Nintendo is looking for more game developers on their platform, according to a keynote presentation during Level Up KL 2020. The presentation was given by Kamon Yoshimura, Head of Publisher and Developer Relations (South East Asia) at Nintendo.

According to Yoshimura, the Nintendo Switch has sold 61.44 million units globally as of June 2020. Of these numbers, 11% of them were from “other regions”, excluding Japan, the UK and the US.

“In other words,” he says, “If you publish games for the Nintendo Switch in [Japan, UK and US] markets, you could reach out to 55 million units of Nintendo Switch hardware. Besides, 11% of other regions including Asia’s market is also growing fast”.

He also said that while these numbers represented units sold, the actual user base could be much higher if you factor in players who share their consoles but have separate accounts.

“Actually, one Nintendo Switch can hold multiple accounts,” he continues. “So total number of users is actually much higher than these figures,”.

Yoshimura also highlighted a key feature of the Nintendo Switch, saying the platform was “For everyone”. He says the device could play games targeted at anyone, regardless of age, gender or even gaming experience. To prove his point, he put on a presentation of several games on the Nintendo Switch including mass-appeal games like Fortnite and Overwatch, as well as more niche titles like RingFit Adventure and Astral Chain.

“Just like other hardware in our history,” he says. “The philosophy for everyone- Play together, and share the fun- are all being packaged with the Nintendo Switch as well, no exceptions”.

Flipping The Switch

To help familiarize developers with the console, Kamon Yoshimura also gave an in-depth breakdown of the features of the Nintendo Switch, including its dock, as well as the game’s unique Joy-Con features.

He also stressed on the importance of the Switch’s portability, chalking it up to another of the console’s keywords.

“Anytime, anywhere, with anyone,” he says. “We really want you to make use of the concept, uniqueness and strengths of the Nintendo Switch”.

Yoshimura promoted the Nintendo eShop as a platform for more developers to sell their games. He says that they would welcome many types of games besides full-priced sixty dollar ones.

“Free-to-Start games can also be published on the Nintendo eShop,” he says. This is of course referring to games like Pokemon Cafe Mix which are free-to-play, but have in-app purchases.

He also addressed the lack of regions for the eShop, saying Nintendo would continue to work on adding more regions.

“While the Nintendo eShop is available in many countries already, Nintendo is working hard so Nintendo eShop would be available in many more countries”, he adds.

“Nintendo eShop is really the gateway to a worldwide audience. We hope you make the most of this system for the expansion of your business,” he says.

Supporting Developers

The keynote also discussed the Nintendo Developers Portal, a resource for developers interested in developing games for the platform.

While the portal would give developers access to many mainstream engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine, Yoshimura reassures developers that they would still be free to go with their engine of choice.

“You can also bring your own proprietary engine to Nintendo Switch,” Yoshimura notes.

Kamon Yoshimura closed off the panel by talking about how Nintendo aims to support game developers who choose to publish on the Nintendo Switch.

“Our support is not only about technical support for your game development,” he says. “Our support extends to marketing activity on Nintendo’s own media. We believe giving your game it’s own spotlight draws more attention in the marketplace,”.

He talked about how Nintendo uses its own on-device marketing via the News feature on the Nintendo Switch to promote titles on the platform. Additionally, he also mentioned the Nintendo Directs, which also regularly promote small titles on the Switch. These features, however, were by invitation only.