Fresh off 2021’s PlayStation Showcase, players on Sony’s platform have been met with an abundance of good news. The new God of War game is coming along, the new Spider-Man is looking fantastic, and, most surprisingly, Uncharted 4 is now officially coming to PC (lest we forget a movie adaptation starring Tom Holland is also in the pipeline). As one of the system-seller level exclusives of the last generation, this long-rumored move is a huge one and it leaves us thinking about the greater state of the gaming ecosystem.
Offering PC multiplatform support has been the target of this generation of Xbox games since the beginning, it’s now also becoming far more common on PlayStation, but what of Nintendo?
The Last Holdout
In the modern age of gaming, Nintendo stands separate from Sony and Microsoft. Rather than reaching for horsepower, Nintendo instead focuses on doing something different, and this can be a good thing. Being different got us the Switch, it got Nintendo the massive commercial success that was the Wii, and it’s what so often establishes their first-party games as eternal classics. On the other hand, doing something different is also what led Nintendo to have the worst online infrastructure in the console market, it’s what led to the Wii U, and what’s led to a refusal to fix the stick drift problem.
“IMG_2951” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by tompagenet
Sure, we love Nintendo, but Nintendo is a company, and companies sometimes make decisions that aren’t the best for fans. Rather than offering their games on different systems, Nintendo wants to keep everything contained, and that’s not a totally bad thing. It has better control this way, it can ensure less buggy and more quality products this way, and it’s totally within their rights as developers and publishers. It also, however, limits access for fans and maximum potential growth.
Room to Grow
The multiplatform idea has been a popular one in gaming for generations, but a more rounded illustration of this concept could be found in another sector of the entertainment industry: the related landscape of online casinos. If you consider the evolution of casino games, it’s evident that despite technological advancements and cultural changes, developers have managed to keep avid gamblers coming back for more, whilst also attracting new customers.
This is, in part, according to Vihjepaikka.com, because modern online casinos have evolved with the times, to a point where they can be accessed from practically any compatible device with a connection to the internet. This means that browsing titles, looking at ratings and bonuses, signing up, and playing games can easily be accomplished from PCs, laptops, Apple systems, mobiles, and even more esoteric smart devices. In taking this approach, the online casino market continues to grow, and while Nintendo has been reticent to follow suit, it should be noted that the groundwork has been laid out for them.
As dedicated as Nintendo are to their systems, with games like Super Mario Run on mobiles, they’ve proven they’re not completely opposed to spreading onto other major devices. Another illustration of this non-strictly contained access could be found with Nintendo’s game streaming system for titles like Control. Hosted on external serves and then sent to Switch, Nintendo again shows that they’re okay with creating some wriggle room, so why not go the whole nine yards?
Ultimately, the reasons why Nintendo hasn’t made the jump into offering more multiplatform experiences is likely due to the priorities of the top executives, as opposed to the lack of demand from fans and developers. Sometimes these creative forces make fantastic decisions, as with the entire idea of the Switch. Other times their decisions are not so great, as with the continued shortcomings of Nintendo’s online infrastructure.
Executives at Nintendo might not have seen the light in bringing multiplatform games to the masses yet, but this might not always be the way. Xbox has seen huge success in broadening its approach, and if Sony similarly succeeds, you can bet Nintendo will take notice. This might not guarantee players a place to play Nintendo titles on their PC anytime soon, but it does at least give us better odds in the future.
Susan Wallace is a pro gamer and has been a strong influence over the gaming community. She also writes about the positive effects of gaming and how to avoid the negative effects of gaming. Her amazing writing has reached and helped many gamers. She actually helps people decide the best games to play based on their current situation.
