‘Mr. Shifty’ Switch Framerate Issues Caused By Limitations & Physics, Publisher Says

Mr. Shifty launched Thursday as a Nintendo Switch console exclusive, but that particular port of the game isn’t running as advertised. After reading dozens of complaints from players on reddit, a representative from tinyBuild Games stepped in to explain the fiasco and quiet the noise.

Controversy erupted earlier this week when a developer compared the slowdown experienced in Mr. Shifty to the occasional frame drops featured in Nintendo’s own Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. It was also suggested the team chose to favor an identical experience to PC rather than work around the limitations of Switch’s fledgling Unity support. To those who wanted to have a fun time on day one, Team Shifty replied, “There’s always the Steam version.”

tinyBuild CEO Alex Nichiporchik agreed such comments “can sound awful out of context,” so he reached out to offer his point of view. There’s lots of PR speak to wade through, but his general argument is that Mr. Shifty’s serious framerate issues were only initially reported by “a small number of press outlets” and the findings were “a complete surprise” to the team. A patch to alleviate slowdown is expected to be submitted by Friday or Monday.

Read: Nintendo Switch To Get Payday 2 In 2017

When queried further about the cause of Mr. Shifty’s poor performance, a few factors were mentioned. First and foremost were “limitations and timelines” that coincide with a polished release. The issues also extend to the way Mr. Shifty is made. The game’s framerate is tied directly to its physics system, and all of that is capped at 30 fps to offer a consistent feel. At least in the early build, the physics engine is struggling on Switch.

Mr. Shifty was prominently featured during Nintendo’s most recent Nindies presentation. It’s been getting fairly average reviews from players and press. The game is available now on Switch and PC.

Has your copy of Mr. Shifty suffered from the framerate problems shown in the video above? Is this a bad sign for Switch? Tell us in the comments section!