3DS And Wii U Online Play Ends In "Early April" 2024

Why do they have to do this? This will encourage people to mod their systems.

Does this include the ability to redownload software from the eshop? Or does this only apply to online play?

Edit: this is from the faq in the link “For the foreseeable future, it will still be possible to download update data and redownload purchased software and downloadable content from Nintendo eShop.”

There are a lot of Pokémon games accessible via the 3DS as well. Does this mean all Pokémon will be stuck?

@Paddle1 Except people have been already doing that. So many online games of Mario Kart 8 Wii U and Splatoon 1 have cheaters using hacked Wii U.

Plus the fact servers for MK8 Wii U and Splatoon 1 were taken offline for awhile by hackers earlier this year only made the decision much easier for them.

Bank was my first question! 😂 Thankfully I’ll be able to finish up Ultra Sun/Moon and transfer, possibly ORAS too…. Need to get off my lazy duff, stop shiny hunting in S/V and focus on those

@Paddle1 Pokemon Bank will still be running according to their FAQ.

Predictable with the closure of the eShop for these systems, but this still saddens me. The 3DS and Wii U mark an era that saw my early struggles of independent adulthood, dating my eventual life partner, and starting my current career, among many other life events. Time to meet some more random hunters on MH4U while I still can 🫡😭

@Mauzuri @Waluigi451
For the foreseeable future, last paragraph.
I personally thought this ended when the eshop ended, so neat bit of news there for me.

Edit: sorry, friends. I must have caught that oh so brief period between y'all posting and the article update.

@makk_zucc
https://pretendo.network/

What I'd like to know is a list of games effected that have online play as part of their competition (Play 10 Ranked Games to unlock kind of deal) or helps the 100% competition go faster with EXP, items, etc.

@Tott Kinda. No new downloads can be made so if you did not download Bank and Transporter before the eShop shut, you're out of luck.

Whelp. Will try to play original Splatoon, Mario Kart 7, and other online games exponentially more now knowing that. What a huge downer.. Guess what though, after WiiU and 3DS, Nintendo Switch is the next on the chopping block albeit later down the road.

The original Mario Maker will feel hollow with no internet, same for Splatoon and others I'm sure.

@Liam_Doolan awesome. Because that “and other functionality” part of the Nintendo tweet was super vague. They scared me for a second there lol

@Angelic_Lapras_King They werent taken offline by hackers. Nintendo took them offline because they had a bug that could be exploited by hackers that they took ages to fix because they dont care.

From the Q&A "Please note that if an event occurs that would make it difficult to continue online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software, we may have to discontinue services earlier than planned" that sounds a little strange.

I’m honestly not surprised and not really upset by this. Yes, it’s a loss, but what percentage of Nintendo fans are actively playing online in 3DS and Wii U games right now? The biggest losses will be Mario Maker Wii U and the 3DS Pokémon titles, but not much else, in my opinion. I just don’t see this as a massive loss.

3ds era of pokemon was the best competitively and I still play online occasionally in contrast to switch era which I haven't played since I finished violet. Also, every course of mario kart 7 has been ingrained in my head I played that for hundreds of hours and I still play that as well sometimes. It's hard to let it go.

@Shepdawg1 Fire Emblem Fates there is a Visitor and Battle Bonus for visiting and battling people in their castles. There's reward milestones for both category. These include weapons and stat boosters. Also, some castles by fellow players were designed to allow support bonus grinding and resource gathering. I still actively use these features, so personally, this is a huge blow. My days of grinding those lengthy bonuses are numbered. 😔

End of an era.

It's time to boot up Super Mario Maker, Splatoon 1, and Mario Kart 7 for a few more rodeos.

@Paddle1 Mario Maker will feel like the 3DS version of Mario Maker

A little sad for Monster Hunter 3U. It has voice chat through the controller by the way, that would have been something for the Switch!

Was just a matter of time. Still sucks though.

Noooo
I 'm still playing MH4U, MHG, MH3U, Splatoon, Zelda triforce Heroes etc.
And I need to start Heroes of Ruin, Fantasy Life.
There are still many people that plays online gaming on those 2 consoles.
Very bad news.

I mean, I get it, they can't keep the servers up forever, but still...

