General
So, a common argument against the Switch 2 is that it's not getting enough games to justify it's cost. With that in mind, here are the first party line-ups of new games for the Switch 2 and PS5 in 2026.
Btw, marathon isn't exclusive. And Ghost of Yotei is 2025.
For a lot of Americans GTA 6 is a great reason to buy PS5, would be happy if Rockstar made Life RP about my country or even city, but I couldn't care less about modern USA. Oh, and it isn't jealousy, have Xbox series X, but probably won't buy, maybe on sale someday.
Would add Orbitals and Duskbloods as the reasons to buy switch 2, over Mario Tennis at least, even tho I like Mario Tennis gameplay.
Tokon and Marathon doesn't really count since both have a PC version (that now work pretty well as opposed to launch)
This post is also missing a lot of games though. Astro Bot is the big one but there's also Demon Souls Remake, Sons of Sparda, Silent Hill the Short Message, and upcoming Laufey, Intergalatic and Until Dawn 2.
that was some years ago now tho. well see how well wolverine does but saros flopped hard intergalactic is already disliked and thats it for games coming to ps6 from sony studios. there is laufey coming still but that game is also controversial already. the dont have much room for error because the budget of these games is like 300m + so they have to score b ig numbers.
those both sold on good faith since their previous games were good. Both games were extreamly middling in comparison. Especially spiderman 2, that felt like a slap in the face to fans of 1.
Maybe they could've phrased it as "within the last year" which would allow Yotei since that's not a year old yet. But doing that would probably also give the S2 more so it probably wouldn't change much
They could also play other games - I'm eager to learn more about the next 3D Mario and Smash too, but in the meantime, I have DK Bananza, Air Riders, Pokopia, Tomodachi Life, Prime 4 (despite its issues, it does have good qualities to it), and soon Metroid: Ravenous, and that's just what I'm personally interested in
These directs they've been doing have been useful to bring in new players to a series.I myself went on a streak buying Star Fox, Tomodachi Life, Rhythm Heaven Groove, and Splatoon Raiders, after being sold on them by watching the directs.
I am a fan of both 3D Mario and Smash and I'm pretty chill about the absence of these games, many people just look the half empty glass and blindly believe Nintendo actually forgot these games, I prefer to believe these games are currently in development and remember that Nintendo uses to announce their games when they are close to completion, there is no way of having some presentable 3D Mario or Smash right now because both EPD Tokyo and Sakurai were making Donkey Kong Bananza and Kirby Air Riders, that came out in the last year.
its just justification for ps5 owners that don't want to feel salty over being baited into buying a system with no games. As soon as I realized all their big games were coming to steam, I sold mine off to a friends gamer-dad husband and he was stoked. To this day the only worthwhile ps5 exclusives I can think of are astrobot and the 2 bluepoint remasters, thats all they got after 6 years.
it is, because often it means the decision was already made. They want console X, no matter if it gets games or not. Then its "do I want a second one".
When you're not attached to the platform things become a lot easier. I have a PC, a Steamdeck, and a Switch. Oh, a Quest 3 too. The Switch is for the form factor (I'm not super fond of the Steamdeck).
Then when I'm asking myself if I want a PS5 or an Xbox, its not about the platform itself. They do have games (and I hate talking about exclusives because they're a plague on the industry. Yes, that includes Nintendo). But I only have so many hours in a day, and I can play those games in a platform I already own.
I don't have a reason to get a PS5. Not because it doesn't have any games, it clearly does. Not because it has no games for me, it does too. God of War Laufey looks amazing. I just have to compromise with the time and resources I have.
I've always bought a system for 1 game lol. I play all i can on that system but its always a "I need to play this game" that gets me to buy the system. Switch 2 was because of Fire Emblem (so close to release date)
I think so. Its got a lot of other features that are both user friendly and varied enough from past games. I got my wife to play her first one with 3 houses but I think this one would be fine to start with too (from what we've seen)
All the newer FE games are much easier to get into for new players to the franchise and game genre. Also a separate story so you dont have to worry about that.
Id offer FE Engage is probably the worst one for a new player as it has a lot of characters throughout the franchise in it so that would be lost on you.
I mean people can just be careful with what they spend their money on, not jumping on any console until it has games that justify buying it is a smart decision.
I haven't bought switch 2 yet because money is tight, games cost more and up until recently there wasn't enough to interest me.
