So last week, it was announced that SteamWorld Build would be receiving paid “Mechanized” DLC. However, the Switch was conspicuously absent from the lineup of platforms, and it’s since been confirmed that there are no plans to put the DLC on Switch at this time, even though the Switch will still receive free seasonal content updates. I find this very disappointing for a few reasons:
\- At no point was it advertised that the Switch version may not receive all content added to Build post-launch, so I now regret my choice of platform for the game.
\- The actual content itself doesn’t appear to be beyond the Switch’s capabilities. (If there’s a good reason for it being unable to run on Switch, I’d at least like to know.)
\- The SteamWorld franchise as a whole got off the ground on Nintendo platforms, and remains synonymous with them. Being treated like second-class citizens now is really not a good look at all, and makes me less inclined to check out more games in the series – at least beyond the ones that do generally interest me. Especially because Thunderful owns what I believe is the only third-party distributor for first-party Nintendo products: Bergsala.
Don’t get me wrong – I like a lot of what Thunderful’s doing and want them, the SteamWorld series, and the other indies they publish to thrive. It’s impressive they managed to get Build on the Switch to begin with while retaining the near-instant switches between the surface and the different mine layers. I just think they should be more honest with us about their support of the Switch, especially because they grew out of a few companies with longtime associations with Nintendo (Image and Form, Zoink, and Bergsala).
by PikaPhantom_
15 Comments
They never advertised that Build would be getting paid DLC at all, as far as I can tell. Not really a point against them there.
You, the player, are in no way qualified to determine if the game is “beyond the Switch’s capabilities.” Only the developers of the content can do that. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.
Thunderful hasn’t been dishonest about this at all. It’s a bummer the Switch version doesn’t get all the stuff but frankly you’re not entitled to every piece of information that led to that decision.
i think it’s definitely a shame that it’s not coming out on switch, maybe it’ll come out later?
Okay.
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I wonder what the sales were on each platform. I was going to buy the Switch version, but it popped up on Gamepass, so I didn’t have to.
Maybe the Switch version hasn’t sold well enough to continue supporting financially? I know it didn’t sell as well as they’d hoped generally.
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Sounds like whining honestly, nobody said the console versions would get all the updates.
That’s weird. I’m pretty secure in assuming switch is by far their best selling platform.
Is the game that awesome?
It’s interesting that this game was developed by a different company compared to the other Steam World games. Anyone know what the story is there?
Yeah it is pretty shitty to exclude a platform because it did poorly, unless it requires a completely new build of the game, which may be part of the reason why as Switch is less powerful and may need more optimizaitons to get it to run well.
That said, they made the decision to release the base game on Switch and Usually devs support ongoing DLC/Content for all annouced platform to honor their relationship with customers. Randomly excluding a platform is not a good look and leaves a portion of thier customers hanging.
Can anyone reach out to them for comment?
I feel like the SteamWorld IP was handled much better before Image & Form became Thunderful. Something has been off since…
All sales final, caveat emptor.
Way to abandon fans on the only platform that gave a shit about your games.
I won’t be buying anymore Steamworld games from now on and that’s coming from someone that absolutely loved Steamworld Dig 2.
Bummer. I love this game and would have bought this too.
I’ve bought some of their games multiple times so that I can have them all on the switch and replay them often.
I will continue to support and always look forward to the next steam world game, but I may wait for dlc support to end in the future.