{"id":13327,"date":"2018-02-21T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/314795"},"modified":"2018-02-21T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-21T09:00:00","slug":"drinking-from-a-sprinkler-thats-me-how-switch-has-impacted-devs-in-the-game-porting-biz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/02\/21\/drinking-from-a-sprinkler-thats-me-how-switch-has-impacted-devs-in-the-game-porting-biz\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Drinking from a sprinkler? That’s me’: How Switch has impacted devs in the game porting biz"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0launch of the Switch<\/a> was like a pipe bomb going off in the lap of the industry, disrupting the longstanding barrier between home console and handheld, between mobile and fixed\u00a0platforms, and clearly demonstrating the powerful appeal of successfully blending toy and game machine.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t just the way we travel with games, though. The Switch similarly disrupted the near monopoly on indies that Steam has held for the last decade or more, an iron grip loosened only slightly by Microsoft and Sony\u2019s forays into the space.<\/p>\n

But unlike the other platform holder\u2019s cautious, gradual infiltration of the independent market, Nintendo came crashing in all at once, and proved its viability as a platform for indies with strong initial sales and an open, sparsely populated sales front.<\/p>\n

A nearly instantaneous side effect was a rush of independent devs<\/a> (and, to a lesser extent, some triple-A houses) looking to get their games ported over to the new console.<\/p>\n

To get a sense of just how big this stampede was and how the Switch was affecting the business of porting games, we reached out to a number of “port houses” — studios which focus on helping other devs\u00a0bring their games to new platforms.\u00a0But before we\u00a0dove into the impact of the Switch, we\u00a0wanted to get a sense of how business was generally for developers specializing in moving titles from one platform to another.<\/p>\n

The state of the port industry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The overwhelming sense we\u00a0got from informal conversations as well as during these interviews is that, for port houses, business is booming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
“You know that meme? With the dog? Drinking from a sprinkler? That\u2019s me right now.”<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYou know that meme? With the dog? Drinking from a sprinkler? That\u2019s me right now,” says\u00a0Adam Creighton, director of development at Panic Button. For him,\u00a0the volume of work is almost overwhelming. His studio handled the Doom<\/em>\u00a0and Rocket League<\/em> Switch ports, and is currently hard at work on bringing another id property, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus<\/em>, to Nintendo\u2019s console. And he hints it\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we might have some other titles for that platform, and maybe some other games for other platforms, in the works,\u201d Creighton tells me. \u201cIn terms of volume, I\u2019m in this amazing place where as a studio we get to choose how we want to grow, and with whom, and with what projects. My biggest challenge lately is not which projects do we pick to retarget to other platforms, but managing the other parts of our portfolio, picking the different projects that are exciting to different people in the studio, and being responsible about what I want to work on, versus what is best for the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Doom\u00a0(2016) ported and running on the Nintendo Switch<\/em><\/p>\n

Tony Cabello, CEO of BlitWorks (the studio behind ports of notable indie hits like Fez<\/em>, Spelunky<\/em>, and Bastion<\/em>), says they\u2019ve also seen a huge spike in port work, in large part due to Nintendo\u2019s noisy entrance into the market.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve recently experienced a big increase in the amount of work,\u201d Cabello says. \u201cEven though we\u2019re always very busy, we\u2019re now working on more projects at the same time, especially indie games which are our speciality. This is mainly because nowadays, indie studios see that publishing their games on consoles is a possibility, that was not so easy to do in the past because the access to the market was more restrictive. So we now have more developers reaching out to us to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cabello emphasizes that consoles slowly opening their arms to indies, particularly on the Switch, means cross-platform publishing is more enticing than ever. \u201cIt\u2019s a good time to be a port house, everyone wants to have their game published in every available platform, and even though many developers don\u2019t know they need a porting service they end up realising it requires a whole different skill set.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ted Staloch, the executive VP of publishing at Aspyr, echoes those sentiments. His studio, one of the most prolific Mac publishers in the world, is also responsible for a number of complex mobile ports, from BioWare titles like Knights of the Old Republic<\/em> and Jade Empire<\/em> to sprawling strategy titles like Civilization VI<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith so many powerful, capable devices, there is simply more opportunity for brands today than what our partners typically have resources or expertise to fulfill,\u201d Staloch explained. \u201cIt\u2019s a need Aspyr is very happy to fill, as gamers have demonstrated they don\u2019t want their favorite games tethered to only one device.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the Switch that\u2019s responsible for this recent bump, though; Staloch says the expanding power and flexibility of mobile platforms has also been a huge boon for the port business. \u201cAs the tech improves on mobile devices especially, we see tremendous opportunity for every great game to thrive,\u201d though that also means an increase in pressure to perform as heavy hitters like Activision and Disney come to studios like Aspyr to shepherd their games to new homes.<\/p>\n

The impact of the Switch<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While it\u2019s clearly not the only factor, it\u2019s hard to overestimate the effect the Switch has had.<\/p>\n