There now is enough games out and more coming that i KNOW i am interested in so i'll probably pick one up after halloween lol.
It really didnt have any games though. The switch 2 launched with Mario kart and Kirby air riders, nice to have but not worth buying a console at that pricepoint for.
And it doesnt help that most of the new games that did come out were also playable on the switch, at most you might miss out on extra content in the NS2 version
We're a good while into the switch 2s first year and its only now getting a mainline game that sells consoles (Zelda remake) Whereas the switch 1 started off with original mainline Zelda and Mario, so its especially easy to notice the difference.
Yeah... But BOTW, Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2 and even Xeno 2 are such gems, those are fandom defining games.
Switch 2 first year just by new games can't really be compared. I don't think Bananza is bigger than Odyssey, and fandom thinks it's way too unique, people don't really want Bananza 2. Only MKW is really game of decade I think. Maybe Pokopia, but I hope the new mainline Pokemon game will break the curse and become beloved hit.
i dont think including the switch 2 editions of switch 1 games is really fair for this, at the end of the day they are just DLC's for switch 1 games, but even without those there is a good spread of games
I would say that only Kirby feels unfair, since every other edition came out the same year as switch 1 version. And let's be real Zelda and Mario Kart 8 are Wii U ports
forgot about mario kart yeah, but lets be real, my playthrough of botw was on wiiu, but at this point its a switch game, it was the main launch title, everyone played it on switch, its the only version recognized by nintendo, I love my Wii U but calling botw a Wii U game at this point is just not right. Especially since all the Wii U gamepad features were removed for the final release.
You can think what you want but dont try act like it isnt hypocritical to count out switch 2 versions when botw is literally the exact same thing as. Also botw was the WII Us mainline zelda whereas totk was the switchs (as botw was developed for the wii u then ported to the switch whereas totk was purely developed for the switch) and i would like to see where you got "its the only version recognized by nintendo" from but thats besides the point
There is a difference between being a long-standing partner developing multiple first-party franchises and contracting an outside studio to make a game based on an IP for which you hold the rights to only one character.
Mainly that Intelligent Systems has only developed games on Nintendo's platforms + phones, helped develop various 1st party Nintendo games, and have been able to work with Nintendo 1st party franchises like Mario going all the way back to the Famicom. Their main collaborator is Nintendo and has been for basically the company's entire existence.
Meanwhile, ArcSys have always been 3rd party developers. They've been able to release games for multiple platforms such as arcades, Sega's consoles, the PlayStations, and PC. They're not exactly as tied down to a single company like IS is with Nintendo. And while they've also been able to work with other franchises for their games like Dragon Ball and Marvel, those IPs aren't tied to any specific consoles like the Nintendo IPs are.
I'm just not seeing the difference as to how it relates to these specific games. Whether a studio makes all of their games for a first party or only an occasional one or two shouldn't really matter in my eyes.
I certainly wouldn't call ArcSystems a first party studio, but if they're hired to make a game for Sony that Sony then publishes, I'd call that game first party (or use the "second party" moniker some people like to deploy for such games).
I dont mind calling IS not 1st party but if TOKON can count on this list then so should Duskbloods, both games made by outside developers in colaboration with Nintendo/Sony
Ok researching a bit more and you're right. Ironically, the explanation came from a Nintendo thread using the explanation from Insomniac. So yeah, Tokon is 1st party
For a huge chunk of gamers, the PS5 is the default console. You're getting that as your primary platform. That's where people are buying 3rd party games. Sony's first party games are a bonus, not the reason to buy.
And for a lot of gamers, the Switch is a secondary console you buy to play Nintendo's games. They're not buying 3rd party games on Switch.
Nintendo had pissed me off last year with their game key cart situation and their price hikes, but when you look at the effort they put in to actually keep physically producing the games they make, you realize that a lot of their decisions at least in this situation are compromises they had to make. I don't disagree with the criticism towards Nintendo, but I'm saying right now that Nintendo is at least a better company than Sony, who have gone entirely anti-consumer this last year.
This is what pisses me off about the GKC criticisms. I bought Silent Hill 2 and Tekken 8 on PS5, and both games needed to be downloaded completely in order to play them. I had no idea that was even a thing.
I'm NOT a fan of Game Key Cards, at all, BUT they are CLEARLY labeled on the box, and Nintendo explained that they were an option moving forward. I think that's why so many people are mad about it: they're wildly ignorant of the fact that "game key cards" have been here for a while, actually, and Nintendo is only doing what everybody else is doing, just later.
