NieR: Automata is a much praised and loved title, and often pops up on various “Switch port pls” lists. Now the same applies to the snappily titled NieR Replicant Ver. 1.22474487139, which was a recent re-release / remaster – our chums at Push Square describe it as “halfway between” the two descriptions. Though it won’t be to everyone’s taste, this shiny and improved iteration of the original cult classic has been quite well received.
So, will we see them on Switch, or even on a hardware revision that has a bit more power under the hood? It’s possible, and some datamine results shared on Reddit highlight that there are ‘NX’ presets buried in the game’s code, which of course refers to the original codename and development reference for Switch. This is a follow-up in the rumour mill on an Amazon listing for a Switch version that briefly appeared last year.
However, the same dataminer highlights in an update that they reckon Switch work had been dropped or at least sidelined by the time the title got into the final stages of development. Referencing the PC executable from launch that names the other platforms, no reference to ‘NX’ is made there.
What are the odds of NieR Replicant getting ported, perhaps along with NieR Automata? We suspect Nintendo would have to incentivise Square Enix to go to the effort, and they are also quite demanding games to run – they do perform on PS4 and Xbox One, but there are compromises and the PC ports are also notoriously inefficient. That said, the huge popularity of the Switch means that most publishers will consider ports if they feel the audience is enthusiastic.
Would you pick up either or both of the NieR games on Switch, or would you rather stick to playing them on other systems? Let us know in the comments!
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