Online playtests for Nintendo Switch Sports are taking place over this weekend, but if you're lucky enough to take part, you'll need to make sure you keep your mouth shut about it.
Nintendo has stated that players cannot share information about the playtest online, and this includes posting screenshots and videos on social media:
By registering to participate in the Online Play Test, you agree not to share information about the Online Play Test publicly, including the sharing of screenshots or video footage from the game on social media.
It seems a bit odd that Nintendo isn't allowing players to share feedback and information online when the whole point of the playtest is to gain such information, but it's perhaps more concerned with tracking how the game holds up with a larger player base.
https://twitter.com/NintenDaan/status/1493935003096526854
Pre-orders for the full game, launching this April, are now available.
[source twitter.com]
Comments (43)
I think this may speak of a lack of confidence in the state of the game.
A game that is launching late-April and won't be content complete, with major modes like Golf coming months later.
Anyone else getting fed up with Nintendo shipping unfinished games?
Odd play test, what's next released game won't have a game at all aka empty cartridges?!
I do not care much about it to be honest...
I don’t think it’s surprising in the least. Apple use to have the same terms with private iOS betas. And both companies are very controlling of their public image. Of course it didn’t make a difference with Apple and it won’t make a difference here.
Well, that's one way to raise awareness for people who don't know about it yet. Wait.
@RupeeClock off the top of my head, I can't think of any others apart from Animal Crossing NH. What else you got?
@RupeeClock Agreed. Nintendo certainly like this model with the Splatoon games, ARMs, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis etc...
Everyone says Nintendo lag behind the industry in some practices, but I feel like in others, they are right alongside the rest of the industry.
Now I'm going to share stuff out of spite
@PessitheMystic
Mario Golf, Pokémon Sword/Shield, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, Kirby Star Allies, ARMS, Smash Bros, Xenoblade 2, as a few examples.
Actually, it would be fair to say that a majority of Nintendo's biggest releases now feature planned expansions of some sort.
The ones that haven't are mostly games ported over from Wii or Wii U, like NSMB Deluxe, Pikmin 3, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, Xenoblade 1, Super Mario 3D World, etc.
@RupeeClock It's a free play test isn't it? So what do you mean? The game is still under development, and they have very clearly underlined the reason why they are doing this play test: to help them polish up the game (mainly the controls) and catch any bugs their QA didn't find, so prohibiting people from sharing stuff until it's fully wrapped up and ready to be shipped is entirely logical. I don't think Nintendo is delusional enough to think people won't still share it, they are just trying to minimize it.
@RupeeClock
A game having planned expansions doesn’t make it unfinished, though. Xenoblade and Smash Bros, for example, are games that can more than stand on their own. The DLC is used to supplement the experience. The ones you could make the argument for, though, as they were pretty barren and lifeless without DLC are Mario Golf/Tennis, Pokémon Sword/Shield (to a lesser extent, as it is a functioning RPG on its own, just not a very good one), and Kirby (again, arguable).
There might be a few more examples, but those are the few where the games need DLC to make it worth the asking price, not just simply having DLC.
@Troll_Decimator
That's my point really, they aren't satisfied with the state of the product which is why they're disallowing any social media sharing of the test.
I do not recall them doing that for the Splatoon 2 or ARMS networking tests / demos.
Given the production pipeline of physical games, this is pretty close to the end-of-April release date to do fine-tuning, so I would expect that certain functionality like online play will be behind a day-one update.
@JakedaArbok
Yes, many games can definitely be considered content-complete before the expansion content.
I would say that the COVID-19 situation negatively impacted game development quite a bit, which is why we're seeing more of a trend of initial launches for games like ACNH or Mario Golf feeling like incomplete packages.
But it's sport, where are the spoilers with that? Someone hit a thing and then someone else hit it back?
We're going to know if it's good or bad regardless.
Play in a locked room on your own in case one of the family takes a snap with it in the background and posts on social media.
@RupeeClock I do not recall it either, but I haven't really read the T&C. That said, for those demos, I'm not even sure if they were using them for testing anything other than the network, so posting screenshots doesn't do any harm.
@RupeeClock So any game that features any additional content or any other features implemented post launch is now considered ‘unfinished’? Nah I’m not having that.
Look at Street Fighter V or No Man’s Sky for blatantly unfinished products.
I think it's more of a default position and one the lawyers prefer. I do tend to agree that you'd generally rather have people talking about the game (free publicity!) unless it's EXTREMELY early in the process.
@Troll_Decimator only think i don't really get it that they make it a 'reward' in my nintendo then.. i now have the code but i didn't read this, and didn't sign anything, and not sure how they are going to get the feedback now...( just see the dropping games etc)
@RupeeClock I don’t mind it. In fact, I kind of like it. It’s fun getting new content.
