Ratata Arts has confirmed that they will not be going ahead with the planned Switch 1 version of Ratatan.

The spiritual successor to Patapon was originally planned to release for the Switch 1 back when it was first announced in 2023, but was only listed to be coming to the Switch 2 and other current-gen platforms in the latest Indie World trailer from last month.

In an update posted to Kickstarter, Ratata Arts explained that the game would no longer be releasing for Switch 1 or Playstation 4. This was part of their attempt to balance the “best possible user experience” while covering a “large amount of platforms”. Backers who originally signed on to get a Switch 1 or Playstation 4 version of the game can choose to replace them with one of the versions for other platforms.

We looked at a wide variety of different methods to try to make this possible. While developing the game we again reviewed different options to release on these platforms and were able to add Switch 2 as an option. We were trying to balance the best possible user experience while covering a large amount of platforms as an indie team.

In deciding the best way to use limited money to make a full online title, sometimes you have to prioritize different platforms. After lengthy discussions with our publisher Game Source Entertainment, we have decided that the projected number of units we could sell for legacy hardware would not justify the licensing fees necessary to complete those SKUs. We can replace either of those SKUS with Steam, Switch 2, PS5, or Xbox Series X. For anyone who does not have one of the above hardwares, we will begin a support ticket to look at what options we have.

In looking at those options it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to make the highest possible quality game while also developing for a large number of different platforms. So we have decided to focus on a smaller number of platforms to achieve maximum quality. We know there are a lot of backers who looked forward to this on their platform of choice and we are deeply sorry for being able to do everything. That being said, we will continue to look into what options we have to see if those platforms are options in the future. For now, however, please allow us to focus on this more manageable set of platforms.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.