Who wants to shop at a store littered with junk, knock-offs, and cheap fakes?
It's long been a point of contention for any Switch owner — navigating the chaotic digital storefront that is the Nintendo eShop has been a chore for pretty much the latter half of the Switch's lifecycle.
Each week the store sees a mammoth amount of fresh games landing on the store, but an increasing amount of these are low quality, asset flips, mobile ports, or a mix of all three.
Recently a number of titles popped up on Nintendo's store using the 'Unpacking' title — however they all have nothing to do with the 2021 indie puzzle hit of that name. Sadly, despite the Unpacking developer reaching out to Nintendo directly hoping to have the games removed on trademark grounds, more than two weeks on the shoddy fakes still remain available on the store.
It's unfortunate to see Nintendo not give the eShop their typical level of attention and care. The company is long known for being rather meticulous, controlling, and highly protective of their brand image. So, it's really bizarre to me to see this storefront — the digital window for well over 100 million Switch owners — being allowed to get so grubby and disorderly.
I pray the Switch 2 sorts this out — not only with some sort of quality control maybe, but also with additional improvements to the navigation, filtering, and performance of the store overall. It's clear that the Switch 2 won't have that early flourish that many indies enjoyed in the Switch's early days — so, ensuring the good games get the best chance to reach an audience is all the more important.
Tom Ivan
