For the past few months, reports have been circulating that many game developers are having trouble getting their hands on Switch 2 dev kits, preventing them from properly developing their games on the new console.

In a report published by Gamereactor, several anonymous game developers who were at the Gamescom convention shed more light on the situation. The anonymous devs allege that Nintendo does not seem to have a formal application process for dev kits in place like their previous console launches, and are instead only giving out kits based on specific games that they are interested.

• There is no formal/traditional application process yet to request development kits for Switch 2
• Unlike previous platforms from Nintendo, the usual staged approval method is not in place
• Current kit allocations are done manually, one by one, based on the specific game rather than studio track record
• This selection process appears to be arbitrary and subjective, influenced by internal interests and preferences
• It’s unclear whether this is due to a shortage of manufactured dev kits, or a strategy to prioritize select partners and titles ahead of launch, before the broader third-party competition intensifies

This report follows similar comments shared by Digital Foundry, who also spoke to the developers at Gamescom about the issue. Digital Foundry’s sources faced similar problems getting access to dev kits, and some were told to just develop for the Switch 1 instead and rely on backwards compatibility for Switch 2.

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