2/22/2023
Dear Sir / Madam,
I have a question about the game, magicka. I would love to play this on the nintendo switch and would do anything for it! Unfortunately I can’t find the game anywhere for sale. Can I possibly download it or buy an sd card of the game. Is there any way to still be able to play it on the nintenndo anyway?
have a great day,
Gijs
Dear Gijs,
I don’t work for Arrowhead but I think I can answer your question.
Magicka was created using XNA, which broadly speaking was an indie-targeted game engine, originally designed for the Xbox 360 and Windows.
Around the time that XNA was retired, a literal hero named flibitijibibo (pronunciation here [twolofbees.com]) stepped in to create FNA, an open source re-implementation of the engine.
Having rewritten the engine, flibit was in a great position to offer his paid services to port video games based on XNA and FNA to other platforms such as Xbox, iOS, and indeed the Nintendo Switch, something they’ve done very successfully, as per their Portfolio page [flibitijibibo.com].
Unfortunately, while the tools are technically all there to produce a Switch port of Magicka, this would have to be done under licence from Paradox Interactive, who currently own the Magicka IP, and with the Nintendo Switch development tools, which come with a moderately expensive license and are necessary to develop anything SDL-based (which FNA is) for the Switch [github.com].
If you are interested, I’m sure you are more than capable of learning C#, the XNA framework, and the FNA framework, and after 3 years of serious effort, making the port happen yourself.
The last pieces of the puzzle would be obtaining a copy of the Switch development tools, and then modifying your port to be supported by the Switch.
If at that point you wanted to share your magnus opus, you should then apply for permission from the IP licensor of Magicka.
All in all, my answer is no, not yet!
But don’t give up on your dreams!
I hope you have a great day too.
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