You might not be familiar with The Gunk, but you should at least know the Swedish developer behind it Image & Form – best known on the Nintendo Switch for its excellent SteamWorld series.
The company’s new game isn’t coming to Nintendo’s hybrid system because it’s an Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Windows PC and Game Pass exclusive. So what other reasons are tied to this decision? The original one, according to Thunderful CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson, was actually to do with how much power it required. Here’s what he had to say in a Q&A on Image & Form’s YouTube channel:
From the beginning, I think we thought The Gunk was going to come to all platforms, but we realised that it’s such a complex game and it requires so much power…so like we would be making sprints and then we’d have to go back and see how is this going to run. So we decided let’s see who can we talk to who has really powerful hardware. And then we talked to Microsoft and they really liked the game, like instantly. So it was a bit of discussion back and forth with them and then we just landed in this actually quite happy position where we are right now.
It was also mentioned how Microsoft is obviously “backing” this upcoming release.
In an email interview with Kotaku, Sigurgeirsson added to this – stating how streamlining development and working on more powerful hardware made it easier for the 25-person team to create a 3D title in a commercial game engine (Unreal Engine 4) for the first time ever.
Thankfully, this is just a one-time exclusive deal, with Sigurgeirsson reassuring fans Image & Form will continue to make games, like SteamWorld, for Nintendo’s platforms:
I think one thing people might be worried about…maybe people are worried that we’re going to stop making SteamWorld Games now…that’s not gonna happen – SteamWorld is fantastic.
He elaborated on Image & Form’s commitment to Nintendo hardware in the same Kotaku interview:
SteamWorld is indeed closely associated with Nintendo. And we certainly haven’t made our last SteamWorld game. Nintendo Switch (and future Nintendo consoles) are natural parts of those plans.
Is The Gunk a game you would like to have seen on the Switch? Are you glad to hear SteamWorld is still closely associated with Nintendo’s systems? Share your thoughts down below.
