The Nintendo Switch port for Pillars of Eternity II is cancelled

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire is the sequel to the original PoE released in 2015, an old-fashioned role-playing game with an isometric perspective akin to the classic Baldur’s Gate series. While the game ultimately underperformed sales-wise according to Obsidian Entertainment Director Josh Sawyer, The Golden Joystick award-nominee has also been the recipient of high praise for its writing. Unfortunately, the Switch port will not be seeing the light of day.

A Versus Evil employee announced the decision on their official Discord server. “Hey there! Unfortunately, after much deliberation, we have decided not to move forward with Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire for the Nintendo Switch,” the publisher wrote.

Versus Evil Head of Production James Lance spoke to Game Reactor at Gamescom ’19, where he mentioned porting the PC version of Deadfire to the Switch console is no simple feat.

“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.”

Versus Evil faced a similar dilemma with their Nintendo Switch port for the original PoE, a game that garnered almost $4 million on Kickstarter. Their decision to abandon the game left the port in a less than desirable state.