SoulCalibur VI developer "still not sure" about the Switch

Nintendo Everything/SoulCalibur Community

At the end of 2017, Soulcalibur VI producer Motohiro Okubo was asked about the chances of a Switch port. Okubo was open to the idea as he was interested in Nintendo’s console and said it could be a possibility depending on compatibility with Unreal Engine.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like things have changed since then. Okubo told Soulcalibur Community that the team hasn’t had time to investigate a Switch port as Bandai Namco has been occupied with Season 2 DLC.

Okubo said:

“If I have to answer seriously, I think I remember telling you previously that we’re not sure we can port the game to Nintendo Switch. I said we have to examine and look into that, and well… When I said that, I didn’t know if we’d have a Season 2 yet and now that we have one, I’ll be totally honest by saying we didn’t have time to look into that. So basically, the situation hasn’t changed much.”

...

You know, despite the fact that Namco Bandai have had better efforts on the Switch than their American counterparts at EA (who are also notorious for avoiding the platform despite it's success), they seem to like dodging it all the same. Even IF SCVI can't be ported, how about... I don't know, SoulCalibur II HD (given other third party GameCube games are on the platform like Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy and Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast)?

Seriously, is Namco Bandai TRYING to forget how much Nintendo fans in the GameCube era LOVED SC II (it was one of the top selling versions WITH the PS2 version, on a system that, not including the nuked out Dreamcast, was the lowest selling), even if it's just for Link's appearance? Because it sure as hell feels like it.

You should be screaming at Nintendo to stop making trash hardware then.

Don’t bash Namco because the switch is too underpowered to run the game.

Sounds like they barely have funding as is.

Re-release V and charge the price of VI.

Switch wasn't popular, or possibly not even existing, when SC6 started development. I don't expect Namco Bandai not porting it for Switch and the fact SC6 wasn't all that, Switch owners aren't missing much.

Namco is just being rational on this. Outside PS4/PC the player population for fighting games is small, doesn't really make sense for devs to make a late release.

Oh yeah, they were being so rational, nevermind giving us "FighterZ" (from an IP that's as popular as Star Wars).

Like I said, it doesn't have to be SC VI, it could be SC II HD. I think Switch owners would be content with at least that.

Just being real. The population count for fighting games unfortunately small outside of PS4/PC. Its the version used in tournaments so people flock there. DBZ is a popular franchise.

It's a fighting game. Cut some of the fancy crap in the background, bring the skybox closer, muddy the textures, lower the resolution. It won't look as good, but it's not like this is Witcher 3 or Doom.

They are busy working on DLC, and that's a reasonable excuse. But if they decide to put this on Switch, there is no reason they couldn't make it work. These guys managed to put Soul Caliber 4 on PSP, and Tekken 6 on 3DS.

I tried to replay SC2 last year on Gamecube and that game didn't aged well at all. Unless they update the dialogue intro on each character, don't wanna see an HD.

Super Smash Brothers sold over 16 million copies on the Switch. Street Fighter V sold over 3 million copies. Mortal Kombat 11 sold over 4 million copies. Soul Calibur VI sold a mere 1 million copies. Fighting being niche aren't to blame here.

Honestly, Soul Calibur VI only sold a little over 1 million copies in total on the Xbox One and PS4. It's a flop. Putting it on the Switch won't help it much and it wouldn't be worth it. It's actually smart for them to milk money from the 1 million playerbase they currently have with little effort.

Great, compare Nintendo 1st party game to 3rd party game. Also let me remind you, switch highest selling 3rd party game on switch is the mario+rabbits selling around 2m and that is no fighting game, had Mario branding on it.

Also, its not an assumption that fighting genre fans flock to PS4/PC. The EVO2020 tournament 7 out of 8 games uses the PS4 ver and its the platform with the most fighting game releases.

It runs DOOM which is a more difficult game to run, it runs TW3 somehow...

I give props to Nintendo, they do things their way.

I agree with this sentiment, SCII & III are much more enjoyable and better all around games.

Namco Bandai is a tad weird in my opinion, though they do have some decent reasons for not porting Soul Caliber to the Switch as well.

What I don't get is why they don't release a US version of GUP dream tank match,I mean I know you can import the gasme (which I did,), but you'd think that it'd be trivial to release a port, (even digital only) if you where already going to add English subtitles to the game.

Also a PS4/Xbox one version of the new Katamari Damacy, game, or Digimon story complete edition would be good. Granted, both Digimon Story games are on the PS4, but unless you've already downloaded it, you can't get the DLC for the original Cyber Sleuth and plus there's a lot of small extras in the complete edition.

I didn't explain my comment clearly. Super Smash Brothers is an unfair comparison because the appeal is that it's a fighting game plus it's the largest crossover in gaming history featuring Nintendo characters. That was obviously going to be a hit. However, I meant to say that Soul Calibur VI was a fail on its own, not because fighting games are niche. It sold poorly on the PS4, a platform you say fighting games are somewhat popular on. What's the excuse there? Other fighting games sold well on the PS4, yet this one is a flop on the PS4. This game won't be popular on the Switch and I personally wouldn't bother porting it to the Switch if I developed this game. Hardly anyone wants this game, so why waste resources? It's better to make dlc to milk as much money from this flop as possible. I'm just calling bullshit that it won't sell well on the Switch because fighting games aren't popular on the Switch. It won't sell well because this game is a flop that doesn't appeal to anyone.

