Too much tilt
Pinball FX3 on Switch is a pretty neat way to experience Zen Studios’ classic pinball series. In addition to having the ability to play anywhere, you can also use vertical orientation to play the tables. This gives a new perspective on the action, but there is one problem the Switch version has that no other port exhibits; framerate drops. For some reason, Pinball FX3 just doesn’t run smoothly on Switch, though docked play fairs quite a bit better than portable.
While plans for an update to smooth out the performance were in the works, Zen Studios has now decided to step away from fixing up the Switch port. As discovered by a Reddit user after reaching out to customer support, Pinball FX3 will not be getting updated on Switch to bump up the resolution or alter any of the performance.
Zen Studios even came in the thread to comment about the discovery, saying that performance updates would have to be on a per table basis and that they didn’t posses the bandwidth to handle such an intense Q&A process. While that does make sense for such a small studio, why was this port than pushed to release on Switch? Did everyone at the company think the game was up to snuff and worth charging for?
I don’t mind Pinball FX3 on Switch, but a lot of that opinion rested on how ridiculous the games industry has gotten with patches. Getting a game on day one is increasingly becoming pointless, but even horrible ports can end up becoming playable after awhile. I figured this was going to be the case for Pinball FX3, but that turned out to be wrong.
So if you haven’t yet made the jump on buying the Switch version of this game, you would be better served putting it out of your mind; Zen Studios has done as much.