Publisher QubicGames has announced that it is launching a 20th Anniversary Switch eShop sale in North America and Europe, slashing the prices of over 100 digital titles. It will be available from 12th April to 1st May 2024.
The paramaters and prices are very much dependent on your region with this one, so let's take a look at North America first. According to QubicGames, all games included in the sale will be priced at a mere $0.20 each, but in order to qualify, you'll need to own a digital copy of Coloring Book.
The good news is that it's free. So get it downloaded and you'll be able to access the sale. Simples. Oh, and if you already own either Robonauts, Pocket Mini Golf, Hole io, or Geki Yaba Anniversary Edition, then you'll also be granted access.
Meanwhile in Europe, the publisher has confirmed that 'most' games will be priced at €0.99 / £0.89, however it's not known whether users in this region will also need to own Coloring Book to qualify. It's still free, mind, so it wouldn't hurt to just get it into your library.
Jakub Pieczykolan, CEO of QubicGames, had the following to say:
"We are incredibly grateful to our fans for their unwavering support throughout the last two decades. To celebrate this milestone, we wanted to give back to the players who have stood by us every step of the way."
We don't currently have a full view of the games on offer, but QubicGames has stated that the likes of Hole io, Real Boxing 2, and Dex will be among the titles available.
Will you be grabbing any titles featured in QubicGames' eShop sale? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below.
Comments 43
That's quite a mark up in sale price for us Brits. Wonder if we have a limit with how low a price a sale can be here?
@XenoShaun The fact that the Americans seem to have to own a specific title suggests that they're exploiting some kind of loophole on the US store to get stuff that low. I guess maybe that loophole doesn't exist outside of the North American store?
Quite sure the eshop normally doesn't allow discounts below $1
Sorry, but I wouldn’t touch most of these games even if they were free.
I don’t have enough time to play all the good games I want. There is no point even considering shovelware. It’s not about money, it’s about time.
I know friends who have thousands of games on Switch/Steam/Playstation because of sales and Epic and PS+ give aways etc, but they’re never going to play the majority of them. So what’s the point?
Just play good games - there are more than enough out there. Don’t waste your time or money on the bad ones.
@Rambler @Vordus Quite possible. They use the same trick with their Christmas giveaway as well. Just find it quite interesting how these systems work. Must be something only NA hasn't fixed otherwise would assume something similar for us Brits and the Europe folk.
@PineappleLake I assume it's 89p and .99euros too then.
@NinjaNicky While I can't argue that majority of their catalogue (especially the past few years) has been horrendous, they do have a few quality titles that shouldn't be just overlooked. To name a few: Robonauts, Akane, Mana Spark, Dex and the bit.trip games.
@XenoShaun funny enough each of the 6 bit.trip games are .99 EUR, but the collection of all 6 games is 9.99 EUR ... are they fun to play? How long is a game like that keeping you busy?
I've played a few of these. The Bit Trip games are easily worth it and Mana Spark and Rekt were decent enough. I've got Dex in the backlog from a previous sale too. There are quite a few with 65+ Metacritic scores so they'd likely be worth it for £0.89 if anyone is looking for something to fill a few hours.
Check out Deku Deals website and filter by publisher, then sort by Metacritic score to get to the 'good' stuff.
@dmcc0 That’s a great tip - I’ve never used that feature on Deku Deals. Cheers!
Is at least one game worth to play?
@Vordus @XenoShaun It could be a matter of fees that are different between US and Europe making sales below 1€/£ pointless.
@Krull gg.deals is the best site for tracking, and the site have a huge amount of functions.
That site covers PC stores, Nintendo, Xbox, PS, Game subs etc.
"Will you be grabbing any titles featured in QubicGames' eShop sale?"
...assuming there's something in that lineup I don't have yet.😄
@czdjax same question
guys is there anything worth touching there?
@Rhaoulos Generally speaking the point of offering games like these at a ludicrously low price point isn't to make money from them, but to drive their position in the charts up, making them more visible in the store.
Cheap games does not equal a good deal.
Honestly even when they were doing the thing giving them away free at Christmas they weren’t worth it.
This is just helping artificially bump shovelware your the top of the eShop. Why is NL promoting this?
Some of these games are pretty good! As others have mentioned, Qubic published the original bit.Trip series on Switch and those regularly go on sale for a good price (although I don't know if they're in this sale).
Another one of theirs I really liked was Not Not. It's a simple logic game where you have to choose which one of four directions to go, based on the instructions on the screen. Sounds simple, but it's not (not?).
Robonauts is also kind of interesting. A bit of a chaotic shooter with gravity elements (think Super Mario Galaxy rather than Gravity Man from Mega Man 5).
And Mini Trains is a little "make the trains run based on putting the rail pieces in the right direction" puzzler that isn't too bad for those who like trains.
This is one of those companies, I think, that is literally the definition of hit or miss, so I'll be keeping an eye on what pops up in these sales for sure!
@Ogbert Pretty sure Qubic has something on the staff, they love plugging these.
Just went through every single one. As far as I can see, only Akane, Pocket Mini Golf 2, and The Bit.Trip series seem to be worth the time. Don't worry about missing out too much.
