Nintendo Finally Reveals Developer Behind Switch 2 Launch Title Welcome Tour, Which Many Said Should Have Been Included for Free

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Nintendo fans now know who developed Switch 2 launch title Welcome Tour — the mini-game collection that also acts as an interactive instruction manual for the new console, which many have suggested should have been included for free.While Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour doesn't state it within the game itself, Mario Party studio Nintendo Cube, formerly NDCube, has now updated its website to confirm the game is its work.Nintendo Cube is a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Nintendo founded in 2000 that frequently handles the company's various mini-game collection projects. It developed the so-so Wii Party (not to be confused with the better Wii Play, which came with a packed-in Wii Remote), as well as the disappointing Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival on Wii U. More recently, Nintendo Cube released the functional Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics for Switch 1, before the infamous Everybody 1-2 Switch — a party game sequel launched with little fanfare that earned Nintendo some of its worst review scores in recent memory. ("Everybody 1-2-Switch might be the first party game I’ve played where I ended up with fewer friends afterwards," IGN wrote in its 4/10 appraisal.)But it's for Mario Party that Nintendo Cube is best known, having taken over as the hugely popular party game series' main developer beginning with 2012's Mario Party 9 onwards, and continuing with Mario Party 10, Mario Party Star Rush, Mario Party: The Top 100, Super Mario Party and Mario Party Superstars.Nintendo Cube's next launch is (deep breath) Super Mario Party Jamboree: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV, a Switch 2 update for Super Mario Party Jamboree that makes use of the new console's mouse controls and optional camera peripheral, due to arrive on July 24.While a budget-priced release, criticism was levelled at Welcome Tour for the sheer number of its mouse-control games, and the need to have a camera peripheral, a Switch 2 Charging Grip or Pro Controller, and a 4K TV to see everything it had to offer, and complete the game with gold medals."Even if Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour were the pack-in game it feels like it was meant to be, the execution of its charming concept is a muddled collection of quaint tech demos and boring factoids dressed up as an uncompelling completionist checklist," IGN wrote in our Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour review.Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social