Nintendo has given its fans an opportunity to look back at the year 2020 with Nintendo Switch Year in Review. As 2021 soon approaches, this gives users an opportunity to reflect on the many games they played and how much time they spent with their favorites.
Nintendo has had many ups and downs this year. Though Nintendo had claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic didn't have a major impact on releases, Nintendo's annual report revealed that Nintendo products would indeed be delayed due to having to work from home. While the public doesn't know exactly what games got delayed, it's likely that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 is on the list, given that producer Eiji Aonuma stated that the team was still hard at work with the game during the reveal of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
With only a few days left in 2020, Nintendo has launched its Year in Review site, where users can look back at the games they've played and see how many hours was spent throughout the year. It tallies up the top five games spent per hours, how active users were each month, and the amount of games played. All of that information is brought together to give an evaluation on what type of gamer users are.
Though COVID did prove to delay some of Nintendo's big upcoming titles, such as Breath of the Wild 2, 2020 has seen some big releases from Nintendo. The most successful release for Nintendo this year was Animal Crossing: New Horizons by a wide margin. The timing of the release couldn't be any better given that it was the start of a global pandemic, which is likely what contributed to making it one of the best selling Switch titles to date by giving players a much-need social outlet. Paper Mario: The Origami King has also gone on to be the highest selling entry in the series, and even the tail-end of the year saw Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity become the best selling Dynasty Warriors game of all time.
With the end of the year in sight, the next question to come to mind is what will the next year set in store? Besides the upcoming Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4, whose release dates are unknown, there currently aren't any confirmed first party titles revealed for 2021. However, there are several third party titles to be released at the start of the year, mainly Bravely Default II and Monster Hunter Rise. But beyond that, it's all dependent on whether the pandemic will end sometime next year. That will be the key factor in deciding what games Nintendo will have in store for 2021.
Source: Nintendo