EDIT: Some others have mentioned good ones, like Robonauts, which I forgot as I already owned them. Whatever you decide there's at least something for you here, but they ain't "play before you die" material
@Princess_Lilly @czdjax I've mentioned in an earlier comment on some recommended games but will be happy to share again. Robonauts, Dex, Mana Spark, Akane and Bit.Trip games. Some others have also recommended Rekt. There is so much trash to wade through but the publisher has a few bangers especially at the prices.
@Yalloo I only really got into Bit.Trip Runner, but some friends really liked Beat and Core. It really depends though if a simple premise can hold your attention. I could keep coming back to the Bit.Trip runner games all the time (all three).
Hey, I saw Run Sausage Run and it's sequels in there. Those are DECA games. Guess DECA wouldn't really have a console publishing connection though.
Picked up a couple puzzlers and Good night, Knight which got abandoned before it was completed though still should get something out of it for 89p.
I'm shocked you promote those cash grab games...
Not even 20 cents is enough for me. I'll stick to the quality games I've already played.
I'm seeing a lot of negativity, but Qubic has published several very enjoyable titles. Akane, Dex, Blade of Darkness, and of course they hold the rights to Bit.Trip.
@Rhaoulos @PineappleLake @Rambler @Vordus @XenoShaun Don't think there's any lower limit to what they can sell games for, but normally anything priced less than $1.99 won't show up on the best sellers list. I think these conditional sales circumvent that rule and let them get some extra visibility.
@czdjax @Princess_Lilly As for games that are actually worth playing, I had a pretty good time with Gravity Rider 0 and #RaceDieRun. Akane, Mana Spark, Amaze!, and Pocket Mini Golf 2 aren't bad either. I actually think Pocket Mini Golf 1 is the more interesting of the two with its randomized courses, but it's one of the games listed in the "own this" condition, rather than actually included in the sale.
Yes Qubic is a long way away from the really shady publishers, like the ones who put out "Call of Honor War Shoot Royale Battle Simulator", or the ones who put out "AAA Clock arbitrary monthly new edition #58". There are publishers on the eShop who put out brazen asset flips, mobile ports so lazy that they don't even recognise controller input, zero-effort games so amateur that the collision doesn't work and you just fall through the floor. Qubic Games are like Wii-era shovelware in my opinion: pretty lame but at least they're legitimately trying.
I did enjoy Rekt back before we had better stuff like Rocket League, Tony Hawk, Descenders etc on the system.
No, thanks.
A bad game is still a bad game at US$ 0,20.
I'd rather play something good.
@Anachronism @XenoShaun thanks, I'll check them out!
Being a Beavis and Butthead kid, I'll wait on the sequel, Cornhole io.
Mana Spark is a decent little rogue-like(maybe not?) and i just picked up Death’s Hangover.
So far, seems like a game anybody who digs Arkanoid or Super Breakout! would enjoy. It has power ups and a mechanic where you can speed up or slow down the ball. There’s also enemies, bosses and obstacles to add gameplay variety. Not bad for twenty cents.
Seems like others have found some titles they enjoyed. I too, hear Rekt is good.
There’s probably a few more gleaming nuggets nestled amongst the rubble…
I got Doorkickers, Arkane, Mana Spark and Good Night Knight. Played a little of each and they all seem actually pretty decent, especially for 80 cents. Dex was one of the first games I got for my Switch and it's also pretty good.
I got a chuckle out of a joke within the first couple minutes of Good night Knight that was worth the 20 cents alone!
Doorkickers reminds me of this SWAT game I used to play waaay back in the early 90s and it has touch controls that make it pretty cool to drag around your way points and stuff.
Also people keep saying Robonauts, but it's not included in this sale and is 1.99.
Wait, I just realised that Neodori Forever is from Qubic games. I can highly recommend that one. It's a perfect mix of Outrun and modern retro 90s aesthetic.
@Yalloo they are to be quite frank, terrible.
@Raifteiri @XenoShaun thanks guys!
@Yalloo Just bought the first one and played it a bit. It's basically Pong/Arkanoid cranked up to bullet hell difficulty but also a rhythm game. It seems pretty short, but I had to play on easy and adjust the controls just to make it through the first level. If you went for the higher difficulties or are the type to chase high scores, I imagine you'd get a lot more time out of it. The rest all look pretty different gameplay-wise but seem to keep the same audio-visual style and probably the same difficulty level.
@Anachronism I can really enjoy a good rythm game, that's why I was curious. Thanks for your feedback. Hope you have some fun with it!
Geki Yaba Runner is pretty fun too
@Diogmites
Mana Spark is not a roguelike though.
@Rozetta That was my memory of it. I played it back in 2020 so it has been awhile. What genre would you suggest it be described as?
@dmcc0 Thank You for the heads up. Was ignoring the sale, but didn't know Qubic is the current Publisher of the Bit.Trip games. Although not amazing. They were quite relaxing for short burts when I only had a short time or didn't like a long gaming session. So they're definitely worth 20c each imo!
I got several of the games for free using my points, and I even bought a few for $0.20 each. Sometimes I am in the mood for silly time-wasting games when you don't have to think so much.
How is the Real boxing 2 game?
Hm...
I will check their games from eshop.
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