Topic: "Your View" Feature - The Future of Download-Only Games

Hello all,

We're going to start a new series of "Your View" features on Nintendo Life, where we pose a question in this forum section, let you debate for a few days, and then select a number of posts for publication as part of a big talking point article on the site. It's your chance to share opinions in a feature article.

To kick us off, the first topic for this new feature is below:

"With download stores and online platforms far from permanent, do you worry about losing access to download-only games in the coming years? Do you think Nintendo should offer routes around this, or is the eventual disappearance of download-only games just an inevitable "part of the deal"?

This thread will be locked on Thursday 4th July at 10pm UK time / 5pm Eastern. Post your thoughts and, who knows? Perhaps you'll be in the feature article this weekend.

What did an admin do to get the editing wrath of the @TheBlackDragon?

I dunno. LOL

This is why Nintendo NEEDS to streamline the account-game-Mii infrastructure. Not just DL-only games, but things just as simple (or things that SHOULD be simple) as the Wii -> Wii U transfer or connecting your Club Nintendo account, etc. Seriously. That reason alone is why I'm still reluctant to get a Wii U.

I suppose it depends on how far along a service will go before Nintendo decides not to sell its games anymore. DSiWare and WiiWare are still available on the Wii U and 3DS, and even the next gen platforms may still support the transfer of these games. Further along the line - who's to say we'll still want to play the games? From the lifetime of DSiWare's existence I've personally only found maybe 5 titles interesting enough to want to play in the future. It seems like this will be much more of an issue once (whenever it finally happens) console games go fully digital.

You missed the original? Every second word @ThomasBW84 wrote was f***.

Thomas always signs his posts with 10 lines of in-caps profanity.

We're quick to catch it.

My post was edited to sticky the thread, that's all

i hope nintendo makes a cloud like thing if you all know what i mean

He always says this.

I do worry about download-only games in general, especially with the Xbox One and PS4 being incompatible with PSN and Xbox Live games of the last generation. It is very good that the Wii U and 3DS offer a way to transfer games from previous consoles, and that is an advantage Nintendo has over Sony and Microsoft.

However, with advances in technology and the business side, it is a very big possibility that we will loose access to downloadable titles from previous generations. I highly doubt the next Nintendo console will have a Wii built into it like the Wii U, and its only a matter of time until the Wii Shop Channel closes. Even with an account system, eventually we will loose access to those games due to the cost of Nintendo and the publishers to keep them up there. If there are ways to keep access to our games, great, but unfortunately it is a big chance of loosing access to our games, and that's just the way downloads work.

Yeah, this is a problem with digital, and nobody knows what will happen. The industry would simply love to resell the same digital titles over and over again. It has a hint of planned obsolescence to it all.

I really wish Nintendo could keep there services running online for a long time. Now I understand that it costs money to run servers but really, with Nintendo rolling around in money, I don't see it as a big deal. Some DSi Ware games are not available on 3DS, so in the future I can see this being an issue with other games. Plus, some people like myself think it's fine and dandy that you can play your old games on a new system but for hardcore collectors or retro enthusiasts, playing a game online or playing a game on the system it was originally meant to be played on is the preferred choice (cough, Virtual Wii Menu, cough). And in the future, eventually Nintendo will drop support of it's online servers for games on the Wii and DS so I hope Nintendo can be open minded about the issue and let a third party ( or third parties) run it's old online services because I know they don't want to keep putting money into servers that most people don't use. I know me and a bunch of others like the fact that the some PS2 servers are online again because of third parties stepping in and paying for people to play online in some of there favorite games for the system. I know one day, I'm gonna want my kids having the same experiences that I grew up with. Anyway, that's just my view on the issue.

PC Gamers have been playing largely digital-only for years though, and all we get is sale after sale. Seeing as you can get 75% off most games on Steam during the Summer sale, I'm kind of just waiting for console gaming to move past the awkward digital-only introduction so we can get to the actual benefits. Once 3DS digital retail games start getting significant sales I'll probably stop buying physical altogether.

For now I want to see the Wii-Ware in a "Wii-Ware section" in the Wii U eshop!

The lack of moving whatever download only games you want from the Wii to Wii U is annoying. Say Sonic the Hedgehog. A person wants to move the game from his Wii to the Wii U, but he can't. Because the the game is not yet available for the Wii U (This might not be true, but it is just an example). The save data of games can be moved which is good, but the lack of some games being able to be moved is annoying. The Wii-exclusive apps being gone is OK, and the data of video apps being kept by the account used for the apps makes up for possible lost Wii data. It makes since for the latest game console to only have backwards data from the previous console, like the Wii data to Wii U and DSi to 3DS, but the lack of some classic games being able to be transferred seems to be the only thing I hate. I don't much about things around this topic, so yeah.

What scares me is that they will eventually force everyone to digital. We are in for a future full of free games and IAPs, gaming is doomed and we can thank all the people that support those type of games.

I don't want my games to rely on a cloud still being there 10 years from now....

This is a shame and more reason to buy games physical when they're not digital only. Sadly once the servers go down you have until your console breaks to play your games. I will look into finding a way to back up my games and move them to another console if possible somehow once the servers go down. I have hope that in the future consoles will stick with a set architecture that will make all consoles have backwards compatabily back that console that started it. The problem of the subject is also why I won't accept a digital ony console.

Maybe next generation will be compatible with DS and 3DS games, but the generation after, or the one after that, probably won't be. And at that point, Nintendo would be paying to keep servers up for what would probably be a handful of downloads a month. Eventually, they're going to have to cut off those games. They probably won't be lost forever though. While Nintendo has a firm stance against 3DS and Wii U piracy right now, I don't think they'll mind if, 20 years down the road, someone downloads Mutant Mudds to a flash cart so that they can play it on their 3DS. Things like the Homebrew Channel and flashcarts will hopefully save these games from going away forever.