Versus Evil and Obsidian Entertainment have confirmed that they have abandoned plans to release Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire Ultimate Edition on Nintendo Switch.
“Unfortunately, after much deliberation, we have decided not to move forward with Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire for the Nintendo Switch,” a Versus Evil spokesperson confirmed on the publisher’s official Discord channel (thanks, Reddit).
The Unity-powered role-playing game’s narrative centres on the god Eothas, who, once thought to have been destroyed, has returned to life as a titanic statue. As the Watcher of Caed Nua, it is down to you to discover his true purpose and decide whether to help or hinder his efforts.
It was expected to come to the portable home console with all downloadable content, which would have included Beast of Winter, The Forgotten Sanctum, and Seeker, Slayer, Survivor – to offer more than 100 hours of gameplay per playthrough.
Versus Evil last spoke about the port in October 2019, explaining: “The Switch does have a few differences, mainly some performance tweaks but nothing that will make it look or feel any different from what you are playing anywhere else. It’s meant to be the same great world of Eternity that the fans and newcomers have come to expect.
“It’s a big game with lots of attention to detail and I say that meaning the way the leaves move on the trees, the way water operates, the way spells operate, the way combat operates. Every little nook and cranny has a little bit of life to it, so it has been challenging, rightfully so.
“We’ve taken a lot of playtests, we’ve worked with the team at Obsidian, to get a lot of feedback, to make sure everything feels right and feels good. Frankly, it’s just one of those things where we’ve got to touch lots of little pieces, one at a time, to make sure things do feel right, and to ensure that the porting process keeps it feeling like the world of Eternity.”
We know that such efforts have sadly gone unrewarded and that the game is now unlikely to ever come to Nintendo Switch.
