Nintendo Rolls Out New eShop Publishing Guidelines for Switch 2 in Asia, Seemingly to Curb Spam Games
Nintendo Rolls Out New eShop Publishing Guidelines for Switch 2 in Asia, Seemingly to Curb Spam Games
by Turbostrider27
26 Comments
Zactrick
FFFFFFUCKING GOOD
Bar_Har
Most of the time, Nintendo’s heavy handed business tactics are pretty bad, but this is one space where they needed to put a foot down. I just hope this doesn’t stifle good indie game makers wanting to get on the Switch 2.
Fwoup
I’m sure having to play every single one of them to test Switch 2 compatibility may have influenced this decision lol
davidbrit2
They really need to clean up all the garbage on the eshop and enforce some higher standards (i.e. *any standards at all*). It’s not great to release a shiny new console that sells millions worldwide, and have all the new owners greeted by a shop that looks like a fondue fountain full of dog shit.
gobananagopudding
If this is true, it hasn’t been implemented outside of Asia yet.
RedDeerGames (one of *the* absolute worst spam publishers on Switch who were responsible for hundreds of ‘AAA Clock’ releases) specifically started a different publishing label called Secret Games as soon as the Switch 2 launched, and have since clogged the eShop up with endless HENTAI GIRLS, HENTAI GOLF, HENTAI STORIES etc. bundles. Check the eShop right now and you’ll see one of them in the new releases. They’ve spammed the same five games over 30 times since June.
cross_bearer_02
You know what would curb the problem once and for all?
* Give users the ability to flag and report spammy publishers like RedDeer, or at the very least set permanent customizations on the eShop to filter out those publishers so that their content is always hidden.
* All unestablished publishers who are publishing their first title to the eShop must undergo a rigorous hands-on review process for their first few products to ensure quality. This will help Nintendo determine whether or not to allow the publisher to publish games to the eShop in the first place.
* Established publishers that are flagged enough by end users as “spammy” will also face having to go through the same thorough review of new products to ensure quality.
Item #1 solves the problem for publishers already on the eShop that are spamming the heck out of the storefront. Item #2 prevents those publishers from closing shop and opening up under a different name because all new publishers coming onto the platform must undergo a more thorough vetting process for their first few products, which slop publishers almost certainly would not pass. Item #2’s sub-item ensures that spammy publishers will eventually get weeded out of the eShop, given enough scrutiny.
lzap
For the love of God stop these “games” for once.
giantfood
You mean less hentai games being released on switch2? Ahhh maannnn. /s
supes1
I know this is a common complaint, but honestly I’m surprised so many folks just browse the eShop looking at games. Don’t think I’ve ever done that, just go in there when there’s a specific game I want to buy
Though maybe I would be browsing it if it was more useful I suppose.
plasticdump
Drastic changes to the publishing approval process is necessary worldwide. Half of the “recent releases” in the US eshop are just “interactive storybooks” filled with poorly-edited AI-generated slop images that have no real gameplay other than maybe a slider puzzle or two.
Chuckles795
The eShop is a bigger cesspool than PSN, which is saying something. I’m not sure how Nintendo fell so behind everyone else… Valve and Sony have a really easy to use mobile app, while Nintendo has absolutely nothing for accessing the shop on a phone.
FoxyDude915
I really hope these rules get applied to the eShop in other regions too. I’ve stopped going to the eShop for browsing anymore unless I’m looking for a very specific game.
Khalmoon
Someone is going to bend this and make it sound like Nintendo is heavily restricting indie creators, it’s just to combat spam.
Geekenstein
I never look at anything but the bestsellers and featured tabs. Anything else is a dark place.
KaydnPopTTV
Thank Christ. Just bought boost zero and u can’t believe Nintendo allowed that to be listed
PikachuIsReallyCute
Praying this is to softlaunch/test things out so globally we don’t have to deal with shovelware and ai slop
SeakingFUKyea
Neat. Would be even cooler if they were available to buy
Available_Virus_
Good! Im tired of blogging through eslop and hemtai games to get titles I actually want to play by legitimate game studios. Im not anti-indie developer but a lot of indie games are pure e-slop and bootleg versions of popular titles (I’m looking at you Call of Warzone)
LordBlackConvoy
So you mean I won’t see Knights with Guns get re-released every other week anymore?
jardex22
>First, regarding bundles, the restrictions state that in the first year of a game’s release, only a maximum of five game bundles may be distributed. After the first year, that number goes up by one for each year the game is available, up to a maximum of eight different bundles.
