In a not entirely unexpected move, it’s been revealed that Capcom won’t be bringing its latest Resident Evil title to Nintendo Switch.
Resident Evil 7: biohazard launches for PC, PS4 and Xbox One tomorrow, January 24, 2017, but Producer Masachika Kawata told Express Online, “Capcom isn’t bringing Resident Evil to Switch now or anytime soon.”
Capcom is one of Nintendo Switch’s key development partners, so it’s likely that in the future it will bring titles to the new console, but as it stands its line-up is blank.
Speaking via NeoGAF, Kawata said “I’m looking forward to the possibilities of the system itself, but we have no plans at the moment regarding Resident Evil on Switch.” It’s a far cry from the days when Capcom announced five titles for Nintendo’s Gamecube including Resident Evil and Resident Evil 4; both of which were exclusive for a time.
Capcom isn’t the only publisher to shirk the Switch with EA’s Mass Effect: Andromeda giving the console a miss in March.
Does this signal a problem for Switch ahead of its launch?
Nintendo has notoriously had difficulty courting favour from third-parties and two of 2017’s major releases skipping its new console isn’t a good look. While it’s likely that both titles were in development long before Switch was revealed — even to developers — it doesn’t exactly imbue consumers with confidence.
If someone is trying to decide whether to purchase a Switch or another console and they see that games aren’t being released on it, they may opt to avoid Nintendo’s system in favour of the certainty of regular, high profile games.
Day one on Switch, players will be diving into The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but beyond that only Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a known entity. Titles like ARMS are not guaranteed hits, nor system sellers. Having Resident Evil 7 and/or Mass Effect: Andromeda on the console would go a long way toward assuaging trepidation.
Resident Evil 7 is available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One from January 24, 2017.
Mass Effect: Andromeda is available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One from March 24, 2017.
Nintendo Switch is available on March 3, 2017.
