On November 25, two entirely separate games called Piece by Piece are releasing on Nintendo Switch. It’s no coincidence, but the circumstances that led to this unusual situation certainly stem from a coincidence.
Publisher No More Robots launched Piece by Piece, a cozy sim game full of cute animal characters, on Steam back in March. Two days later, studio Neon Polygons self-published an unrelated puzzle-platformer where you jump through literal puzzle pieces that you connect together–this game is also called Piece by Piece.
What could have been a conflict between indie developers turned out to be the beginning of a wholesome business relationship. Both games were bundled together on Steam, and now No More Robots is publishing the Switch ports of both titles.
According to No More Robots co-founder Mike Rose, Neon Polygons “couldn’t afford to bring their game to Switch,” so No More Robots stepped in to publish the game for them. As with Steam, you can buy both games together in a bundle.
It’s undeniably a heartwarming and unique story, though one would assume that having to figure out the logistics behind launching two games that not only have the same name, but the same release date and publisher as well, was a nightmare on the backend of the Nintendo eShop.
“And yes, Nintendo have ABSOLUTELY HATED THIS,” Rose said in a social media post, adding that the publisher was questioned why it had two games with the same name “many, many times.” At least the bundle doesn’t also include the Pharrell Williams Lego movie Piece by Piece as well.
