Two PlayStation exclusives coming to Nintendo Switch as Sony goes multiformat

The Switch 1 Nintendo Direct has been party to some shock announcements, as Sony follows Xbox’s lead in terms of multiformat releases.

Nobody knew what to expect from Thursday’s surprise Nintendo Direct, which was focused on the original Switch console, but going in there were some vague rumours, the two main ones of which turned out to be true.

One suggested that Nintendo was bringing back a niche franchise, which they are (in fact, they’re bringing back two) and another that there would be ‘a game that will cause a lot of conversation and it’s not necessarily a Nintendo one.’

That also turned out to be true. But while some had speculated that it would prove to be an Xbox exclusive, perhaps Halo, that wasn’t the case at all. Instead, it was two former PlayStation exclusives: Patapon and Everybody’s Golf.

The irony is, there were no Microsoft games featured at all, in the 30 minute long showcase. Instead, the first annoucement was Patapon 1+2 Replay, which will be released on PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

It’ll be published by Bandai Namco on Switch, so that will mean that, like Lego Horizon Adventures, Sony themselves won’t be publishing games on a rival format. Although you can see their copyright details onscreen in the Nintendo Direct.

It was thought that Lego Horizon Adventures may have been an exception, since Sony wanted to widen the audience for the Horizon franchise and they knew a Lego game would sell better on the Switch (in fact, the game was a flop on every format).

But now we see that it was actually the vanguard of a new policy. Although, as with everything from Sony in the last few years, they haven’t actually communicated what they’re doing and there’s no clue what, if any, other games will also be going multiformat.

As with Lego Horizon Adventures, the two games will not be released on Xbox. The implication is that Sony sees Nintendo as less of a direct rival, although the declining sales of Xbox hardware probably made that a relatively easy decision.

The first two Patapon games were originally released for the PSP in the mid-2000s and are a well regarded mixture of rhythm action and real-time strategy, as you control a tribe of warlike beings as the fight from left to right across the screen.

Although the games are fondly remembered by many (there’s an indie homage called Ratatan due out this year) they were never massive sellers, with 2011’s Patapon 3 being the final entry.

As for Everybody’s Golf, that’s been a PlayStation exclusive since 1997, originally developed by Mario Golf creators Camelot and thereafter by Clap Hanz.

The PlayStation 5 is the first Sony console not to have a new mainline entry but that’s presumably what Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots is intended to be.

It’ll be released for PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch, although again the Switch version will be published by Bandai Namco.

Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots doesn’t have a release date but Patapon 1+2 Replay will launch on July 11 (July 10 on PC).

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