Numerous Indie Games Are Selling Best on Switch

Multiple indie developers are finding that the Switch audience is most receptive to their latest releases.

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The Switch seems to have turned Nintendo’s third-party fortunes around, which is leading to big surprises like a DOOM port and an L.A. Noire port, to name a few. Smaller publishers are bringing their titles to the platform, as well, and now they’re starting to report that they are finding those efforts rewarded in a big way.

VG24/7 reports that Death Squared, Oceanhorn, and Wonder Boy have each sold more units of their Switch versions than they have on other consoles combined.

SMG Studio, the team behind Death Squared, reported it accomplished that feat within three days of launch. The game is also available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, where it released on March 14 of 2017. The Switch version didn’t arrive until July 13, 2017, but was greeted with more interest by consumers and the gaming media alike.

Oceanhorn: Monster of the Uncharted Seas is similarly available on numerous consoles, following its breakout success on iOS and Android devices. Publisher FDG Entertainment notes it sold better on Nintendo Switch “than all other consoles combined,” which is still very impressive. The game released on Nintendo Switch in June, but has been available on Xbox One since September of last year.

Finally, Gamasutra spoke with Omar Cornut of Lizardcube, and the developer mentioned that the studio has sold “more copies of Wonder Boy on the Switch than the three other platforms we released on combined.”

Remarkable success stories are being shared by other developers, and the message is clear: if you’re an indie developer with an interesting game, you should probably make sure you don’t skip bringing it to Switch. That might be exactly where your largest audience is waiting.

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 18, 2017 11:55 AM

    Jason Venter posted a new article, Numerous Indie Games Are Selling Best on Switch

    • reply
      September 18, 2017 3:19 PM

      I still need wonder boy.

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      September 18, 2017 4:28 PM

      Good for SMG! Didn't get to play much of it at last PAX East, but Death Squared for sure is a really neat co-op puzzler.

      Didn't realize it launched on the Switch though, maybe I'll pick it up on that now that I have one.

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      September 18, 2017 5:48 PM

      [deleted]

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        September 18, 2017 6:19 PM

        That’s probably a huge reason behind it. And part of that has to do with the AAA publishers taking a wait-and-see attitude. A large publisher has to weigh pros and cons against the likelihood a console will take off, an indie developer can just recompile for a different target and throw it on the online store if they’re not worried about cartridge sales.

        A similar thing happens with every success-not-guaranteed console. Early on in the 3DS’ life there wasn’t much so people gravitated in the USA towards Fire Emblem which has been huge in Japan for decades but didn’t ever make much of a blip in the United States until then. I guarantee people wouldn’t have played Eternal Darkness much at all had the GameCube launched with a Super Mario 64 equivalent.

        I’m curious how Cave Story+ is selling. At $30 on cartridge on shelves at Best Buy next to not that many other games it may be getting a lot of “just for the hell of it” sales.

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