Why Nintendo May Not Release This Ambitious Sequel

Nintendo has always had a penchant for its party games. Back in the days of the Wii, the Japanese company greatly delivered with "Wii Sports," a charming sports title that was massively popular due to its engaging motion controls and fun game modes. The company continued this trend with "Nintendo Switch Sports," a similar title this time made for the more modern Switch which has also impressed since its release. In between these two releases, though, was "1-2-Switch."

"1-2-Switch" was a party game and launch title for the Nintendo Switch that involved two players facing off in duel games, such as a shootout-based mode. The game was fine enough, but ultimately never caught on in the way "Wii Sports" did. Despite never reaching its true potential in terms of success and being an extremely mixed bag in terms of critical reception, the game apparently did well enough commercially to get a sequel into development. However, it seems this process has gone entirely wrong due to its ambitious scope, and it may be so bad that Nintendo refuses to release it.

Since "1-2-Switch" was greenlit for a sequel, the team at Nintendo has apparently been working very hard on improving upon the first game. According to a report from Fanbyte, this has included changing the original game's two-player formula and transitioning it to a game show-like experience that involves multiple players — in some cases, up to 100 — similar to "Jackbox Games." The game was tentatively known as "Everybody's 1-2-Switch" in reference to the sheer amount of players that could participate.

Unfortunately, it seems that this ambitious project has gone terribly wrong during development. In Fanbyte's report, Nintendo is reportedly unhappy with how the game has fared in its testing stages. Even the development team behind "Everybody's 1-2-Switch" is allegedly unsatisfied with the project, pejoratively referring to the game by the working title "Horsesh**" behind the scenes. The current build of the game is so bad, in fact, that reports suggest Nintendo fears releasing it at the standard AAA $60 price point, as it could permanently ruin the company's reputation.

Of course, video game development is a long, arduous process where things are always subject to change, therefore there is still the possibility that Nintendo corrects course and releases a product it can be proud of. Or maybe the game is so bad, that it will be scrapped in favor of moving on to a potentially more fruitful project.