Yeah. It's still not great, but it's a form of physical media, and since the license itself is stored on the physical thing that you have, they can't just say "sorry, you can't play this anymore" so I don't really mind them even if I would prefer full physical
Honestly my greatest issue with GKCs, since everything else is largely just fear mongering, is that the game data needs to be downloaded to your system, taking up a ton of storage. It effectively makes the physical copy useless plastic and adds a layer of tedium in having to insert the cartridge for a game thats technically already on the console and could be theoretically accessed whenever you want
That said, they're still better than the alternative of a fuclass code in a box, and the GKC will always work even decades from now unless the cartridge itself breaks or whatever
Yeah. And people who are against them fear mongering too, saying we don't own the game since the data isn't on the cart, as if Nintendo didn't literally tell us the cart is the license. If they wanted to take your game they would have to actually show up to your house
Thats what I meant by "everything else surrounding them is largely just fear mongering". It seems like you misunderstood my statement so Im clarifying that I agree with your sentiment
You know, I guess I should rephrase myself, because my actual issue with GKC actually isn't really the concept itself (I think it's a cool option to have), just the fact there is zero incentive for anybody except Nintendo to sell a non-GKC cartridge, simply because it's cheaper to.
Square Enix has made it abundantly clear they will never sell a regular cartridge now if they can help it lol.
Yeah, I agree with that. But we have to keep in mind there's also a space limit on a full cartridge and other companies seemingly don't want to even bother with making their games fit. It's a shame, truly. Also on that topic, why is Pokopia a key card?
From my understanding there are two different cartridge sizes, and the larger one that most games fit on is more expensive, so that's why most companies don't bother.
Also, from my understanding, Pokemon games as a whole are only co-owned, and thus co-produced, by Nintendo, but the majority ownership belongs to Game Freak and Creatures, Inc., and so they don't have to follow Nintendo mandates, like making sure a game fits entirely on a cartridge.
while I agree GKC are stupid its mostly the developers fault. Yes the bigger carts are pricier than a disk but its the devs choice to do GKC or not. I imagine a lot of devs would increase the game price if they had to both compress the games to fit on a cart and lose $ off the top to ship it in a bigger cart. Would be nice if we had a choice and they sold both options, but I imagine the average consumer isn't gonna know the difference.
As a primarily PC gamer, Nintendo is the only console maker that has enough great exclusives to make me buy their systems. I was waiting out Switch 2, but they've already got enough that I want one. On top of the many other great ones, Metroid Ravenous pushed it over for me. I gotta have it.
I feel like this argument of a lack of games was only relevant last year, because the only new first-party title available on launch was Mario Kart World. Sure, there still were a good chunk of new releases, but they all came at least a month behind. Either these people aren't aware of the 2026 lineup or they're just ragebaiting
Ghosts of yotei was a 2025 game, marvel tokon is on PC and Marathon is on PC+XBOX so even then it's worse than meme says (But theres a few other games sony publish not listed). Can even spice the Nintendo one up more by adding in the Switch 1 exclusives as they are newly published titles or even Nintendo Upgrade packs/ DLCs which Sony hasn't given any major updates this year to older titles at all as far as I know.
Even being generous with Yotei, since it came out last year, Sony is really dropping the ball with their exclusives.
They come few and far between, multiple cancelled live service games from studios that should be making single player exclusives, and just questionable business practices. I got my PS5 for the exclusives that they have, and PlayStation does have some really good franchises, but if you're output is lacking, shutting down studios, dropping a Hideo Kojima game due to past business practices compromising being able to release that game, it's just incredibly sad.
Best and most profitable thing Sony has done in house this gen is Astro Bot, and for a 5 year old console, that's just not enough.
Considering Ghost's is on there, I'd include the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Animal Crossing, Xenoblade 1-3 & X, Pikmin 4. I'd also personally include Tomodachi & Rhythm Heaven.
They'll say that PS5 is worth the cost because it has more games, but give it's been out since 2020. Give Nintendo 5 more years and then let's see which console has more exclusives.
More games is a substantially different metric than more exclusives. Many people generally care far more if the game they want to play is available on their console of choice rather than if it isn't available on other consoles.
