When .hack/G.U. Last Recode came to the PlayStation 4 and PC, it did something entirely new for the series. That is, it showed up outside the PlayStation ecosystem. A recent CyberConnect 2 question from a fan asked about a potential .hack//G.U. Last Recode Switch port, “even if it was digital only.” The developer’s CEO, Hiroshi Matsuyama, fielded the question. Even though he called the idea “appealing” and said the team would “love to do that,” Bandai Namco said the company would “not [be] able to make it happen.”
The possibility of the port was the whole focus of the company’s latest Q&A video. Matsuyama confirmed that CyberConnect 2 had thought about a possible port for the Switch, and he said that, “the idea of releasing Last Recode on Nintendo Switch itself is appealing.”
More importantly, he suggested Bandai Namco was the whole reason that it wasn’t happening. He noted:
Frankly speaking, [CyberConnect 2]’s love to do that! We proposed the idea to Bandai Namco Entertainment several times. But their response was that it’s hard to predict the cost of porting and the sale prospects. For this reason, we were told that they were not able to make it happen and, as a result, we haven’t been able to.
Here’s Matsuyama’s full response regarding the possibility of CyberConnect 2 working on a port. At the 1:40 mark, he said, “So I highly encourage you, the users of Nintendo Switch, to contact Bandai Namco directly and let them know that you want to play .hack//G.U. Last Recode on Switch.”
.hack//G.U. Last Recode is immediately available for the PlayStation 4 and PC (via Steam) worldwide and includes .hack//G.U. Rebirth, Reminisce, and Redemption, which all originally appeared on the PlayStation 2 in North America and Japan. It also added .hack//G.U. Reconnection, a new fourth volume to act as something of an epilogue.
