Of all the announcements that came out of the latest Nintendo Direct,Nintendo Switch Sportsis simultaneously one of the strangest and one of the most exciting. In its reveal trailer, Nintendo describedNintendo Switch Sportsas a direct successor to the highly successfulWii Sportsfamily of games, which has laid dormant for several years now.Nintendo Switch Sports' direct connection to the beloved Wii era makes it a nostalgic game that’s already set up for success. Nintendo plans to run a playtest for the game during February 19 and 20, an encouraging sign that the game is almost done and should hit its April release date without any issues.
That playtest has an odd quirk about it, though. Switch owners can apply to participate in the playtest freely, but if they’re selected, they apparently have tokeep quiet aboutNintendo Switch Sports.Fans have noticed a stipulation requiring them to refrain from talking about theNintendo Switch Sportsplaytest on social media. It’s more than odd that Nintendo has this stipulation in place; on the contrary, it could be actively harmful towardsNintendo Switch Sports.Preventing online discussions of the playtest limits the amount of feedback Nintendo can gather while framingSwitch Sportsin a negative light.
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Nintendo Switch Sports' Playtest Issue
TheNintendo Switch Sportsplaytest agreementstates that participants can’t talk about their playtest experience in public, whether that’s verbally or by sharing screenshots or gameplay footage. By preventing those kinds of conversations, Nintendo is actively losing out on potentially valuable information. Getting opinions directly from playtesters is one thing, but hearing about fan expectations when they’re exposed to moreNintendo Switch Sportsinformation is completely different. As playtesters share their experiences, Nintendo could see how otherSwitch Sportsfans react positively or negatively to aspects of the game, as well as any new suggestions that fans come up with thanks to new information, ultimately gathering vastly more feedback than the playtest alone might provide.
Aside from the loss of potentially valuable data, Nintendo is also bound to rub a few fans the wrong way by handlingNintendo Switch Sports' playtest in such a secretive way. If Nintendo starts striking down social media accounts who shareNintendo Switch Sportsinformation, then fans will likely start to associatetheWii Sportssuccessorwith that kind of aggressive behavior, which is bound to put a damper on excitement for the game. Nintendo can be pretty cautious sometimes, but keepingSwitch Sportsplaytest information so close to its chest could be much too cautious.
Switch Sports' Situation is Odd
To a certain extent, it makes sense that Nintendo doesn’t want pictures and videos ofNintendo Switch Sportscirculating online just yet. Since the game has a couple more months left before it releases, it might still have significant bugs to fix and player animations to polish, meaning recordings ofNintendo Switch Sports' playtest aren’t a perfect representation of the final product. Having too much of that kind of information spread online could also bea detriment toNintendo Switch Sports' reputation. Nintendo doesn’t want potential consumers to think its sports game is a mess.
PreventingNintendo Switch Sportsdiscussions entirely still seems excessive, though. Fan conversations about their hopes forNintendo Switch Sportsare free publicity for Nintendo, which is great. Nintendo’s policy will prevent misinformation and criticism from spreading online, but it’ll stamp out praise and excitement too. Conversations aboutNintendo Switch Sportsin its testing state could be a valuable resource to both Nintendo and its fans. Odds are that several testers will leak information about the playtest anyhow, so it should be interesting tosee how Nintendo respondsto anyNintendo Switch Sportsinformation that does slip out due to the game’s first players.