@PessitheMystic
It varies, games like Xenoblade 2 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe feel like complete packages as-is.
Animal Crossing New Horizons felt like a barebones package at launch, with critical features being added over time.
Nintendo Switch Sports only have 6 sports available at launch, three of which being variations of hitting something over a net on a playing field, does make it feel like an incomplete package.
They fear someone may post an image or video of a glitch and create a bad optic. That said, someone WILL post an image or video of a glitch and create a bad optic.
There is and were tens of thousands of games betas with the same no-share policy in the past decade, yet it is a problem if Nintendo do it ?
Another bad faith complaint. Period.
I get why they are doing this, but I wonder how many people are going to actually not share anything. It seems like it is something impossible to control.
Oh it's gonna happen. Them telling everyone not to is an exercise in futility.
@romanista I mean, you are getting rewarded for helping them out with development and getting to play the game early, that's good enough right? Or is this the world that we live now that if you can't share a screenshot on Twitter, it's a disaster? C'mon folks.
I just wanted to know how well tracks the events with joycon before I can be to excited:
@RupeeClock to be honest, I like it this way. Of course, there are some that were pretty lacking (like Mario Golf and Animal Crossing), but, except those who live with updates (like Splatoon and Arms), all the other games felt complete at launch and gain only marginal things (I'm just talking about free updates, not DLCs). Sometimes weren't even planned (like the extra mode on Kirby). Let's take this Switch Sports as example: I want to play all the sports. Why should I wait autumn to play them all when I can already play all of them except Golf in april? Just like I played Mario Odyssey in October without waiting the Luigi' Baloon to be included (for example)
@RupeeClock ummm, Nintendo games always arrive complete. They always add modes later.
@Edu23XWiiU
Animal Crossing New Horizons felt considerably barebones at launch, as compared to Animal Crossing New Leaf.
This is not an uncommon sentiment either.
These features were not "modes" either, they were important chunks of the game like the art gallery of the museum, or being able to dive for sea creatures.
Why didn't they do this with Wii Sports Club, THE PUN WRITES ITSELF.
@RupeeClock In the case of Animal Crossing, it's to give the game its respective breathing with all the features it has from start, with the daily activities you do, it's already a complete game. You're just complaining for the sake of complaining.
@Edu23XWiiU
The first-week experience of a player who started a year or two later is going to be much better than that of a player starting at the game's launch.
That isn't complaining for the sake of complaining, that's discussing the value of the package when it launches.
Consider this, Nintendo frequently only announce games a few months before they launch, as is the case with Nintendo Switch Sports.
They could've waited many more months to ship a more complete package, and delay the announcement by just as much time. This wouldn't have really impacted the consumer's perspective as much.
I agree with @RupeeClock iIm really worried about how the play test is going to go. They said it was meant to test servers, but it makes no sense to not talk about the game if that’s the case.
Odd and concerning.
@RupeeClock not just Nintendo Microsoft aswell with their flagship IP halo infinite that's just the way gaming is headed release it unfinished add content & patch it later
Or share under a sub-account.
I find it odd that someone would expect a beta test to allow footage to be shown before the game releases to the public. I occasionally do beta tests, and for every game I've played, mums the word, can't upload videos or screenshots or tell anyone anything.
I was looking forward to recording this, but it's no big deal, I can wait until it launches. Still excited to try it out.
This is pretty standard stuff, isn’t it?
@RupeeClock Value of package when a game launches from Nintendo's site is always of a complete game. They add stuff later on, but that doesn't make the game feel incomplete at any level. In the case of Switch Sports, it already has a lot of content, and I don't think that the game will be broken or glitchy at launch, which has happened with other games that have been rushed to launch sooner than that they were complete, like Cyberpunk 2077, No Man's Sky, Street Fighter V, among others, those are games that arrived incomplete in every way.
@RupeeClock Very curious what made you include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe when it included the DLC from the Wii U game at no extra charge and the announced DLC that's going to start arriving in a month was announced nearly five years after the game came out.
I understand where you're coming from, but try to learn the difference between a 1.0 feature complete game with optional DLC and a beta disguised as a 1.0 that was rushed out the door.
@Kilroy
I only really mentioned MK8 Deluxe because it was fresh on my mind after the recent announcement.
That said, when you think about it the original Wii U launch felt a bit unfinished because it lacked a proper battle mode. Instead of battling on proper arenas, they re-used racing tracks.
@Troll_Decimator I didn't meanie should be rewarded for testing btw.. I meant I found it weird they put the download in the 'mynintendoreward' section of the website.. If they want you to agree to those terms (not sharing) or want to get a good evaluation, that seems an odd spot...
@RupeeClock Interesting. Any local multiplayer I did was actual racing and never cared for battle mode, so I just assumed there were always exclusive courses.
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