Nintendo Exec Says Indie Games Were a Part of Nintendo Switch’s Success

A system can succeed in a number of ways, but it’s really all about the games that you can play [...]

By ComicBook.com Staff

Nintendo Switch

A system can succeed in a number of ways, but it's really all about the games that you can play on it. And no system has delivered this more in spades over the past year than Nintendo Switch, with big exclusives like Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Odyssey, as well as a plethora of other titles.

But indie games, like Golf Story and Celeste, also played a tremendous part in helping the Nintendo Switch find its momentum. While speaking with Glixel last week, Nintendo of America senior manager for publisher and developer relations, Damon Baker, explained just what kind of impact they had.

"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," Baker explained. "It's definitely getting recognized within the Nintendo organization. It's encouraging to see that (knowledge) front of mind when talking to executives."

But the company isn't just resting easy while indie success washes over. It wants to continue to support these games, and showing its audience just how vital they are.

"In July of last year we knew of about 150 titles from third-party coming out," Baker said. "By the end of 2017, 320-some-odd games had come out on the Switch. It was a significant jump in terms of expectations. There is an even higher number (we know of ) for this year and we expect that to be surpassed as well.

"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," said Baker.

Although he didn't disclose what exact changes were happening, he did note one particular thing that we'd see more of. "We have enough content now that we don't have to wait every six months to promote a new batch of indie titles," he said. "We can increase the cadence of Nindies videos." (The company did just debut a new Nindies special last week, with lots of new games on the horizon.)

Here's hoping Nintendo continues to capitalize that success.

The Nintendo Switch is available now.

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