A huge change appears has hit the Nintendo Switch eShop since the console's system update earlier this week, and no, it's not just the fact that it's red now. Ahead of the Switch 2, Nintendo has quietly altered the way its charts work, but it might not be good news for everyone.
First spotted by GVG's Jon Cartwright on YouTube (below), the fine print found at the bottom of the Switch eShop charts has altered since the console's update. While it previously stated that the games displayed on the charts were "the software titles with the most downloads for the past two weeks," it now says that "these are the software titles with the highest sales for the past three days."
While this phrasing is a tad vague, GVG's theory is that the charts may now be calculated based on the revenue earned from games – like Steam's top sellers chart – rather than the number of downloads accumulated.
This idea makes sense when you look at the side-by-side comparison of the charts in the video – a few days ago, it was filled with loads of lower-priced games, such as some that happened to have huge discounts at the time.
However, the new chart has changed the landscape completely, with many more full-priced AAA games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Super Mario Party Jamboree sitting high up the rankings, instead. If the new chart toppers are determined by revenue, this adds up – the sale of one of these first-party games would count for more than the sale of a $5 title, for example.
Is this a good change, though? Well, yes and no.
On one hand, this new system seems to do an excellent job of hiding the deluge of shovelware games on Switch that seem to thrive on being discounted all the time. I'm talking about the sort of games that appear multiple times in listings thanks to being given loads of different re-released "editions" bundled with slightly different DLC – a strategy which also allows games to keep reappearing on the "recent releases" section.
Having so many different versions of games like this also means that they're more likely to be spotted in the "current offers" tab when they're on sale. All these things have made it harder to browse for new games, but it sounds like these titles may not appear quite so often from here on out, as their discount-focused strategy wouldn't be rewarded nearly as much by a revenue-based system.
However, this system could be potentially very problematic for indie developers, who generally sell their games at far lower prices than the big AAA titles of the world. If you're a new dev who's just released a game at a discounted launch price of $10, hoping to gain some traction, but you have to sell six copies to equate to even one sale of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, that's going to be really tough, especially when even more expensive upcoming Switch 2 games like the $80 Mario Kart World come into the mix.
Let's just hope that indie games are still able to get the visibility that they deserve going forward. Obviously, we still see indie hits appearing in Steam's revenue-based top sellers chart – just look at REPO, which has been in the chart for nine weeks in a row despite its low $10 price tag.
Stuff like that should be pretty reassuring for Switch developers, assuming that Nintendo's own charts are now operating in this same way.
When you're not staying up to date with all the ongoing Nintendo Switch 2 news, be sure to check out our list of upcoming indie games to see what new gems are on the way.
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