Don't really see what's the issue here. Soul Cal 6 came out, got modest at best results (shame as it's the best fighting engine that series has had), and the fact that they even got to make a second season add on to the game is a pleasant surprise. Games aren't given unlimited time n resources, contrary to the belief of idiots, porting something down to the Switch probably takes a lot of effort given the weak hardware.

And Soul Cal team probably isn't some massive team given the genre they work in.

Literally answered your own stupid ass take

>One of the biggest IPs ever
>One of the most successful fighting games ever

Added bonus, Namco's own internal studio doesn't make DBFZ, Arcsys did, who do in fact have 3 separate internal teams.

Then if they're not really interested as they claim, just say it. Again, it's the same BS with EA. Stop screwing around with potential consumers minds and give us closure on at least that.

@splendidcoffee: Yeah, it runs horribly butchered versions of Doom and Witcher 3. No gamer in their right mind would want to play those games in such a crappy state.

The switch versions are unplayable. That’s not hyperbole either. They are bad games but I am guessing switch owners never played them on REAL consoles or PC so they wouldn’t know.

Except that's not what the dude said, it's not a priority or their number one priority. That is not a sign of lack of interest. You're reading/projecting shit he didn't say. You're being dumb again/as usual.

Fucking shills I swear.

Sigh.. any game can fail, doesnt mean less regarding PS4/PC is the preferred platform for fighting games and players flock there due it has the most users for online matchmaking. And lets be clear on this, Soul Calibur VI sales were above bamco expectation. Finally, Fighting game is a niche genre and SC is just not as popular as Tekken or SF or MK of course you just can't expect it to sell as much as those franchises.

Also about fighting games on switch, you can google it urself and you will get the same response. Online population for fighting games on switch not named SSBU just isnt as much as on the other platforms. You can start with MK11.

it’s funny how this trash console outsold the most power console ever created ( XB1x ) the Xb1

Corporate PR language.

Logical language. You just got the rebuttals of a putz. Try again sport.

Nope. Corporations come up with bullshit on why they do/don't do things all the time, something I know you know. You should SEE the nonsense Nintendo is "justifying" on their recent Animal Crossing nonsense.

And again, if they don't want to support the Switch. That's fine! I have other systems (shocker!), but stop screwing around and give closure. Don't give bullshit like "well, it's not our priority per se..."

@davillain-: Didn't age well? Its still by far the best SC game out there. I still play SC2 on the Xbox from time to time and have never returned to replay any of the newer ones.

I was referring to the dialog on each characters intro when they try to interact each other. That was my fault for not making my original post clear. It's still fun to play now, but it's totally showing it's age.

@davillain-: Are their any fighting games that have good dialogue though lol? I think that's part of the charm or nostalgia of them, cheesy dialogue and fighting games just go hand in hand, IMO at least.

Was just about to say. Fighting games were NEVER about dialogue. It's like bemoaning Mario for story/plot (which... I did before starting Mario Galaxy... true story)

@vfighter: Try Mortal Kombat 11. The interaction on each character's dialog is pretty interesting spot on.

@davillain-: I have it, while its funny at times its nothing special IMO.

Switch games are selling like hot cakes even The Witcher 3 can run on it. What are people so unsure of? Every game can run on Switch.

This is literally my point... I'm saying that the game was a fail on it's own. What were Bambo's expectations? I'm sure it did well in the first week because it sold around 400k if I recall, but it's a decided flop now. You shouldn't fall for PR. After all, PR said the Wii U was outselling the Wii, PS3, and Xbox One when it was first released, and we all know how that turned out.

You need to read between the lines. Their game was a flop. No company is going to come out and say, "our game was a flop and we won't spend more resources porting our unpopular game to another system, only for it to flop their."

Soul Calibur VI is just unappealing. It's easier to milk their small userbase with dlc, then to waste resources porting it to the Switch.

I think the main issue is that Unreal Engine 4 runs like absolute dog shit on the Switch. The SoulCalibur dev team also entertained the thought about putting Code Vein on Switch but that game is running at an average of 30FPS on the PS4's base model with an equivalent of the PC version's medium-ish settings (A few things on High, but nothing on Epic settings)

Even if I wanted it for Switch I wouldn't pay $60 for it when it was going for like $15 on other consoles by the end of the year.

It sold more that SC5 and 3, and Bandai Namco announced to investor it sold well. Bamco can lie to us but they are not gonna lie to their investors. Also 400k first week for a fighting game is solid. You just don't grasp how niche this genre is. Sure its not doing MK11 or Tekken numbers but its certainly doing better than UNiST, BlazBlue, Guilty Gears, Dead or Alive, Samurai Shodown and many others in the genre.

This is how niche fighting genre is. A late port to switch not gonna help it at all considering how small the fighting genre population there.

This is false

https://twinfinite.net/2019/02/soulcalibur-6-successful-launch/

While they would like the game to have done better obviously (it's still behind the launch runs of SC2 n SC4), it isn't a flop for them either. Were it one, it wouldn't get a season 2. They just aren't the bread winner or at the big boys table.

I'm still not sure about Soul Calibur VI.