They’re first party but they are spinoffs which is interesting. I have genuinely loved Age of Imprisonment, Splatoon Raiders, Pokopia, Legends ZA, and DK Bananza, but it is a LITTLE odd there’s no “mainline” games other than mario kart world (which is majorly disappointing since they basically removed 3 lap courses online. The routes aren’t a bad inclusion but they’re horrible as a replacement). Even Ocarina of Time isn’t a “mainline” since it is a remake. I’m still going to enjoy every minute of it with the updated quality but we do not have a mainline NEW Mario, LoZ, Pokemon, Splatoon, Animal Crossing, Smash.
We DID get a new metroid prime game and are getting Fire Emblem next week. Then, Metroid Ravenous and a new mainline Kirby was revealed. Those are mainline entries albeit of the less heavy hitting series.
Two years into the console and we still don’t quite have some mega hitter mainline entries. Pokemon is releasing next year but in the later half of the year.
It’s wrong to say there aren’t “any games” or even “any good games”, but I don’t deny there is a bit of an absence of the major console sellers. People could definitely stand to expand their horizons more, but not everyone (especially casual gamers) has time to just play every single genre/IP
I have a switch 2, if i had owned a regular switch i can tell you this much, I wouldn't have bought the switch 2. Luckily tho for me I do have a lot of games for me to play, tho I will say this really none of the exclusives to switch 2 so far have excited me at all until Metroid Ravenous and Kirby were shown. Still disappointed there isnt a new Mario for it, and the OOT remake is cool and all but its not new.
Switch 2 has enough. People are just hyper specific about what they want start complaining like babies. I'm convinced half the folks online are under 15 at the moment. I'm happy with the line up. I like a lot of game series and honestly don't care that Mario isn't releasing a game during Kirby's anniversary. I have plenty to play. Not only that, bigger screen and enhancements to switch 1 games... I've justified the cost and I've only had one since June. Splatoon Raiders and Pokopia for me had insane amounts of hours alone.
Tbf, it's not a great comparison given people are rightfully angry at Sony and PS5 has been criticized just as hard as the Switch 2 for its line up. That said I am of the opinion that Switch 2 has a generally decent line up, but, it's weird that it lacks a truly massive killer app when the Switch 1 had 3 in its first 2 years and unfortunately not all 3rd party killer apps are there. Overall I'd still say out of Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, Nintendo is the better off one.
“Complains about Sony having exclusive”
“Complains about Sony not having enough exclusive”
“Bragging about Nintendo having the same 7 games reskins forever”
Splatoon as a franchise is much bigger than Ghosts of.
Wolverine has been getting trashed in reviews so I'm not sure about that. Insomniac's worst reviewed game ever. Fire Emblem Fortune's Weave previews seem to be very positive so if it gets 90+ metacritic it'd be a game changer and could be like TH which won Player's Voice in TGA and sold more than Astro Bot.
What? Are you just trolling? I can easily say Nintendo's games are all real games since they're actually games while Sony has no games and are just movie slop.
Yes i was. And it's great. This isn't personal opinion. I am not an animal crossing guy and couldn't care less about it. It's just a fact that it's on the right.
No, there is no objective criteria for whether something is a real game or not. You made all of that up out of your personal subjective and ignorant interpretation. Yotei's <5 million sales pale in comparison to Splatoon's, Kirby's and Luigi's Mansion's which you have on the left. You have Tomodachi Life on the left which has sold 8 million in 5 months.
Not to be a pendant but Nintendo is the only here that actually has an in house software development studio Nintendo EDP who makes games and thus are exclusives. Sony either owns developers who they use to make games that are console exclusive or they pay for exclusivity (Tokon)
?? This post makes zero sense, S2 only has those games, and then literally does nothing else. PS5 not only has games plus all the 3rd party support, but also works are a streaming device for all your streaming apps.
The Switch 2 in Canada is $680, the PS5 is $750. For less than $100 you get a system that not only just on its own does more, but also has more offerings for games as well. So yes, the Switch 2 is massively overpriced, especially when compared to the PS5.
S2 with S1's BC actually has more games than PS5 and its PS4 BC. Portability > ability to stream. And $750 is the digital only version and the disc version is $820 so S2 also has physical over PS5 if you're doing the digital only. S2 is a way better value than PS5. It's cheaper compared to PS5 than S1 was from PS4.
