Last week Nintendo made a major update to the Nintendo Switch online store (referred to as the “eShop”)—but you’d be forgiven if you hadn’t heard about it. In the dead of night, the company updated the store’s top games chart, and now displays games ranked by “highest sales for the past few days” and not “most downloads for the past two weeks.” It wasn’t until YouTuber GVG happened to spot the change that anyone took notice, and developers who’ve spent years building audiences on the eShop scrambled to understand how it would impact their game. Storefront visibility is a key driver of financial success in the digital age, and the quirks of every different platform from Steam, to PlayStation, to the Nintendo eShop all have developers trying different sales strategies at different times.
With the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 only a month away, it’s notable that Nintendo would shake up how it displays games to players. Developers are counting on the new console to not only deliver better performance but to also serve as a gateway for players to jump from first-party to third-party titles. In fact many third-party developers were front-and-center during the Switch 2 reveal in April, a subtle shift from the Nintendo Switch debut that drove excitement for first-party titles like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Odyssey.
But who benefits from a change like this? Nintendo’s recommendation algorithm isn’t what you’d call “neutral,” with publishers like No More Robots publicly explaining how they’ve tried to drive sales by gaming its systems. In late 2024 the developer of Unpacking publicly criticized Nintendo for not removing a fake “Deluxe Edition” listed on the shop by an unknown party. When the Switch 2 launches, special “Switch 2” editions of games will sit alongside their Switch counterparts.
According to developers and analysts we’ve spoke with, while these changes might push counterfeit “slop” games out of player’s line of sight, the change may create fewer opportunities for smaller developers who’ve found surprising success on the portable platform.
The Nintendo Switch eShop changes favor big earners
This isn’t the only discoverability change Nintendo is making for the Nintendo Switch 2 hardware line. It’s also introducing a content recommendation system called “Game Finds For You.”
Both these changes, said Omdia analyst James McWhirter, help address what he called “the biggest threat” to Nintendo’s generational transition: bringing over 15,000 Nintendo Switch titles to the Nintendo Switch 2 eShop. Nintendo needs to balance its promise that most Nintendo Switch games will be compatible with the Switch 2 while avoiding overpromoting what may be perceived as “low quality” games.
“Changing the eShop ranking criteria from sales volumes to revenue will stop much of this content from surfacing on Switch 2, where Nintendo has already set in place measures—including the platform-wide “Switch 2 Edition” program—to favor positioning of higher-value Switch 2-branded content,” he said. “The knock-on impact is going to be [fewer] opportunities for developers of lower-priced software to reach players.”
He pointed to “breakout” Switch games like The Exit 8, Suika Games, and Thief Simulator as games that may not rank as high under this new system.
GameDiscoverCo founder (and former Game Developer publisher) Simon Carless offered a similar outlook, saying the change will stop a lot of the eShop “slop” that’s released on sale at 90 percent off from dominating the charts. He called this “good,” but added “it’ll also be trickier for cheaper games to get high up the charts.”
Developers and publishers behind cheaper games might stand a chance of ranking high if they can still move high volumes of units, but as No More Robots publisher Mike Rose told Game Developer, that may favor companies with the ability to do “huge short-term marketing blasts, the size we can’t compete with.”
It’s decent reason for small developers to worry, but with other discoverability options on the way, Rose said he’s waiting to pass judgment. “It feels like there’s always methods for fiddling with the eShop a bit, so we might just need to work out the new ways,” he said with a laugh.
Of course the unknown curveball in all of this—how the surprise Trump Administration-imposed tariffs, already driving up the price of accessories for the Nintendo Switch 2, could impact player purchasing power in the months ahead.
Game Developer and Omdia are sibling organizations under Informa TechTarget.
