Very few major multiplatform multiplayer games made the jump to Switch but Warframe made its mark as one of the biggest and most significant, showing that ‘live service' games can function on Nintendo's platform without issue. Digital Extremes is planning to support the Switch 2 as well, but a lack of dev kits is holding back progress. 

As reported by Eurogamer, Digital Extremes CEO, Steve Sinclair, recently spoke about the plans for Warframe on Switch 2, confirming that the studio plans to “take advantage” of the improved hardware. However, he also notes that there is a “backlog” of devkits, indicating that Digital Extremes is one of a large number of third-party studios still waiting to receive Switch 2 dev kits to proceed with ports.

Earlier this month, rumours indicated that there was growing unrest amongst third-party studios, as the rollout of Switch 2 dev kits has been very slow. This is in part due to the fact that Nintendo prioritised production of consumer units to avoid issues with scalpers at launch. A huge backlog of Switch 2 consoles were produced for the launch and steady supply has been dropping across the globe every few weeks since launch.

This isn't an entirely new rumour. Prior to Nintendo officially announcing the Switch 2 console, reports indicated that just a select few studios received dev kits. Looking at the launch, it appears that CD Projekt Red, IO Interactive, SEGA, Square Enix, WB Games and Capcom did get access prior to the console's launch. This led to launch titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, Street Fighter 6, Bravely Default HD Remastered and HITMAN: World of Assassination.

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KitGuru Says: Hopefully the devkit drought can be resolved, as a lack of hardware for developers could result in a lacklustre launch-year for third-party games on Nintendo's new console. 

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