@mariomaster96 That version at least has some offline content, on Wii U all you'll be able to do is make courses that you can't upload.

well that sucks, I was hoping they would last a few good more years

Does anyone know if the Mario Kart 3DS game requires internet for you to play with people locally? I sometimes race with my sister but can't remember if that requires us to connect to the internet or if our systems are beaming to each other.

@Paddle1 encourage? We've already DONE it! Seriously, it is so easy to mod a 3ds, and it has lots of really great perks.

@SailorDonut It doesn't. Local multiplayer uses a local only technology in the 3DS. (it's not even "normal" wifi)

And so disappears free online gaming on consoles amd also the end of my time playing online multiplayer. Definitely not what I wanted to see when I woke up this morning.

Ha! Launch window of Switch2 is known now.

@MS7000
Yeah I'm not paying sh*t to use my own damn internet connection. Nintendo can blow me in that regard, they don't even provide an exceptional online service so they can doubly f*ck off asking for my money in a dumb subscription.

@Porky
"Guess what though, after WiiU and 3DS, Nintendo Switch is the next on the chopping block albeit later down the road."
Not really theoretically speaking, the Switch 2 should have the same online infrastructure as the Switch. So it wouldn't be the same sort of situation.

Feared this day for months, years even, and now it's come 😭
Fortunately, theyve given us notice for a few last sessions on Mario Maker, Mario Kart, Splatoon and so on...

@DiamondCore Not to mention any mystery mushroom costumes not obtained before april.

WiiU is only the previous generation. There’s absolutely no excuse for this.

Microsoft is really making a name for itself with all the backwards compatibility and access to older games. Why is Nintendo doing the exact opposite?

Oh yeah because, behind all those fluffy cute characters and colourful visuals, there’s just an evil corporation motivated by greed and NOT by the love of gaming.

Anyone defending this is delusional.
This company deserves to get pirated into oblivion if they continue like this.

Damn, that really is the final FINAL nail in the coffin for the 3DS/Wii U! Sad times.

Why can't they keep the servers going? Isn't the 3DS and WiiU's servers run on literally their own servers, called Nintendo Network? If it's theirs, all they have to do is maintain it..

Goodbye, Splatoon.

Nintendo, the home of great games and terrible decisions

@AlexanderDaniels Running servers still cost a lot of money, power, support, hardware, etc. And if player base is getting really low, I can see why you would want to take them offline.

@Olliemar28 Streetpass should be safe indefinitely. It doesn't require online whatsoever if I'm not mistaken. Just a local connection.

@sanderev With Nintendo charging money for what was free online up until the early years of Switch, a large percentage of that NSO money is profit. They can afford to maintain their own servers and keep their customers happy. See Microsoft's leading example.

@sanderev I heard Nintendo made a pretty good penny this year. They have no excuse. This is just a slap in the face of anyone who loves Nintendo for the nostalgia. It shows that only current consumers count for them, not the loyal ones who see value in old games.

Why is no one asking the serious questions? Like will everyone's favourite internet browser still work after this?

Not surprising, no one is playing online with the Wii U and 3DS anyways so no reason to keep their server up. At least with some games you can still play local multiplayer via ad-hoc link (DS/3DS) or split screen (GameCube/Wii/Wii U).

@DiamondCore Why do you think that hShop wouldn't work? Nintendo isn't making it so that the 3DS and Wii U can't access the internet, they're just closing the servers that the games run on.

I rarely play online multiplayer, so this doesn't affect me much, but I do have a question, regarding game versions, crucial patches and updates.

Say, if I want to buy Yoshi's Woolly World next year (I still haven't played it). Will I be able to update the game to its latest version? I'm so terrified at not being able to do this that I literally bought Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric (as part of my completionist desire to play the entire Sonic series) so I could get that vital game fixing patch that was like 1 gigabyte in size in order for it to be remotely playable.

@PinderSchloss Microsoft is ending the Xbox Store too and making every new consoles digital only so not sure why you thought Microsoft is keeping backwards compatibility. Microsoft is worst than both Sony and Nintendo combined as they are turning games into service and turning native gaming into cloud gaming. Also these gaming companies do not care about you, if it comes for them to closing shop they will close it, this not only apply to Microsoft but Sony, Nintendo, Valve, and Epic as well. Just remember that if things are online and digital, the likely chance that they could be shutting down is expected especially when next gen is around the corner.

