UPDATE ON AUGUST 19th, 2019: the rumor has been confirmed and Ori and the Blind Forest will be coming to Nintendo Switch on September 27.
With Nintendo’s Indie World Presentation set to impress players on Monday, we have also received a clue that points towards the long-awaited arrival of Ori and the Blind Forest on the Nintendo Switch. This is pure speculation right now, but there are few options that would coincide with the announcement made by Daniel Ahmad, a Senior Analyst at Niko Partners who has tweeted about similar announcements in past with great accuracy.
The rumor of Ori coming to the Switch began earlier this year around the same time as we were first hearing that Cuphead and Super Lucky’s Tale, one of which has already released, and the other is coming shortly.
Although there is nothing that directly confirms that Ori is, in fact, coming to the Switch, such a move would be in line with Microsoft’s allowing Cuphead to be ported over.
For those unfamiliar with the game, Ori and the Blind Forest is a platform-adventure video game developed by Moon Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. Its initial release was met with critical and commercial success, with its artistic style received as one of its best features, and its musical score is among the best of any video game ever made.
The development of the game embraces the spirit of indie titles, whereby a worldwide collaboration of individuals worked on the game over four years prior to its release. Moon Studios is, according to Microsoft producer Daniel Smith, not located in any single location. Instead, staffers collaborate on projects internationally, and its developers often describe Ori and the Blind Forest as a love letter to some of their favorite titles from their youth.
As the Nintendo Switch has proven to be an outstanding platform for indie-style games, and as Cuphead was well received in its port, Ori would be an outstanding addition to the Switch and fit thematically with the presentation on Monday. In addition, releasing Ori onto the Switch in the near future may be a perfect marketing campaign for the upcoming sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
Once again, this is still a rumor and readers should take the information with a grain of salt. With that said, Ori would be the most anticipated of exclusive Microsoft properties that players have wanted to see on the Switch for quite some time, and by this point, it would be equally surprising to not see the game announced as an upcoming port.
In any case, it is not as though the Nintendo Switch is lacking in great indie game titles, and Ori would simply add to the vast catalog of indie games added in 2019.
For those who want to catch the Nintendo Indie World presentation, which is set to showcase upcoming titles for a total of 23 minutes, they can do so Monday at 6:00 am PT.