Well, Nintendo just unveiled the Switch 2 Welcome Tour, and it’s a survival game meant to test your mouse skill. This is the sort of game that, in the old days, used to come free with new hardware. Now, the gaming community… it’s interesting what you can make a niche of people angry about in a matter of minutes. The first thing and most salient was the fact that the game requires payment for access. It’s an experience you have to purchase, and certainly, the gaming community seems not to be willing to pay for it. The price issue was captured most succinctly by Meavina, who stated, “No idea, I’m not spending money on a ‘game’ that should of been a free pack in.” This sense of dissatisfaction is almost universal. A more sarcastic take arrived with HelloImLuigi1 who stated, “My record is zero cause this game was not a free pack in!” With all honesty, I’d say I’m in the same camp as him.
People even compare Nintendo’s offering unfavourably to Astro’s Playroom on PlayStation, which was a free tech demo celebrating the hardware. ChioneStef remarked, “i’m playing astro’s playroom for free.” The comparison just sits there staring at Nintendo’s paid offering, making it look even worse. Another user, JurKe, added that it reminded him of a free laptop game from high school called Ragdoll Avalanche. So not only is Nintendo’s game underwhelming, but the concept isn’t even new.
The issue extends beyond just the price of the game and includes the hardware needed to run it. Kiba Nezumi pointed out that to do everything in the game, you need add-ons like the camera, the pro controller, and a 4K TV. The cost of the game and add-ons is a lot of money for the full experience, and as far as new welcome tours go, that’s a lot to ask for.
The other half of the responses are outright tired of Nintendo’s way of doing business. User jazc_007 arrived with a fiery response, calling them a “scummy corporation” and tagging #NintendoGreed and #VoteWithYourWallets. They also said, “How long can you survive as a scummy corporation without milking your consumers dry, Greedtendo?” The folks over at Greedtendo certainly seem to have a fanbase.
Going onward to more niche topics. A user named Werewolf Freak started a long thread on the lack of NVIDIA control panel features for the Switch’s GPU, demanding the ability to tweak textures and visual fixes, and even fan controls for increased frame rates. They remarked that this basic dodge game is something you learn in “programming 101,” and “better versions” exist for free in game builders. This is a completely different type of criticism because they point out the paid experience technology isn’t leveraging the hardware in a way that benefits the user.
While there’s gloom all around, a few comments are worth noting. In contrast with the rest of the participants, Master A1 was responding to someone, both thanking him and conceding to the missing leaderboards; though he said the scores are shareable elsewhere, which is better than nothing. Regarding user SolemnlyLaughin, she identified the mouse support and shouted, “Please Nintendo: I need point&click games with mouse support soon! Send Dev Kits to every Point&click developer! And strategy game developers as well!” So clearly, there seem to be a few requests for what players really want: real games that use the new features, not the so-called ‘tech demos’ you pay for.
As of now, the reactions to the title seem mostly negative. Thatstranger67 expressed, “Make it free and ill try it. Otherwise gtfo with this ‘game’,” capturing the mood perfectly. This mindset is something people repeatedly vocalize, and what seems to be driving this is how little ‘value’ they think this offers. When you buy a new system, you usually expect the first experience to be on the house, but here, somebody’s asking for money to play a survival game that uses a new control scheme, which is made even worse by what the competition is offering for free.
Nintendo has always charted their own course, and with their pricing, it’s always been problematic, but the Switch 2 Welcome Tour game is drawing an overwhelmingly loud, unified criticism. It very well illustrates the divide between what the company is trying to ‘sell’ and the expected value, especially with the new console generation out. Whether this type of feedback will make Nintendo do something more client-friendly, like making the game free or releasing free content updates, is unclear, but the sentiment here is quite negative.
