Today, Nintendo revealed more details behind the development of the Game News functionality on Nintendo Switch, as part of the recruitment website that launched today.

It took 4 to 5 people to work on the Game News functionality for Nintendo Switch. Despite the low number of staff working on Game News, everything was completed in roughly 1 year.

Challenges faced include receiving feedback for Game News from Japan and overseas clients. Due to time and cultural differences, the feedback received may be opposite of each other. It may take a lot of effort to scrap and rebuild a certain part of the completed functionality based on the feedback received at different times of the day.

Thus the developers devised a new scheme – making an incomplete version of the component, showing and receiving feedback from both Japanese and overseas clients, and finally adjusting the component based on the feedback received with flexibility.

Due to the different needs and wants from Japanese and overseas clients, the developers had to balance things between both sides. A client may say “I want it done this way”, but reading along the lines, the developers may respond “Perhaps you want to do it this way, but what if we use this method instead?” or “Although we can’t do that, we can do it this way, what do you think?”

By suggesting and offering different solutions, the developers helped find common ground and understanding between both Japanese and overseas clients, creating a final solution that both sides could accept.