The Nintendo Switch is slated to receive its first sports games this month with “NBA 2K18” and “FIFA 18”. 2K Games recently showcased the Switch version of their game and received praise from critics. EA’s game, on the other hand, has yet to be tested by gamers, but already seems to have some issues even before its launch. The portable version of the soccer game will apparently be missing certain game modes. Likewise, the developers were unable to integrate the Frostbite engine, which makes it seem like the development process was rushed.
‘FIFA 18’ ditches some features on the Nintendo Switch
This information was recently reported about “NBA 2K18” and how its Nintendo Switch version compares to other platform versions. The only snag noted about the basketball title is the micoSD card requirement in order to run some of its game modes. On the other hand, “FIFA 18” looks like a dumbed-down version of EA’s annual offering. To recall, the company also did the same thing when they released the Nintendo Wii versions of past “FIFA” titles. Earlier this year, EA supposedly dodged some questions about the parity of the soccer game on the Switch. Instead, the publisher claimed that the portable version will be built from the ground up. The missing game modes will presumably disappoint some fans.
EA defends their decision
It’s obviously a big disappointment for gamers to find out that "FIFA 18" will not include key features like the Journey story mode. The developer reasoned out that “every time we only have a year to do the game,” which sounds like they blamed the lack of time for the missing game modes. However, it was revealed that EA was not entirely sure about the Switch’s success.
Historically, third-party titles struggle to meet their sales targets on Nintendo platforms. Therefore, it is possible that the publisher made the business decision to limit its development.
Nintendo’s hardware is not to blame
On the other hand, hardware limitation was clearly not the issue. Case in point, 2K Games was able to package everything from the console copy of "NBA 2K18" into the Nintendo Switch version.
Meanwhile, EA's “FIFA 18” even releases a little later than the above-mentioned sports game. This means that both companies roughly had the same amount time to work on their respective games. Nevertheless, removing a key feature does not bode well for the franchise’s future installments.
