Topic: How long will we have online play on the Wii U?

With Switch changing to a paid online service this year are we going to continue to get free online on Wii U?

Do you think they might try and make us pay for it too?

It will be a hard sell to get Splatoon players to upgrade to a new expensive console where they now have to pay to play if Splatoon 1 is still going strong on the Wii U.

they'll discontinue it at some point... i'd gladly pay the 25 bucks a year switch owners are gonna pay... I won't be getting a switch for a while..

They won't introduce a paid online subscription service for Wii U. There simply isn't enough of an audience to make such a service worthwhile. I expect it to continue to be free until Nintendo decides to abandon the service entirely. With Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2 on the way, existing online players of Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon will inevitably dwindle, and I can't imagine that there are many other Wii U games that are making a splash online.

Nintendo have already abandoned the Wii U as far as software and hardware is concerned. Heck, even the Wii U version of BotW was only mentioned in fine print (or inconspicuously) in order to publicise the Switch version. While new entries of Just Dance 2018 and other casual titles may continue to be released on Wii U (though it would not surprise me if Ubisoft continue to release Wii versions while skipping future instalments on Wii U), I think the smarter business strategy is for developers and publishers to move towards the Switch (or if they have been working on a Wii U title, that they produce a Switch version as well).

I suspect that once paid online is introduced for Switch by the end of the year that the servers for Wii U online games will be terminated, however, I expect the eShop to continue to be active for the foreseeable future. After all, the Wii Shop Channel is still running.

I can assure you the player base will move on to the sequel. It's only "going strong" because there's no replacement yet.

@TheLZdragon Well Mario Kart 7 is still strong even though Mario Kart 8 is out too.

I don't really play Splatoon but my kids do.....sequel seems like the same game as far as I can tell just weapons or maps changed I guess.

I will be pretty annoyed if Mario Maker and Mario Kart 8 stop working online this year on Wii U. I am definitely in wait and see mode on the switch.

As long as the store last as long as the Wii store has been, I will be fine lol

saw this Reggie quote in an online post from Nintendo life

With that being said, it seems that online services will still stick around for quite some time; those of you that still regularly play Splatoon or Mario Kart 8 won't have anything to worry about for the foreseeable future:
From our standpoint, sunsetting is quite some time into the future. The ongoing activity from an online standpoint on [Mario] Kart and Splatoon is significant. We're going to continue to support that.

They'll eventually shut down the online service, when? Um..........2020?