I don’t know if I’d want my name attached to this game.

It doesn’t even look good by PS1 standards…yeesh.

There’s a few games made nowadays made purposefully to look like PS1 like Easy Delivery Co but they don’t look anywhere near as bad as this.

This should have been an obvious outcome when digital games weren’t priced any less than their physical release.

It’s not about saving the environment with less plastic. It’s not about saving money for the customer. It’s not about making it more convenient for the customer or the developer.

It was always about more greed. More money in their pockets and more ways to fuck you over as a customer.

PC gaming has come a long way that most games nowadays just work, even on Linux. I’m surprised at how many games work without even forcing Proton and no bugs at all, except those that also exist for Windows. That and my controller is seamless. Even VR is working better now.

On the other side, it seems console gaming is more complex than it needed to be and we’ve seen how consoles actually hold back gaming, as a whole, like the situation with the Xbox Series S that has forced developers to either cut content or remove features to make it compatible as that is Microsoft’s requirement when developing a game to be released for their consoles. I don’t remember hearing it, but I’m sure the same is true for the PlayStation side too with the lower end model. Whereas that doesn’t happen for PC exclusive releases. If your PC won’t run it, it’s probably because it’s outdated and that’s a you problem, not something everyone else needs to suffer for because a company like Microsoft is forcing devs to make it compatible with outdated/lower end hardware.

I can’t remember trying a game on my Steam Deck and it didn’t work. Unless you mean setting up a Proton version, then I’ve had that, but the game eventually runs in 9 out of 10 cases. That is exclusive to non-Windows OSes and it could be solved by automating based on the db and make the setting easier to find and change for users, maybe even prompt the user to try another Proton version kind of like Windows’ troubleshooter when it detects a program didn’t install or run correctly. Or when devs make their games natively work with Linux/macOS like they do for Windows which is why games just work there. And if the game doesn’t run well, you just lower the settings which I’ve done for many games with no trouble. Even console games now have the same settings to lower quality to get better performance.

Because of control.

If Nintendo released on PC, you’d never buy it again. They couldn’t sell a new version on the newest Nintendo console and make you pay for it again.

If they released on PS5, it might be backwards compatible with PS6 and you wouldn’t buy it when it’s re-released again.

Also it cuts into their profits. Valve and Sony charge something like 30% which means either Nintendo takes a cut or they increase price on the customer. Neither works out in their favor. Whereas when they release on their own console, they don’t have to pay any of those fees.

On a practical level for the customer, it does make it easier to manage and ensure quality. Their developers only have to account for one system which means much less bugs and less time for patches when needed. When your team has 5 different platforms to develop for, you risk more unique bugs and versions and also slower time to release bug patches. Same also happens for releases for new content which is slower for both DLC and brand new releases. But when it’s just the one system, the releases come much faster. Also no delays because of Sony or Valve wanting to poke around before approving for their storefront. Nintendo has full control over when the game is released.