At a PAX Australia panel yesterday, Bethesda marketing executive Pete Hines confirmed that Fallout 76 won’t be coming to the Nintendo Switch because it simply “wasn’t doable.” Although we’ve seen a handful of Bethesda products come to Switch, including Wolfenstein: The New Colossus, Skyrim, and Doom, Bethesda says that despite its efforts, the company is unable to bring its latest title to the console.
Hines said that Bethesda always considers the Switch for its products, but these deliberations don’t always pan out. Bethesda’s individual teams are allowed to choose what’s best for their games, including which consoles to support.
“The Switch is something I can say with certainty that it’s a part of every conversation with every dev we have now about what we’re doing going forward because we consider it to be a viable platform,” he said. “If the game will work on it, we want it to be on every platform possible. Fallout 76 is not because it just wasn’t doable. But honestly, there is no game in development that we haven’t had a conversation about [bringing it to Switch]. ‘Does this work on the Switch, do you have a plan for the Switch?’ It’s not a mandate. Everything we do has to be developer-led, but it’s something we want to make sure is on folks’ radar.”
“I enjoy us being seen as the third-party leader in terms of supporting Switch,” he said. “People go, ‘Hey, you’ve got a lot more stuff [on Switch] than this publisher or that publisher.’ That’s what I want Bethesda to be known as. We’re guys who will take some risks.”
Moreover, Hines brings up that like most companies, one of Bethesda’s biggest concerns is profitability. Bethesda wants to keep supporting the Nintendo Switch because it believes it is a “viable platform” for its future projects.
“You go where the money is because that’s how you stay in business,” he said.
Additionally, during the panel, he hinted that the “next Wolfenstein” game is coming to Switch. Whether he’s speaking about the upcoming standalone title Wolfenstein: Youngblood or the third major entry to the series is unclear.
At a later date, both Doom Eternal and The Elder Scrolls Legends are heading to Switch.
For more on Bethesda’s Switch endeavors, read our reviews of the Skyrim and Doom Switch ports. Check out our in-depth preview of Fallout 76 to learn more about what to expect from the game.
[Source: GameSpot]
