Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire will be releasing officially for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at the end of the month. Unfortunately, those awaiting any news about the Nintendo Switch release will have to wait further for an undetermined period.
Speaking with SegmentNext in a recent interview, production director Alec Frey revealed how difficult it was to bring Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire over to consoles. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were practically created with a new codebase based off the PC version. This was primarily because the game was never meant (built) to be released for consoles.
In addition, eying an “ultimate” release meant that the console developers had to wait for finalized changes or content from the main PC developers on a regular basis. Frey noted that trying to port Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire for consoles while the PC version was still in development was extremely tedious. All of these development issues were “significantly multiplied” for Nintendo Switch. Hence, why Obsidian Entertainment has been refraining from mentioning a release date for the hybrid console.
The issues that I mentioned with consoles are significantly multiplied on the Switch.
Frey didn’t offer any further details as to how far development has proceeded for Nintendo Switch. Neither did he offer any timelines as to when fans can expect Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire to release for Nintendo Switch. Frey though did note that trying to ensure good performance on limiting hardware was a challenge. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One still offer beefier specifications when compared to Nintendo Switch. Hence, understandable as to why the developer is requiring additional time to optimize (or finish) the game on the hybrid console.
Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is scheduled to release for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 28, 2020. This will be the Ultimate Edition, containing every piece of content and update released for the PC version in the past two years. Frey has confirmed that the Nintendo Switch version will not receive any exclusive features. The game will be the same across all three consoles apart from notable performance metrics. For those unaware, Deadfire is available on Steam in all of its glory.
Obsidian Entertainment now hails as one of Microsoft’s first-party studios. Following the success of The Outer Worlds, especially on Xbox Game Pass, the developer announced Grounded as its next in-development project. However, Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently hinted the existence of another mystery project that’s apparently in Obsidian’s pipelines right now.