@Paddle1,

They had to stop at some point, and have been kept going for a long time, if people that still have them want to mod, then it's another option for them.

@PinderSchloss
I blame the modders for this happening, if it wasn't for their antics then I feel confident this wouldn't happen.

The security problems with MK8 and Splatoon 1 resulting in a long server shutdown for maintenance combined with the eshop shutdown made it very clear the 3DS and Wii U servers were going to be fully shut down sooner rather than later but it's still sad to see the true end for these 2 consoles.

This was inevitable once hackers started using exploits to hack into other people's systems via online play (even if Nintendo was able to fix that issue for Mario Kart/Splatoon).

End of an era 🪦

Tbh it thought this had already happened with eshop closure which I cared alot more about.
Im not happy about it but im more indifferent at this stage. Only used either systems for one player since switch launched.

I'm not sure why people except Gaming companies to support consoles 7 years + after their replacement unless there's actually money in it for them. Every other product I own seemingly has support abandoned 2-4 years after launching a successor.

The 3DS came out in 2011and the Wii U in 2012, it's a pretty decent run, and in the case of the Wii U, nobody actually bought it, or at least not many in the overall scheme of things, hell even the 3DS was way down on the DS total.

So just how many people are really going to be affected by this, outside of core hobby gamers, I know I sold my systems years ago, the masses would have jumped ship too, I think we are complaining about a problem here that does not even exist.

@Serpenterror there was a leak of a digital only console from Microsoft yes but you just added a bunch of made up crap to that fact. Where does it say “all new consoles digital only”? They are also only shutting the 360 store but most of what is on there is backwards compatible (and will remain so) or is on disc too. Definitely sucks they are shutting it though I agree; but it doesn’t affect BC. The games that are being lost are due to issues around licensing that meant they couldn’t be BC. Not Xbox’s fault.

I can play most of the digital games I bought in 2006 from Xbox Live Arcade on my Series X… and they aren’t stopping that so not sure why you think they are. I can also still access my save from those games and still play them online (unless the servers shut e.g. EA games).

Does this mean any badges I have displayed on my 3DS home screen will be stuck there forever once Nintendo Badge Arcade presents the error screen? Not an issue, just curious.

@AlexanderDaniels You don't know how many money from NSO is profit for Nintendo. And you also don't know what Nintendo does with their profit.

But honestly, how would you explain to shareholders that you use your profit of a new system to keep old servers up and running? Without them generating any profit in the first place.

"The way microsoft does it". Nintendo does not have anywhere near the money or the cloud-power Microsoft has. Honestly, even if XBOX would make a loss (which it did for many many years) Microsoft would still make A LOT of more money from selling Windows, Office and subscriptions. (most of them cloud based) So for them keeping servers running is either A. a good example of their cloud solutions (which makes them BILLIONS) or B. a simple write-off. Also XBOX Live has always been a paid service, so keeping servers running actually makes them money.

Honestly even Sony closes servers from old games / platforms.

That sucks. Least there's time to get some final Mario Kart 7 matches in. And (for now at least) Streetpass remains active.

But then, keeping servers up for an ever decreasing player base must me expensive and eventually something has to give.

Godawful company. Regularly playing MK7/8, Splatoon and XCX online still. They always do this, no matter the console or its amount of success. Absolutely bonkers, screw these guys

Not surprising. Hard for me to care since I haven't turned my Wii U or 3DS on in years, let alone played online. Sucks for the very small minority of folks that still playing online games on these consoles I suppose.

homebrew all the way baby

This is why we always need a ADHOC on any Game , in case the Online is get shutdown

@johnvboy "So just how many people are really going to be affected by this, outside of core hobby gamers, I know I sold my systems years ago, the masses would have jumped ship too, I think we are complaining about a problem here that does not even exist."

Well no wonder you don't think it is a problem; you are not affected. Not your monkey, not your circus, right? I think most people affected realise that complaining is futile, but what else do you want people to do; not say anything? And modding is hardly a desirable solution when the legality is questionable.

