Simulator games let players accomplish something they may not have the time, money, or expertise to take on in real life, either something realistic like flying a plane in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, or more imaginative like shaping an island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Greenheart Games’ Game Dev Tycoon lets anyone live out the history of the video game industry, and soon that will be possible on the Nintendo Switch.
Game Dev Tycoon will release on Switch October 8 with optimizations for both touch screen and controller play, according to Greenheart Games’ announcement trailer. It first released in 2012 on PC, gaining attention for adding anti-piracy mechanics to punish players who torrented the game, and was later ported to iOS and Android. This is its first appearance on console.
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The conceit behind Game Dev Tycoon is simple: Players start in the 1980s developing simple games for early computers, and as time goes by they gain access to more platforms and genres. Eventually players can hire staff for larger studios and develop their own consoles or conventions, much like Bethesda’s digital-only QuakeCon at Home this year.
Another selling point for Game Dev Tycoon on Switch is that the game supports cross-platform saving, allowing long-time players to pick up where they left off elsewhere. Titles like Behaviour Interactive’s Dead by Daylight are also experimenting with cross-progression, so it should be interesting to see whether this helps Greenheart Games in October.
Game Dev Tycoon is available now on Android, iOS, and PC. A Nintendo Switch port will release October 8, 2020.
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Source: Greenheart Games, Ars Technica