The Nintendo Switch received a major firmware update today that paves the way for its integration with the Switch 2 and institutes a less than stellar new regime of virtual game sharing. But firmware version 20.0.0 also made some other equally notable but less advertised changes, including a major shift to how Nintendo ranks best-selling games in the eShop. The result could have big ramifications for how games are discovered on one of the biggest console install-bases in history, and could help alleviate some of the platform’s “slop” problem.
Prior to Wednesday’s update, the “Best Sellers” section of the eShop covered the last 14 days and was arranged by total downloads. Now, however, the list is arranged by total revenue a game has generated from just the last three days. The shift was spotted by GVG and documented at length on YouTube. “Hell has frozen over, folks, and Nintendo has massively changed chart discoverability with the latest Switch eShop OS update—in such a way that makes it clear that it’ll also carry through to the Switch 2,” game discoverability expert Simon Carless posted on LinkedIn following the news.
While there’s s still an option to revert to the previous view, the eShop now defaults to ranking games by revenue rather than individual units sold. Carless speculates that could stop companies from trying to game the charts by running steep discounts to gin up downloads, an incentive structure that led to lots of shovelware crowding out better quality games on the best sellers list. But he adds that it will also make it harder for cheaper games, including lots of smaller indie titles, to compete for high-ranking slots against pricier blockbusters.
So what does this change look like in practice? Just about every game in the best seller list, with the exception of Minecraft, is different than it was a couple days ago, according to GVG’s comparison. The chart heavily favors games that aren’t on sale and Nintendo games in particular, with seven of the top 12 being first-party releases. The deals list has similarly been skewed away from just the games that are the most discounted, now heavily featuring those that are both heavily discounted and selling well. I had to scroll for a bit before stumbling on an obvious shovelware cash grab like I Am Busy Digging A Hole, an asset-flip sim aimed at capitalizing on the success of the similarly titled A Game About Digging A Hole which is only on Steam at the moment.
Unfortunately, on the best seller list at least, you have to toggle over to the “download only” list before you start to see lots of smaller indie games, though even those are dominated by existing winners. The Gloomhaven-inspired party RPG Sunderfolk was the only recently released game in the top 10 when I looked today. As GVG mentions in its video, the eShop change has gone a long way to pushing “slop” off of the discoverability pages, but it’s also done the same to many indie releases. Also the storefront is still incredibly sluggish and loads like molasses. The Switch 2 version can’t come soon enough.
What else could Nintendo do to improve store browsing in the meantime? Some developers have suggested a new browser tab purely for curated picks. Push to Talk’s Ryan Rigney recommended a new and trending section that takes into account the eShop’s own wishlisting system and other users’ activity on the store, similar to how Valve seemingly does it on Steam. Any new options would be better than none at all, though it’s interesting to see Nintendo tinkering more with the eShop now than it has in almost the entirety of the Switch’s existence (people also have strong feelings about the move from orange to red).
“Thanks to the system’s performance capabilities, Nintendo eShop on Switch 2 has been improved and runs smoothly even when displaying a large number of games,” Nintendo’s developers said earlier this month. “We believe the act of finding the game you want to play is itself part of the game system experience.” They’ve promised better speed, overall performance, and a new “Game Finds” feature for more easily scrolling through images and videos on the Switch 2’s eShop, though it doesn’t sound like any of those improvements will be trickling back down to the older hardware.
.