Well, at the very least they need to port over the levels / mini-games over from Splatoon 1 to 3 in the DLC.

@steely_pete This is Nintendo we're talking about, they never got online right (It's a big blind spot for them, somehow), and insisting on re-inventing the wheel every single time...

OK, pokemon Bank and redownloading digital games were my main worries, but it seems those will still be safe for now.
Ending online play sucks, and games like Tri-Force Heroes and Splatoon will be practically unplayable now. Hopefully they'll get ports to the Switch 2...

Does this point towards new hardware being released Spring next year? Free up server space for launch title Metroid MMO? Where we are all bounty hunters trying to hunt down Samus.

It's understandable, though I understand people that still play online regularly on 3DS/Wii U will be rightfully bummed out. Might have to get a few matches of Mario Golf+Kart 3DS and trade/battle in the 3DS Pokemon games before then.

@beazlen1 Throw in that Nintendo just confirmed Switch support till March 2025, and an April/March release for Switch 2 (or whatever it is) makes sense

So we have servers being freed up in early April and Switch support for a year after. The former is something you do before new hardware, the other about a year after.

@johnvboy adding to your comment. The DS launched in 2004 and the online service in November 2005, the Wii came out in 2006 and the online play of both systems ended on May 2014.

That's about 8 years and a half for the DS and about 7 years and a half for the Wii. Now, by the time this happens on 3DS and Wii U, it'll be a little over 13 years for the 3DS and about 12 years and 5 months for the Wii U.

Funny enough, they seem to have done things in reverse this time. On the DS/Wii, they shut down online play first (though I heard it had to do with GameSpy stopping running their Nintendo servers or something like that) then their online stores, while on the 3DS/Wii U, they shut down their eShops first and then online play.

I may not agree with the decision, but I understand there are reasons to do it.

As for StreetPass, can they really shut it down? I mean, isn't it just local communications?

@RubyCarbuncle For Switch support?

https://www.techpowerup.com/314367/nintendo-will-support-switch-until-march-2025

Almost quite literally a piece of me inside will die when my MK7 no longer goes online. It’s just such a shame..

Not shocked. Servers have a cost after all.

I barely ever use online stuff on 3DS (even in New Leaf or MK7), but my Pokemon trading prospects have always been limited to it in the absence of offline options (back during my Blue playthrough, it took me months to locate ONE guy with a Red copy on his 3DS in Minsk... and then our conflicting schedules saw us never managing a meetup anyway). After Sword started abridging the national dex, I figured Moon would be the one game to try and "catch 'em all" in; now, it sounds like I have a deadline for that, too. Prepare to see the game namedropped a lot in my Saturday plan comments, I guess.😆

RIP Badge Arcade, too. The game's comparatively autonomous nature has seen it persevere through what seemed like MULTIPLE EoS stages but this looks like the impending finisher for it after all. And over all these last couple years there wasn't even anyone left on the job to figure out maintained box badge functionality.🙄

All this stuff will surely fuel people's paranoia about redownloads as well, although it's still wise to consider that Wii and DSi storage servers have apparently outlived their respective platforms by almost two generations and counting. "Foreseeable future" is primarily worded to proof Nintendo against literally endless commitments because who would ever want one of those?😏

@Paddle1 not any more than eShop transaction shutdown already did last year. Although even then I opted to invest in a separate modded system instead, especially since reading about the matter revealed the process to be a relative hassle.

vixe, games like Splatoon will be negatively impacted by this decision, and such decision encourage people to mod they Wii U/3DS

@dudujencarelli they said that you will still be able to download game updates and redownload games you’ve purchased - this is just for online play

And in a few years we will see the same story about the switch. Anything digital or online is temporary. I’m more than half a century old and still enjoy playing physical games I’ve owned since the 70s, 80s, 90s, and beyond. They don’t need an internet connection to play, or to validate my identity (I’m looking at you DRM), and still work fine to enjoy anytime, anywhere, on any compatible system.

Goodbye, Kid Icarus: Uprising multiplayer.

Well... at least it's not March 30th.

I see some people are upset by this but I don't see anyone caring that Badge Arcade Bunny will lose his job. He's got 18 kids and a mortgage to pay.