This has been my suggestion for awhile. Even 5 feels a bit excessive, although there could a a Digital Deluxe version, a Season Pass edition, An update bundle, and a franchise bundle. 5 feels like the **absolute** most that a publisher would need in the first year.
>Listed criteria that “would be considered damaging to the Nintendo brand” include sexualization of children, overly sexual content, discrimination and hate, exploitation of social issues (“Content that clearly exploits a topical and controversial social issue, tragedy, or catastrophic event”), instructing criminal activity, and political statements (“Content that overtly supports or criticizes real-life countries, organizations, or ideologies”).
This will be an interesting one, since whatever game gets blocked under this will inevitably be controversial. I’m not sure if it’ll actually crack down on anything that was already banned though. Maybe they’ll have to change some game titles at least?
>Another new guideline includes a prohibition against inaccurate descriptions of games. It reads, in full: “It is prohibited to provide inaccurate descriptions of the contents of a product. It is prohibited to provide description of the content of a product as under development if it is not expected to be implemented in the product.
A practical application would apply to games like Cult of the Lamb, which get steady updates after launch. Essentially, they can’t list features that aren’t in the game yet.
>Other guidelines prohibit changing the name of a product without good reason (“drastic update”) or to make it consistent with a game’s name on other platforms or with other games in a series. Developers are also prohibited from changing information on the product page after the page is live. And developers are asked to contact Nintendo representatives if they intend to distribute an application “that does not include game elements.
So, no changing the name of your game to capitalize on the brand recognition of another. Probably a crackdown on apps as well, like calculators, alarm clocks, and night vision cameras (or some microphone related app in the S2 case).
Apparently these guidelines are just for the Japanese and Asian eShop, but I hope they enforce something similar on the Western stores as well.
rylo151
They probably should have done this after the 15th game with hentai in the title
warjoke
They can start with the game that blatantly has ‘Hentai’ in their title. Those are just match-three gacha slops.
CookiesFTA
Finally. It’s legitimately too much effort to sift through all the bullshit garbage nonsense.
Titan_Mask
This is good, the eshop is already flooded by AI generated slop, hopefully this means we’ll finally get some good stuff on it
hellsfoxes
They need to scorch earth the entire eshop of 8 years of trash
UnseenData
Good. A bit more curation to remove these asset flips is always good
26 Comments
FFFFFFUCKING GOOD
Most of the time, Nintendo’s heavy handed business tactics are pretty bad, but this is one space where they needed to put a foot down. I just hope this doesn’t stifle good indie game makers wanting to get on the Switch 2.
I’m sure having to play every single one of them to test Switch 2 compatibility may have influenced this decision lol
They really need to clean up all the garbage on the eshop and enforce some higher standards (i.e. *any standards at all*). It’s not great to release a shiny new console that sells millions worldwide, and have all the new owners greeted by a shop that looks like a fondue fountain full of dog shit.
If this is true, it hasn’t been implemented outside of Asia yet.
RedDeerGames (one of *the* absolute worst spam publishers on Switch who were responsible for hundreds of ‘AAA Clock’ releases) specifically started a different publishing label called Secret Games as soon as the Switch 2 launched, and have since clogged the eShop up with endless HENTAI GIRLS, HENTAI GOLF, HENTAI STORIES etc. bundles. Check the eShop right now and you’ll see one of them in the new releases. They’ve spammed the same five games over 30 times since June.
You know what would curb the problem once and for all?
* Give users the ability to flag and report spammy publishers like RedDeer, or at the very least set permanent customizations on the eShop to filter out those publishers so that their content is always hidden.
* All unestablished publishers who are publishing their first title to the eShop must undergo a rigorous hands-on review process for their first few products to ensure quality. This will help Nintendo determine whether or not to allow the publisher to publish games to the eShop in the first place.
* Established publishers that are flagged enough by end users as “spammy” will also face having to go through the same thorough review of new products to ensure quality.
