The highlight of the EA Play E3 2018 press conference arguably wasn’t Battlefield 5 or Anthem, it was the official reveal of Unravel 2. With its platforming charm and a new focus on co-op gameplay, everyone thought it would have been announced for the Nintendo Switch alongside confirmed platforms like the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and the game’s developer, Coldwood Interactive, is here to tell us why.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Unravel 2 producer Michael Gill agrees that the game would have a perfect match for the Nintendo Switch. He said: “We had the same reaction when we saw the Switch for the first time. Even those controllers on the side are the same colors as the Yarnies – it’s incredible. It’s a machine made for Unravel Two. But we run at 60 frames per second, that’s really important for us and we want to keep that framerate. To keep that on Switch, and to keep the graphical quality [would have been difficult].”
Unravel 2: Why A Nintendo Switch Version Would Be Difficult
Unravel 2 looks like a simple platformer, but it’s actually much more complex in terms of game physics and graphics. According to the game’s lead programmer and Coldwood Interactive co-founder Jakob Marklund, some locations in the game features “around four million triangles” with lots of details. They also used a modified version of Sony’s PhyreEngine to develop the game, of which there’s no support for the Nintendo Switch yet.
Despite all that, Marklund states that a Nintendo Switch version of Unravel 2 can be done, but it will take time. He added that if they were to have developed a Nintendo Switch port, it would have taken at least half a year, which would have delayed the original release date for the game. Keep in mind that all of this doesn’t confirm the existence or development of Unravel 2 for the Nintendo Switch. If it ever happens, it will probably not be ready anytime soon.