Starting to think Nintendo fans don't care about the welfare of the employees...

@DiamondCore wait, this will stop homebrew from connecting to the internet?

This was something poised to come earlier than expected after the major vulnerability over the course of this year for certain games, with Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 going under maintenance for an absurd amount of time. It clearly costed them resources they didn't like to spend, so it's much easier for them to simply cut it short.

Ah well, 6 months notice given...make the most of it or find yourself alternative means methinks! I'm sure they have stats on the amount of traffic they get, if it's only a handful of diehards, I can't see them keeping it up if they have nothing to gain by it.

Nothing lasts forever and those systems have long since crossed the end of their lifespans. It was gonna happen eventually.

So that will be the day the original Splatoon will officially be dead huh. Such a shame.

@martynstuff Luckily Badge Arcade Bunny still has his side job in Smash.

Time to finally mod my Wii U, then.

@Paddle1 That's exactly what you should do right now.

@sanderev I would pay a fee to be able to access older games from other systems like MSFT….I hope at least Switch games will be accessible on the next system. That would really add value to NSO.

@MS7000,

It's not a problem, most have moved on to other things, yes there will be a small minority affected by all this, but we do not have a right to expect Nintendo to support this forever.

@johnvboy "It's not a problem for me."

There we go. And again, as I said in my last comment, I think most people affected realise that complaining is futile.

"...we do not have a right to expect Nintendo to support this forever."

Who is "we" in this context? You have already said you have no skin in the game.

It would be nice, if NL would do a poll, to ask who's still using their Online Features on those two Systems. I bet it's not even 3% of this Hardcore Nintendo Community... And even less so with other demographic. Everything has to come to an end and I think that Nintendo went above and beyond to provide servers, especially for WiiU.

@rockodoodle Honestly, I hope Nintendo will just add BC to the next system.

@JohnnyMind
3DS/Wii U being backwards compatible with NDS/Wii didn't prevent Nintendo from shutting down NDS/Wii online play in 2014.

With that being said, regardless of whether Switch 2 is backwards-compatible or not, I expect Nintendo to keep Switch online play alive for way way longer since online gaming on Switch is far bigger now than it was on previous Nintendo platforms.

sad to see an era truly come to a close, this was the first one i got to experience from a full beginning to end

at this point there was no proper way to end it, just rip it off like a bandaid and let to wound heal. but if riiconnected24 and pretendo network means anything, its that anyone who truly still wants to play their 3ds/wii u online, eventually will

@martynstuff he was laid off his job but now gets to live his dream as a nintendo youtuber, sharing his love and game collection with the world. he's popular, happy, and doesnt have any scandals

@MS7000,

You are not reading my posts for some reason, or are not understanding them.

I said it's not an issue for many.

@westman98 3DS and Wii online got shut down because of external reasons so it's exactly the same. Nintendo is in control now.

Not the news I wanted to wake up to, but sadly not unexpected either. I'm glad Pokemon Bank is still viable for a little while yet, but I'll likely finally cave and sub to Pokemon Home when this shutdown phase rolls up.

@PinderSchloss Microsoft just shut down their servers for the 360 Halo games like a year ago lmao.

@johnvboy Funny you say that. i don't think you are reading or understanding mine.

I said "I think most people affected realise that complaining is futile". I never said that people affected make up the majority, which you know I said as you conceded in your second post that only a minor amount are affected. My gripe is your immediate need to defend "big corporate entity" when you have no benefit either way since as you have said, you have sold your consoles anyway. So again; who is "we"?

While I do also have them on Xbox, I am a little sad for D&D Chronicles of Mystara and Mass Effect 3. Always liked playing them on Wii U, and the communities were small but nice.

Looks like I’ve gotta go play Mario Kart 7 and Luigis Mansion Dark Moon now.

@MS7000,

Not defending Nintendo, it's up to them what they do with the service, I was only suggesting it's not that big of a deal, in my own humble opinion.

Not sure when anyone does not agree with the people on here, that Nintendo are doing the wrong thing, that they are automatically labeled as a Nintendo defender, I just do not agree with people on this, my position in Nintendo is irrelevant.

