Nintendo said to be steering devs away from Switch 2 in favor of first-gen hardware

Even with the Switch 2’s hardware improvements, native versions of many games are still nowhere to be found

The Switch 2 launched just a few months ago to massive success, selling over 3.5 million units in its first four days. That momentum hasn’t slowed, with current estimates putting the console at around six million units sold. Given those numbers, it’s surprising to hear that Nintendo may be holding back developer kits, even as interest from game studios grows.

According to reporting from Digital Foundry, developers eager to optimize their games for Switch 2 are hitting a wall. On episode 228 of DF Direct Weekly, John Linneman said Nintendo is actively encouraging studios to "ship [their games] on Switch 1 and rely on backwards compatibility" rather than developing native Switch 2 versions.

“There are a lot of developers that are unable to get Switch 2 dev kits,” Linneman said. “We talked to a lot of devs at Gamescom this year and so many of them said the same things: They want to ship on Switch 2. They would love to do Switch 2 versions [of their games]. They can’t get the hardware. It’s really difficult.”

Fellow cohost Oliver Mackenzie expressed confusion over Nintendo’s approach, noting that rumors have circulated for some time about the company’s inconsistent dev kit distribution—if not outright withholding. He pointed out how odd it is that smaller teams, like the one behind Chillin’ by the Fire, have reportedly received dev kits, while larger or more established developers are still left waiting.

Even with the Switch 2’s clear hardware improvements and strong market reception, native versions of many games are still nowhere to be found. It’s the kind of problem you’d expect Nintendo to want to solve—but so far, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Of course, it’s not the only unusual move from Nintendo lately. The original Switch, now more than eight years old, recently received a price increase—months after the launch of its successor. And they’re not alone in that kind of decision: Sony also raised the price of the PS5 not long ago.