriber is that you get to submit questions to the weekly mailbag via the comment section in each issue. This week’s question is from subscriber Austin Boosinger (thanks, Austin!), who asks:

It’s funny, I was thinking the same thing when I was playing Mario Kart World the other day. In a sense, Mario Kart World does have achievements, as does Super Smash Bros. and a handful of other Nintendo game. Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 — one of my favorite entries in the series — had an in-game achievement system that I thought was fantastic and really added to the overall experience (naturally, it was cut from subsequent generations).

Nintendo is on-record as saying that it doesn’t really believe in achievements, and that’s not likely to change, but there are definitely times I wish I could go trophy hunting in Mario Odyssey or Tears of the Kingdom. Over on PlayStation, getting a Platinum trophy is something of a badge of honor, and there are whole communities dedicated to hunting trophies in as many games as possible.

This is definitely something I want to dig into more, but for now I’ll just say that it probably is time for Nintendo to implement achievements. If nothing else, it might give me an excuse to play through Tears of the Kingdom again.

Thanks so much to Austin for the email! Want to contribute a question? Subscribe and comment below!