Nintendo eShop Continues Its War Against Quality With This Dead Space And Gears Of War Knockoff

One of the biggest problems with the Switch 2 isn’t availability or a looming price hike, but the platform’s online marketplace. What should be a highlight reel of Nintendo exclusives, outstanding third-party titles, and rising indie stars is instead an eShop full of slop drops, and Dead Gears: Space of War is indicative of this problem. Scheduled to launch on May 29, the game’s key art combines an on-the-nose use of the Cog symbol from Gears of War with the font of Dead Space, all positioned above what is likely an AI-generated image.

The game’s trailer doesn’t inspire much confidence either, as what should be a sizzle reel for Dead Gears: Space of War is instead a by-the-numbers gameplay teaser that has nothing in common with the art assets being used to promote this release. Not exactly surprising, given that publisher Consann Real Estate has in the past released numerous “Simulator” games and Fall Buddies–which probably has nothing to do with Fall Guys. Probably!

So what’s going on here? Despite its efforts to keep slop to a minimum, the Nintendo eShop is more infested than ever before with games that range from low-effort asset flips to clones attempting to piggyback on the momentum set by popular games and franchises. While the eShop Highlights section is fairly safe to browse, once you scroll down to the other sections of the marketplace, it quickly becomes a slop-free-for-all when you start browsing.

Developers of these games use all manner of tricks to grab your attention, with some of the common examples being AI-generated art assets that oversell the game, inflating prices and then slapping their games with a massive discount, and releasing several different versions of the same game on the eShop.

It’s a massive problem, and one that Nintendo doesn’t appear to be concerned enough to take more decisive action. While it did make a change to the eShop last year aimed at deprioritizing shovelware games, it’s not an effective solution when compared to outright delisting those titles. For an especially egregious example, just look at the case of Lotzo and the Ray of Light (via Rerez).

Shovelware games aren’t just an annoyance; they also rob other studios of a chance to get their projects in the spotlight. It’s no secret that selling a video game is harder than ever before, as multiple titles are competing for attention and dollars against not only their peers but also games with misleading titles, content, and gameplay.

While this isn’t an isolated case–the PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam marketplaces are also packed with clones and shovelware games–efforts have made an effort to police these digital marketplaces. Just recently, Sony cracked down on hundreds of slop games, clearing out a substantial amount of shovelware and a GTA 6 clone.

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