Item #1 solves the problem for publishers already on the eShop that are spamming the heck out of the storefront. Item #2 prevents those publishers from closing shop and opening up under a different name because all new publishers coming onto the platform must undergo a more thorough vetting process for their first few products, which slop publishers almost certainly would not pass. Item #2’s sub-item ensures that spammy publishers will eventually get weeded out of the eShop, given enough scrutiny.
For the love of God stop these “games” for once.
You mean less hentai games being released on switch2? Ahhh maannnn. /s
I know this is a common complaint, but honestly I’m surprised so many folks just browse the eShop looking at games. Don’t think I’ve ever done that, just go in there when there’s a specific game I want to buy
Though maybe I would be browsing it if it was more useful I suppose.
Drastic changes to the publishing approval process is necessary worldwide. Half of the “recent releases” in the US eshop are just “interactive storybooks” filled with poorly-edited AI-generated slop images that have no real gameplay other than maybe a slider puzzle or two.
The eShop is a bigger cesspool than PSN, which is saying something. I’m not sure how Nintendo fell so behind everyone else… Valve and Sony have a really easy to use mobile app, while Nintendo has absolutely nothing for accessing the shop on a phone.
I really hope these rules get applied to the eShop in other regions too. I’ve stopped going to the eShop for browsing anymore unless I’m looking for a very specific game.
Someone is going to bend this and make it sound like Nintendo is heavily restricting indie creators, it’s just to combat spam.
I never look at anything but the bestsellers and featured tabs. Anything else is a dark place.
Thank Christ. Just bought boost zero and u can’t believe Nintendo allowed that to be listed
Praying this is to softlaunch/test things out so globally we don’t have to deal with shovelware and ai slop
Neat. Would be even cooler if they were available to buy
Good! Im tired of blogging through eslop and hemtai games to get titles I actually want to play by legitimate game studios. Im not anti-indie developer but a lot of indie games are pure e-slop and bootleg versions of popular titles (I’m looking at you Call of Warzone)
So you mean I won’t see Knights with Guns get re-released every other week anymore?
>First, regarding bundles, the restrictions state that in the first year of a game’s release, only a maximum of five game bundles may be distributed. After the first year, that number goes up by one for each year the game is available, up to a maximum of eight different bundles.
This has been my suggestion for awhile. Even 5 feels a bit excessive, although there could a a Digital Deluxe version, a Season Pass edition, An update bundle, and a franchise bundle. 5 feels like the **absolute** most that a publisher would need in the first year.
>Listed criteria that “would be considered damaging to the Nintendo brand” include sexualization of children, overly sexual content, discrimination and hate, exploitation of social issues (“Content that clearly exploits a topical and controversial social issue, tragedy, or catastrophic event”), instructing criminal activity, and political statements (“Content that overtly supports or criticizes real-life countries, organizations, or ideologies”).
This will be an interesting one, since whatever game gets blocked under this will inevitably be controversial. I’m not sure if it’ll actually crack down on anything that was already banned though. Maybe they’ll have to change some game titles at least?
>Another new guideline includes a prohibition against inaccurate descriptions of games. It reads, in full: “It is prohibited to provide inaccurate descriptions of the contents of a product. It is prohibited to provide description of the content of a product as under development if it is not expected to be implemented in the product.
A practical application would apply to games like Cult of the Lamb, which get steady updates after launch. Essentially, they can’t list features that aren’t in the game yet.
>Other guidelines prohibit changing the name of a product without good reason (“drastic update”) or to make it consistent with a game’s name on other platforms or with other games in a series. Developers are also prohibited from changing information on the product page after the page is live. And developers are asked to contact Nintendo representatives if they intend to distribute an application “that does not include game elements.
So, no changing the name of your game to capitalize on the brand recognition of another. Probably a crackdown on apps as well, like calculators, alarm clocks, and night vision cameras (or some microphone related app in the S2 case).
Apparently these guidelines are just for the Japanese and Asian eShop, but I hope they enforce something similar on the Western stores as well.
They probably should have done this after the 15th game with hentai in the title
They can start with the game that blatantly has ‘Hentai’ in their title. Those are just match-three gacha slops.
Finally. It’s legitimately too much effort to sift through all the bullshit garbage nonsense.
This is good, the eshop is already flooded by AI generated slop, hopefully this means we’ll finally get some good stuff on it
They need to scorch earth the entire eshop of 8 years of trash
Good. A bit more curation to remove these asset flips is always good