New Switch Game's Release Today Was A Surprise For Developers; Publisher 505 Games Responds

Generally, a game's release shouldn't be a surprise. It's nice when it is for players, letting them download it straight after an announcement. But it should never be one for its developers. At the very least not in the way Indivisible's release on Nintendo Switch today apparently surprised its creators, Lab Zero.

According to Indivisible's lead designer, Mike Zaimont, Indivisible launched today on Nintendo Switch without any indication that it was coming. It was a nice surprise for fans waiting for a portable version of the RPG, especially with the 20% discount at launch, but it shocked developer Lab Zero, as Zaimont explained on Twitter.

According to Zaimont, Lab Zero was unaware that the port was launching today, with no communication from publisher 505 Games. The port is also missing content, with Zaimont pointing out that cooperative play, New Game Plus, and additional content added to other versions via patches were missing. Although he praised the game's overall technical performance (indicating that Zero Labs did no work on the port) he ended the thread with, "This launch does not represent the quality standards of Lab Zero. It just doesn't. I'm sorry. It wasn't us."

In a statement, the publisher 505 Games responded to the surprise-release. But to make matters even stranger, it sounds as if the release came as somewhat of a surprise to the publisher too. "We had scheduled an early May release date, but due to an unexpected series of events, the game is now available in North America and Europe," the statement reads. "It's a happy accident that puts the game into your hands sooner than expected."

This follows another curious situation concerning a game released on Nintendo Switch, specifically the messy debacle around Cooking Mama: Cookstar and its publishing rights.