Video Games

Genshin Impact on Nintendo Switch: Here’s what you need to know

What’s the status of the mythical port?

Marco Wutz

Genshin Impact on Nintendo Switch: Here’s what you need to know
Genshin Impact on Nintendo Switch: Here’s what you need to know /

Genshin Impact is one of the most popular games in the world, being available on PC, PS4, PS5, Android, and iOS devices. The free-to-play title is not playable on Xbox consoles, since Sony struck an exclusivity agreement with developer miHoYo during the game’s production phase. What about the Genshin Impact Nintendo Switch version, however?

Well, once upon a time – January 14, 2020, to be precise – miHoYo announced that a Nintendo Switch version was being developed alongside the editions already mentioned above, stating: “Open-world ARPG game Genshin Impact will come to Nintendo Switch in the future.” That announcement is still available on the official website, as is the short trailer released at the time.

Back then, Genshin Impact was still in beta and even the developers likely did not think they were sitting on one of the most lucrative gold mines in all of gaming history, but that became clear pretty quickly after the game’s release in September 2020.

Shortly after that, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic struck, changing the world. Despite the issues miHoYo faced due to this, development of additional content went smoothly. The studio churned out high-quality updates like clockwork, even building an impressive PS5 version from the ground up. The Nintendo Switch version, though?

HoYoverse insists that it’s still on the way, stating it would release more information as the project progresses further. That was in May 2022, though since then we haven’t heard so much as a whisper about it.

Most fans have given up hope at this point, seeing the Nintendo Switch port as a meme and saying that perhaps their grandchildren will be able to play it. Others speculate that miHoYo just can’t find a way to get the necessary performance out of the Switch to run the game properly.

In any case, the official version of the story is that Genshin Impact for Nintendo Switch is still in development, so for anyone looking to play it on Nintendo’s console one day hope is not lost just yet.

Published
Marco Wutz
MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg

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