For Staloch and Aspyr, \u201cthe Switch has been an incredible story from the very beginning. Aside from our partner products in development, we just published our first independent game on the platform, InnerSpace<\/em>, and will release Next Up Hero<\/em> on Switch later this spring. The way Nintendo has embraced third-party and indie developers has been incredible, and there\u2019s no question the Nindies have been instrumental to the console\u2019s huge success.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

PolyKnight Games’\u00a0<\/em>InnerSpace, running on the Nintendo Switch<\/em><\/p>\n

Creighton agrees. The Switch has launched Panic Button to a new tier of success and recognition, with all the perks (and revenue) that entails.<\/p>\n

\n
“In the games we have published we\u2019ve seen more sales on Switch than on PS4 and Xbox One combined during the same period. Now every developer wants their game to be on the Switch.”<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe Switch release has been perfect. Actually it\u2019s mentioned in almost all the port requests we receive,” he adds.\u00a0“To keep up with this pace, we already have 12 kits at the office! Not yet the platform with the most kits, but definitely the fastest growing trend in our office. In the games we have published we\u2019ve seen more sales on Switch than on PS4 and XBox One combined during the same period. Now every developer wants their game to be on the Switch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just the announcement of a new Nintendo machine was enough to put events into motion. Cabello says the Switch was getting heat well ahead of launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be big when people started requesting ports for the Switch way back before last summer,\u201d he says, describing what sounds like a rising fever at the Blitworks offices. \u201cSince then, it\u2019s been crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a word we\u00a0heard a lot during these interviews.\u00a0 The overall impression you get is of an industry experiencing a massive boom, and some nervousness around the edges that it\u2019s a bubble, one that will inevitably burst. But as Creighton says, \u201cPanic Button is getting recognition for what we\u2019re able to do on that hardware, and other platforms \u2013 current and expected \u2013 and it just makes things crazy. Good crazy, but crazy. Is it sustainable? Sure. To a degree games are now commodities, and quality games that can break though the discoverability problem are going to find an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nintendo as keyholders and curators<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As you might expect during an era of mutual prosperity, most of the port houses we spoke to had largely positive things to say about their partners at Nintendo, a sentiment that was not nearly so universal when the Wii U was Nintendo\u2019s flagship.<\/p>\n

\n
“At the beginning getting the hardware was a little bit difficult…the bureaucracy is always there and is sometimes frustrating. The time they take to approve a build (even if it\u2019s a small patch) or the reasons why some builds are rejected can be a bit difficult to understand.”<\/span><\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNintendo is a fantastic partner and we are completely aligned,\u201d Staloch affirmed. \u201cIf you look at any first-party Nintendo game, it\u2019s clear they know how to wring out every last bit of processing and performance on the Switch. Nintendo is very supportive of new ideas regarding control scheme and game flow, and has helped us especially with platform engineering and increasing performance on the Switch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The picture you come away with is a Nintendo that\u2019s more open to working with and eager to provide technical assistance to its third party partners. It\u2019s an approachability not only reflected in their business partnerships in the Switch era, but also in their tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding the development, compared to the Wii U, the Switch is a big leap forward,\u201d Cabello says. \u201cMuch better tools, more affordable kits. The Wii U was lagging quite far behind the competition, but with the Switch it\u2019s at the same level if not better for some projects. In terms of hardware capabilities it has a really nice balance for a portable, much less restrictive than a Vita for instance.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it hasn\u2019t all been smooth sailing dealing with a monolithic company like Nintendo. Even this friendlier version of what has historically been a fairly insular company still has it\u2019s burrs, particularly in terms of logistics.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning getting the hardware was a little bit difficult, it took time,\u201d Cabello admits. \u201cthe bureaucracy is always there and is sometimes frustrating. The time they take to approve a build (even if it\u2019s a small patch) or the reasons why some builds are rejected can be a bit difficult to understand, but you manage to sort all that out, and you learn for the next port.\u201d<\/p>\n

But things have improved apace with the Switch\u2019s success. \u201cNow that has changed and you can get a kit quite fast. Nintendo is always very supportive, they\u2019re there to answer questions during the development and publishing process.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easier for a company riding a wave of success to be open and supportive, of course, but it\u2019s also the kind of behavior that encourages future prosperity, a lesson Nintendo seems to have taken to heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cNintendo is all about good content on their hardware, and they work hard to enable that,\u201d Creighton said. \u201cThey are receptive to and supportive of quality content, whether it\u2019s theirs, something new that is not theirs, or a retarget or remaster that can find a whole new audience on their hardware. I feel taken care of and respected and collaborated with as a developer and a studio owner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0launch of the Switch was like a pipe bomb going off in the lap of the industry, disrupting the longstanding barrier between home console and handheld, between mobile and fixed\u00a0platforms, and clearly demonstrating the powerful appeal of successfully blending toy and game machine. It wasn\u2019t just the way we travel with games, though. The Switch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}