City of None: A Celeste Co-Creator's Switch Bet for 2027

City of None, a platformer developed by a Celeste co-creator, has just confirmed its arrival on Nintendo Switch and the upcoming Switch 2, with a release window set for 2027. The title was initially announced for PC via Steam without a specific date. This new announcement therefore expands the project to three platforms before even one of them has a locked release window.

This choice is far from trivial for a production that remains, by nature, the work of a small team. Announcing PC, current Switch, and Switch 2 simultaneously amounts to promising optimization work across three vastly different technical environments, especially when the game doesn't yet have a fixed release date.

A Calendar Stretching Before It Even Starts

Pushing a release to 2027 to include a console that just hit the market—the Switch 2—changes the nature of the wait. A studio targeting multiple platforms from the announcement risks having its schedule dictated by the slowest of the three technical targets, not by the game's actual progress.

For players who've been following the project since its PC announcement, this expansion means a mechanically longer wait. A platformer doesn't face the same optimization constraints as an open-world game, but porting the same build to both the original Switch and Switch 2 still demands visual and technical compromises that could drag the project down to the lowest common denominator between both machines.

The Celeste Shadow: An Asset That Carries Weight

The name circulating around City of None—that of a Celeste co-creator—isn't a neutral marketing argument. Celeste, released in 2018 under the Matt Makes Games banner, established itself as a genre reference on Switch thanks to rare level design rigor. The same studio had already laid this identity's foundation with TowerFall Ascension in 2013, an arena game that shared the gameplay precision that became the team's trademark.

Linking City of None to this pedigree creates immediate expectations among Switch players, the natural audience for this type of production since Celeste's success on the console. But this claimed lineage also imposes constant comparison: every level design and control choice will be measured against a game that became a genre standard, leaving little room for error for a new title still without a firm date.

Aiming for Switch 2 in 2027 amounts to betting on an installed base that doesn't yet fully exist at announcement time. An indie studio developing for a console in adoption phase risks launching its game to a still-limited user base, far from the massive audience that the original Switch eventually gathered over the years.

This choice can also be read as an inverse calculation: arriving early on Switch 2 with an identifiable game, backed by a name known to demanding platformer fans, allows capturing attention on a console still building its indie catalog. The 2027 window gives the installed base time to grow, though it offers no guarantee the game will benefit from visibility comparable to what Celeste enjoyed on an already-established Switch over a year into its lifecycle.

City of None owes nothing to chance in its positioning: an indie platformer backed by Celeste lineage objectively has more to gain on Switch than any other platform, given that audience already appreciates genre demands. But multiplying technical targets before having a concrete release date depletes a small studio's energy, and pushes further the moment when the game must finally prove, controller in hand, that it deserves the comparison it claims for itself.