Will Red Dead Redemption 2 ever launch on the Nintendo Switch?

Nintendo has offered fans a reason why Red Dead Redemption 2, one of the biggest games of the year, failed to launch on its Switch console.

In an interview with Hollywood Reporter, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo America’s president and public face, said that the development of the Wild West adventure game started before the Japanese company began telling software creators about the Switch console.

“Red Dead has been in development for years, time that predated any communication of Nintendo Switch”, he said. “So, from the developer’s mentality, they need to move forward and finish the game they’ve been working on and then be in a position to look at other opportunities.”

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Given that Red Dead Redemption 2 only launched on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in October, it’s unlikely the game will arrive on Nintendo’s console any time soon.

But Fils-Aime hasn’t ruled out the possibility of the western epic making its way onto the console further down the line.

“We’d love for it to be there”, he told the entertainment news site.

There may be other factors that prevent Nintendo Switch fans from getting their hands on Red Dead Redemption 2.

The Switch isn’t as powerful as its rivals, the PS4 and Xbox One, and may struggle to handle the game’s power-intensive graphics, says the gaming site VG247.

What’s more, players need to install 99GB of game data to play Red Dead Redemption 2, the website adds. The Switch only has 32GB of onboard storage, meaning it would be impossible to play the game without expanding the system with a microSD card.

Still, some games that originally launched on the PS4 and Xbox One, such as Wolfenstein and Doom, have successfully been transferred over to the Switch.

A Nintendo version of the Wild West game may not be an impossibility after all.