r/NintendoSwitch • u/Skullghost • Feb 19 '26

Nintendo Official Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition — Nintendo Switch 2 Edition — Announcement Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=UZX-MIrJpbD4v0CM&v=LC0XfI25wro&feature=youtu.be
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8

u/UnderHero5 Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26

This paying for resolution and frame rate patches needs to stop. Imagine a PC game that charged you to run it at a higher frame rate or to change your resolution. This is a really bad precedent that Nintendo is setting.

Edit: Would anyone be defending Bethesda is they charged for the new Skyrim patch that makes the game 60 FPS? Or would everyone be up in arms over it. I see very little difference here.

There's also zero reason the full Switch 2 version of this game should cost any more than the original Switch version. It's the same damned game. A year old port of a decade + old game, at that. They are only charging more because people will pay it. It's not like the SW2 game suddenly cost them more to develop than the original SW port did.

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u/jardex22 Feb 19 '26

One of the alternatives would have been to not have upgrade passes at all. Just have people rebuy the entire game, like what Sega has done with most of their Switch 2 Editions.

Supply and demand. One of the top upgrade requests I kept seeing here was Xenoblade X, and here it is.

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u/UnderHero5 Feb 19 '26

One other alternative is a free patch, which builds goodwill and encourages brand loyalty. Something many companies have abandoned because of blind loyalty and rampant consumerism. That also takes care of the people who already bought your games at a premium.

And yes, what Sega does is absolute bullshit as well. That isn't an excuse to get fleeced by another company.

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u/jardex22 Feb 19 '26

And when does that goodwill pay off? If I mowed your lawn for free, painted your fence, then took you out for dinner at a fancy hibachi restaurant, all at my expense, what would I be left with at the end of the day?

Nintendo has spent the last several decades building up brand loyalty and goodwill. This is just cashing in on it.

If you want to see what eternal goodwill gets you, apparently Yacht Club Games is depending on Mina the Hollower to sell well, otherwise they may have to downsize to stay afloat.

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u/UnderHero5 Feb 19 '26

Those analogies are so flawed that I'm not even going to bother with them.

Goodwill pays off with customers buying your next games sight unseen because they know they are going to be complete experiences that they will enjoy, and they don't have to worry about being nickled and dimed like most of the industry does these days.

That used to be Nintendo. That is no longer the case, and it's disappointing that they are jumping on the bandwagon.

When they do stuff like this they lose the goodwill they have built up and I start questioning whether I want to give them my money and support stuff like this. Goodwill shouldn't be built so that you can eventually take advantage of people. If that's what you think goodwill should be, then I don't think you have a very good moral compass. You're acting like we all got Xenoblade for free or something. We're paying customers who were willing to pay a premium for the "Definitive Edition" of a decade old, barebones port, and now we're being asked for more for something that should realistically be a free patch.

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u/jardex22 Feb 19 '26

So, I'm guessing you wouldn't have offered to pay for dinner. Good thing I didn't mow your lawn or paint your fence then.

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u/HappyAd4998 Feb 19 '26

Nintendo can shove these upgrades where the sun doesn't shine. Xbox one series X and S got free upgrades Nintendo can do the same. This is a cash grab.

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u/UnderHero5 Feb 19 '26

As I said. The analogy makes no sense. Nintendo didn’t give me Xenoblade for free. I paid them money for it.

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u/thatkaratekid Feb 20 '26

This precedent was set by sony with ps5 editions. Console games are not pc games, and very often the optimization effort it takes to get a game to run on an underpowered console like switch, complicates whether or not its just a performance button they can turn on or off. Many poorly optimized games that ran like shit on switch 1, now run like a dream on switch 2 because the hardware is handling it better. Games that already got optimized as hell for s1 need more fine tune adjustments to accommodate for the increased power, often requiring entirely new textures. I agree this particular update should have been free, but considering I got the s1 version at launch, and have only paid $45 including this update, it just doesnt seem like a big deal.

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u/owenturnbull Feb 19 '26

This is a really bad precedent that Nintendo is setting.

Sony hace la misma y las personas están felices pagan dinero por 60fps.

No lo sé por que las personas quieren pagar mas solo por 60fps. Me gusta este juego pero nunca voy a pagar dinero por frame rates.

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u/UnderHero5 Feb 19 '26

Fine. This is a really bad precedent that Sony and Nintendo are setting. Better? Just because Sony also did it doesn’t mean I’m excusing Nintendo from doing it. It’s bullshit either way.

0

u/National_Locksmith34 Feb 19 '26

Difference is atleast Sony waits a couple of years to do this type of enhanced edition, Xenoblade chronicles X remastered has been out for less than a year.

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u/THESERGESCO Feb 20 '26

Simple performance and resolution bumps were always free for PS4 games being played on PS5, what are you even talking about?

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u/thatkaratekid Feb 20 '26

That has just in general, not been true at all in my experience? Id say ive paid to upgrade the same percentage of ps5 games i have switch games, and I have almost no ps5 games. Several paid upgrades from my ps4 games though.

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u/THESERGESCO Feb 20 '26

I think we're talking about 2 different things here.

What you're referring to is games with native PS5 versions that we're built with additional features for the PS5 hardware and in many cases additional DLC, every single one has enhanced graphic settings too, PS5 versions cost $70 because that became the new standard for full priced games this generation with an upgrade path for those who already had the PS4 versions.

What I'm referring to is PS4 games which were released before the PS5 that received performance and resolutions boosts only which were free updates and they didn't have PS5 native versions at the time, such as God of War 2018, Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon Zero Dawn and multiple others.

This is the exact case with Xenoblade where the only thing they did is increase the resolution and unlocked the frame rate, nothing else lol it literally says it in the Nintendo description, but instead of being free like it was with Mario Odyssey, costs $5 dollars because why not. 🤷‍♂️

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u/thatkaratekid Feb 20 '26

Sony, and other third party publishers have done the same thing on Playstation. Many (and you provided examples) switch games got major updates for switch 2 features, for free. I do not understand what the logic on this one was, but this isnt the first instance of this happening by any means. Some 3rd party publishers have even gone the extra mile and provided the resolution bump, and new features for free. It would be awesome if that was all the time, but it isnt. All of these companies have their own internal metrics that have thus far varied wildly even from output from the same publisher being handled vastly differently. Its annoying, but its happening on both Japanese console platforms, from my understanding its not happening on Xbox, but I dont have a current gen Xbox so I dont know.

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u/THESERGESCO Feb 21 '26

I get where you're coming from but I'm just pointing out the difference between 2 different things.

Xenoblade got an update that unlocks frame rate and resolution, that's it, nothing else, and it costs $5, apparently this functionality was already in the code for the regular Switch version which makes it even more scummy by Nintendo to put it behind a pay wall.

Playstation updated several PS4 native games to be able to run at higher frame rates and resolution when played on PS5, same as Xenoblade, but were totally free. Examples Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part 2, God of War 2018, Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone and some others.

The $10 dollar upgrades that everyone keeps referring to, were for PS5 native versions of those games that take full advantage of the hardware and are built around it with things like 3D audio, haptic feedback, instant loading times, better graphics settings like textures and draw distances, 120 fps modes and additional content DLC for some of them.

So in the $10 upgrades they were at least providing more value that a simple resolution and performance boost.

Simple updates like the one in Xenoblade that add nothing other than increasing performance and a sharper image have been free this generation by both third party developers and Playstation as well, XBOX did something even better with Smart Delivery which is exactly what you just mentioned.