As it turns out, nabbing an exclusive for your upcoming console isn’t as difficult as it sounds. First, find a developer with a game still in the lab, hand over a big red bag of money, and voila – exclusive. That appears to be the only logical conclusion as to why Supergiant Games’ Hades II will launch exclusively on the Switch 1/2 at first.
Grab your tissues
Hades II has long since been available over on Steam in early access, with no official release date for the v1.0 launch on both PC and consoles. That still hasn’t changed. Supergiant Games continues to spout the same ol’ catchphrase that the game is still in development, with “at least one more Major Update still to come.” But when it is finally ready for that v1.0 launch later this year, you’ll need either a PC or a Switch console to play.
“Hades II is also coming to the original Nintendo Switch! We have both versions running smoothly at a target 60 frames per second, with the Switch 2 version taking advantage of the bigger, higher-definition 1080p display,” the developer said in a blog post.
There’s nothing in there that tells us Hades II won’t be headed to PlayStation or Xbox consoles at the time of launch, but it’s a different story on the company’s FAQ page. It mentions that the game is currently available on Steam and the Epic Games Store, and that the game would only be available on both the Switch 1/2 at launch.
Read More: Greek epic title Hades lands on iOS exclusively via Netflix
“While we haven’t ruled out bringing Hades II to any other platforms, our current focus is only on the versions listed above. The original Hades v1.0 likewise initially launched only on PC, Mac, and Nintendo Switch, and we’re taking a similar path with the sequel.”
The original Hades is a masterful roguelike RPG that pushed the boundaries of the genre to new heights, so it’d be a shame to see the highly anticipated sequel – now starring Melinoë, sister of Zagreus and immortal Princess of the Underworld as she works her way up to the Lord of Time, Chronos – miss out on two such large fanbases.
In a Creator’s Voice video centred around Hades II, Superigant Games makes mention that the game was “launching first for consoles on Nintendo Switch 2,” before later clarifying that the Switch 1 was included in the offing as well. This makes us think that Nintendo has paid for the privilege of timed exclusivity as a potential console-seller. Fingers crossed PlayStation and Xbox fans won’t have to wait around too long.
