Indie Games Helped Nintendo Switch Achieve its Success, Nintendo Exec Says

The Nintendo Switch has seen the Big N mount a comeback of a lifetime, goin from the dismally selling Wii U to the new hybrid console, which is now the fastest selling console of all time in history. The Switch’s success has been on the back of Nintendo delivering an appealing and desirable product, savvy marketing, a relentless lineup of desirable games, and thanks to the overwhelming amount of support the console has received from third parties- especially indie game developers.

That last fact is something Nintendo themselves recognize, it seems. The company recently announced that digital sales for third party games overtook physical third party games sales for the very first time in Nintendo’s history thanks to the Switch—and it is a success that they’re eadily attribute to the widespread adoption of their platform by indie game developers.

“A lot of the fact that we’ve grown the digital business so significantly with this platform compared to others was on the back of the strong indie titles,” Damon Baker, Nintendo of America’s senior manager for publisher and developer relations, told Glixel at GDC last week. “ It’s definitely getting recognized within the Nintendo organization. It’s encouraging to see that (knowledge) front of mind when talking to executives.”

Nintendo isn’t about to just rest on its laurels, though—they recognize that they have work to do in order to retain support for their platform, and one of the chief changes they are looking at making is to the eShop, which on the Switch, to put it bluntly, sucks.

“While we’re really fortunate with the reception, we know it’s our responsibility to recognize that there is a lot of content coming and that we need to find ways to improve discoverability,” Baker said.

I am looking forward to seeing what kinds of changes Nintendo has in mind for the Switch—for now, every new indie game that is announced is one I eagerly anticipate playing on my little hybrid handheld.