The Nintendo Direct livestream made two announcements that we never expected to hear. Both Doom and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus are heading to the Nintendo Switch. Neither game is something that would be found on the traditionally family friendly platform; indicating some sort of strategy shift within Nintendo.
The ultra-violent Doom may experience a little trouble getting on the Switch, as Bethesda is splitting the game’s multiplayer portion into a digital download. This is apparently because the single player campaign is the only thing that will fit on the game cartridge. Fortunately, the multiplayer download will be made free for those who buy the game.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus is the much awaited followup to Wolfenstein: The New Order. It’s set to appear on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC next month; but will only be ported to the Switch at some point in 2018. The delay is not entirely unexpected, but the early announcement of the port certainly was.
Bethesda is clearly a massive fan of the Switch, seeing that it has already promised to port The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to the console. This particular port now has a 17 November release date. Doom is also scheduled to be released during the holiday season this year.
Nintendo is seeing something of a revival with the Switch. It’s somehow managed to convince major developers to get on board with the console, and has lined up a large number of titles that nobody ever dreamed of being associated with Nintendo. It’s difficult to see how gamers will react to having these first person shooters on the platform, but it is very interesting to see where Nintendo will go from here.
