Nintendo Switch Is The Worst Console For Sports Gamers – Forbes

I respect everything Nintendo has done for the gaming industry, but if you’re a sports gamer, the Switch is the worst console for you.

Credit: Saber Interactive

NBA Playgrounds on Nintendo Switch

The Switch released in March and as of now, there are no traditional sports titles–and no Mario Kart 8 Deluxe doesn’t count.

That means no simulation baseball, football, basketball, soccer, boxing, tennis, wrestling or hockey titles. Most consoles offer at least one sports game at launch, or shortly thereafter, but not the Switch.

The PS4 launched with 4 and the Xbox One offered five.

The closest thing to a traditional sports title available on The Switch is NBA Playgrounds. I love the game, but the Switch version doesn’t even offer fans an opportunity to play online yet. It’s in the works and the game’s developer Saber Interactive is taking measures to compensate for the missing feature, but that doesn’t do much to make the Switch more marketable to fans who like sports games.

In another blow to the console’s sports gaming library, we recently learned that EA Sports’ FIFA  on Nintendo Switch would be a downgraded version of the FIFA 18 game that will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. Per Polygon’s Samit Sarkar, the Switch’s FIFA won’t be running on the Frostbite Engine and it won’t feature the Journey story mode.

If you’re a mobile gamer and love soccer, the Switch’s portability could be enough for you to still buy in, but if not, it will be hard to find the motivation to buy FIFA on that console. The future for the genre doesn’t look promising on the Switch.

If you do a filtered search for sports and racing titles for the Nintendo Switch on the company’s website, here are the games and release dates you’ll get.

• FIFA – TBD
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Out Now
• Steep – TBD
• Monopoly for Nintendo Switch – Fall 2017
• NBA 2K18 – September 2017
• Cars 3: Driven to Win – June 13, 2017
• NBA Playgrounds – Out Now
• ACA NeoGeo Over Top – Out Now
• Vroom in the Night Sky – Out Now
• ACA Neo Geo Neo Turf Masters – Out Now
• Fast RMX – Out Now

Most of the games that are “out now” are arcade titles with prices ranging from $7.99 to $9.99, so we’re clearly not talking about AAA releases. Most sports gamers would never call most of the games on this list sports titles.

NBA 2K18 is the obvious exception, but fans of that series–or Switch owners hungry for hoops–can only hope the version they get isn’t severely downgraded or missing key features. Where are titles like Madden 18, Super Mega Baseball 2, WWE 2K18 and others?

The Switch has some outstanding features and its design is ingenious, in my opinion.

However, as a sports gamer, you can’t blame me or my peers if we feel a little unwanted when it comes to the gaming world’s newest console.

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