Goichi Suda recently claimed that Nintendo has a genuine interest in independent titles. A large number of this type of productions have been a success on Switch, so more and more developers want to take their projects to the platform.
Of course, Nintendo has parameters to choose the titles that will reach the eShop. According to Wolfgang Wozniak, the developer of Wolfgame and Poppy Works who worked at VA-11 HALL-A, the company is not entirely clear on its game acceptance policies.
The creative commented that several projects in which he participated were presented to Nintendo. However, 5 of them were rejected. Wozniak explained that one of them was not accepted because it had “too mature” content according to company standards.
“Nintendo of America specifically, has been uncharacteristically ambiguous surrounding what they are looking for in a game. We’ve been turned down by Nintendo of America five times,” Wozniak said. The developer added that this seems unfair since the company is supposedly open to the arrival of titles with a mature focus.
Wozniak mentioned as examples of Skyrim, DOOM, and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. According to the creative, this is only because there is a big company behind them, referring to Bethesda. The developer believes that Nintendo of Europe and its subsidiary of Japan have greater openness.
“You will likely notice that most of the indie games on Switch are from one of those regions, have a big publisher behind them, or have experienced great success previously on Steam. If your work does not fall into one of those three categories, then it seems like Nintendo of America is not interested,” concluded Wozniak.
VA-11 HALL-A is a title set in a dystopian world, where the most powerful corporations rule the world. The game will put you in charge of Valhalla, in charge of a bar that will try to satisfy its customers to have fresh information about what happens to the surroundings.
VA-11 HALL-A is available on PC and PlayStation Vita. Wozniak and his team are working on a version of the title for iPad. In the future, they will give details about the arrival of the game to other platforms.
