Bethesda on the possibility of bringing over more older games, exclusives, and release timing
Bethesda has been supporting Switch much more than any other prior Nintendo platforms. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Doom made it to the system late last year, with Wolfenstein II following sometime in 2018.
In an interview at PAX East, Bethesda Softworks senior VP of marketing Pete Hines was asked quite a bit about Switch. The discussion started with the possibility of bringing other previously-released titles to the platform, to which Hines stated:
“It’ll just depend. It’ll depend on whether or not we think the game is a good fit for the platform technically and whether we think it’s something that audience wants on Switch. In that way, it’s literally no different than any other platform that we look at or any other game that we do. Hopefully, it’ll be a mix of both. If there’s stuff that folks want us to release on Switch and it’s a good fit and it works – great. If it’s new stuff going forward that we think is a good fit and will work on Switch, then we’ll do that too.”
Hines was also asked if Bethesda would consider bringing a single title to Switch – think Mario + Rabbids and Ubisoft:
“I don’t know, we’ll have to see. All of that stuff always comes down to the devs’ idea and what we think is a good fit idea wise and platform wise.”
Last but not least, Hines addressed the manner in which Bethesda has released its games on Switch. Thus far, they’ve come out after the initial launch on other platforms. Bethesda would prefer a simultaneous launch, but with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Doom, “that wasn’t possible.”
“That’s always our preference but in the case of Skyrim and DOOM, well, that wasn’t possible. In the case of Wolfenstein II, we needed the extra time and there was no way we were going to hold the other platforms to wait for Switch. From my perspective, any time we can bring it out on the Switch at the exact same time as the other platforms for new releases, I don’t know why we wouldn’t.”