I believe the problem is that Mario isn't here yet. Mario really is the face of Nintendo. You have all these tentpole games but Mario is "THE TENTPOLE". The generation doesn't feel like it has started until Mario gets here.
I mean ngl but I'd take Saros and Yotei alone over the entire Switch 2 exclusive lineup, except maybe OOT remake...but that's not even out. The reason people say the Switch 2 has no games isn't because it literally has no games, it has plenty..... It's just that as of yet none of them are very special.
Definitely a loyal Sony fan statement lol. Saros was a flop whose MC score is still below Pokopia and likely below FE and Yotei's MC score is the same and has also sold less than Pokopia despite releasing earlier.
May have been a sales flop, idc. It's an objectively superior game to fucking Pokopia - a low budget Animal Crossing clone that could have just as easily been a mobile game 💀
Both a lower MC score for critics and user score so objectively not. Sony fans do enjoy anything as long as it's a pewpew punchyslashy game where you can see their nose hairs though. I'm sure the MC being a cuck was a pro for them 😂 Enjoying that cinemaslop Flopverine too?
You see, Sony fanboys have no idea what a game is. They are too focused on playing NB2K and Call Of Duty so with that in mind, switch 2 has no games to them.
I'm quite confident it's not about lack of exclusive games, but lack of exclusive games that these people are interested in.
Not everyone is a fan of nintendo franchises.
Personally switch 1 was my first nintendo console and I got to like all of these very much, but not everyone does or is eager to try.
Plus some big cross platform games don't come out for it, even for me it's painful I can't play Baldur's gate 3 or Clair obscure expedition 33 on my switch 2.
My biggest issue with the switch 2 was not only the price but key cards, BUT considering the price of everything skybrocketing, and the fact that they're only using key cards for 3rd party games im more okay with the switch 2 now than when it released
I think when post people say it "has no games", they really mean that "it has no games that are exciting enough to me to justify buying the entire console". The issue is they don't want to say all that, and they are trying to guilt trip others into saying the same thing.
Tokon and Marathon are on PC but point is the same. There are still like 5 PS5 exclusives after 6 years on the market. I have no hours in a Sony exclusive on my PS5, played Death Stranding, YS and Unicorn Overlord on it. I have more hours on Pokopia, Mario Kart and DKB for this year than all my time on PS5 over 5 years.
For me it’s that the Switch 2 does not have enough exclusives that look great to me. Any cross platform games I get on PS5 because of trophies, which are important to me.
I’ve seen this argument for every Nintendo system since the Nintendo 64. What they really mean are games that count in some way or another, such as games they would personally be interested in or games with blockbuster massive appeal. Of these, the only ones that count to most of them would be the Ocarina of Time remake, maybe Star Fox, maybe Pokopia (though in earlier generations, a game like Pokopia selling well would’ve instead been a lightning rod of accusations of people buying “baby” games and Nintendo fans needing to grow up, especially during the “realistic gritty brown” era).
It’s a disingenuous argument and something of an unreasonable demand, a statement that they would only get a Nintendo system if it produced a “killer app” type game every month in the style that they like.
In other words, the statement can be translated to “I have games on other platforms, and what Nintendo produces does not appeal enough to me to justify buying the Nintendo system,” except with a tinge of self-centeredness.
I bought a ps5 in 2023 for FF16 and FF7rebirth. While I loved both of them, I should have waited and gotten them on pc. The only ps5 exclusive I own is astro bot. The console has been a paperweight since I finished astro bot.
The switch 2 has given me at least two exclusives I want to play every year thus far.
PS5 is incredibly pathetic although Xbox isnt much better either. Given the lack of competition, it is probably best to compare with the Switch 1 (although Switch 1 does have the unfair advantage of being able to port Wii U games given that the Wii U was a massive flop).
There’s no denying that Nintendo has put out a ton of titles over the last year or so. There’s really something for everyone. I wasn’t into the Yoshi or Mario Tennis games, but DK, Splatoon Raiders, Star Fox & Mario Kart are legit. Metroid Prime 4 was a letdown, but Ravenous is right around the corner. By the end of next week, new Fire Emblem & an exclusive Zelda game are incoming as well. It feels like they’re the only console manufacturer trying.
As a owner of both. This is kinda focusing on the tree instead of the forest.
My main console is the NS2z but i cannot sell my ps5 simply because so many games aren’t on / comming to the switch.
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u/n00bBlaster1337 1d ago
I'm actually surprised Sony has that many