There is no denying that Japanese game maker Nintendo conjured up a perfect storm in the evolution of video game systems when they came up with the console/handheld hybrid, the Nintendo Switch. Its release last March saw it surpass the company’s 2-million first-month estimate by selling 2.74 million units instead. That number ballooned to 4.7 million as of July and is a testament to the awesome library of game titles it has offered and the amount of third-party developer support it received. But Nintendo is planning to expand its market even more and hopes that the Switch can attract more buyers and players by setting aside its family-friendly image to invite more mature game titles aboard.
Nintendo gets bloody
Nintendo, in particular, its American division, has been one of the pillars of G-rated video games in the history of the industry, implementing strict censorship of game titles developed for its consoles and handhelds. There have been initiatives to include more PG-rated adventures in more recent consoles, but only now, after releasing the Switch, has Nintendo’s main Japan HQ espoused more developers to come up with titles geared for mature gamers. Examples that have been announced for release later this year or early in the next include Bethesda Softwork’s 2016 first-person shooting gore-fest “Doom” and the new upcoming title “Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.”
“DOOM,” a sequel to the cult classic shooter game series from 1993, was originally released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One, and the Sony PlayStation 4.
These have long been the go-to platforms for mature-rated games while Nintendo kept to more wholesome fare. This is the first time the company has put its full weight toward "aging up" their game library. In addition to first-person shooters, several developers are also working on survival-horror titles as either originals or ports to release on the Switch.
Mature in the 'other' sense
The new mature direction being charted on the Nintendo Switch does not merely mean more violent or horrifying titles. Japanese developer Inti Creates is working on “Gal*Gun 2,” a first-person rail shooter where the player is a high school student empowered by a Cupid who becomes irresistible to his schoolmates and must shoot them with “pheromone beams” to make them faint with ecstasy before they could mindlessly ravish him.
That is a mature theme of another sort, and according to Inti Creates CEO Takuya Aizu, their team got positive feedback from Nintendo and encouragement to release the title on the Switch.
Nintendo may be hyping the likes of “DOOM” or “Gal*Gun 2” on the Switch now, but they are still cranking out the G-rated family-friendly titles at the same time. More retro-minded players can also check out the SNES Classic Edition retro console that has been on the market since last month, for more clean gaming fun.