Just remember. Someday the Switch servers will shut down and we can have the exact same conversation here. It was a good run for 3ds. Bums me out really.

@johnvboy you know the rules by now...

OH COME ON!! :’(

@johnvboy I'm not sure where you got me accusing you of being a "Nintendo" defender from my comment. I specifically said "big corporate entity" because their never seems to be a shortage of people who go to bat for any company regardless of what they do; that is not exclusive to Nintendo, and not my gripe with your opinion.

@HammerKirby I’m not saying they’re perfect. I kind of get how individual online games can’t exist forever. But I can play Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey on a modern console. That means something to me.

Let us toast to Nintendo and their obsession with throwing their games into the river Styx for no reason at all!

And this is why I always encouraged people to mod their 3ds.

Truly the end of an era.

Of course the real news here is that free online Mario Kart will be coming to an end

Nintendo honestly makes the best games and put the goofiest of smiles on my face, but unfortunately they're completely apathetic to game preservation. I hate the concept of modding, but I won't frown upon it in this circumstance. A lot of my fav games heavily used online play, so I cannot defend this.

@WiltonRoots

I know the rules, but I just do not agree with them.

@MS7000,

It's not people batting for them, but simply not agreeing with all the people suggesting they are evil all the time, just a difference of opinion.

Not having at you personally, you feel strongly about this, and more power to you.

This doesn't bother me so much. There were a lot of security flaws in the connectivity anyway. Remember all those horror stories about hackers bricking consoles through it? Not to mention I didn't use many online features that generation. The only thing that saddens me is that Splatoon 1 is basically a paper weight now. Sad fate for one of the best shooters of all time. But I'm sure some tech savvy people are working on making private servers or whatever as we speak.

@Porky omg hi porky huge fan!

@Angelic_Lapras_King It wasn't hackers doing the taking down, nintendo wanted to prevent bad actors from using an exploit

The only Metroid game I have not finished is Federation Force because single player is too hard and nobody is online. Someone should set up a day, for everyone who wants to play it, to go online and actually find players. Now there is a deadline too.

Sad from a nostalgic view but I can’t say I’ve played a single game online on either platform since the Switch released. I imagine that’s the case for many people bemoaning the decision too. I know there still are people playing these consoles but they had to pull the plug eventually and keeping them online for over 12 years isn’t bad going. The eShop closure was the real stinger for me

I'm very dissapointed as I still play mario maker to this day. Would be cool if they released all the levels somehow for people that want to continue playing.

@LXP8 nope, they work independently of the app. i've used homebrew to make custom ones as well as downloading some of the ones that were on the app, and they work fine

For me the biggest loss from this will be Zelda Tri Force Heroes. Still the best multiplayer Zelda experience in my opinion, and it will continue to draw interest over time as a mainline Zelda game. Right now you can fire it up online with friends, but soon I'm guessing you'll have to be in proximity to each other. Well, at least that's easier than Four Swords Adventures.

I really enjoyed the online feature of Pokémon X&Y and SM more than the Switch games and the fact that you still see many playing online today. Such a big disappointment that this will come to an end soon.

@Moistnado
I am up for that, am struggling on a few later levels. Not many in lobby sometimes

So how does this affect homebrew? I have yet to hack my spare 3DS and Wii U, but guess I have to do now? Purely for my own backups and any mods that are useful.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! excuse me while i sit in the corner and cry

Hey, we all knew this day is coming. Sucks but it happens.

Funny, I was under the impression it was dead this whole time already. Not really news to me. But ok.

Fun fact, this will happen almost 10 years after they did the same to the DS/Wii services.
I knew this would happen one day, but still, the memories...

@johnvboy some things will never change. “What do you mean you disagree with me??!!?!??!? Corporate shill!!!!”

@WiltonRoots,

I have been warned about you. sticking up for this $billion dollar company.

@sanderev Indeed, it can be costly unless you’ve developed your backend software to be compatible and own your own server farm business. MS is able to keep most(not all as even they have shut down services) of their services up for the 360 because they can utilize the same servers and just scale as needed. Meaning if noone plays, it basically costs nothing.

I expect Nintendo will be following this model from the switch onward(as will sony from the ps4 onward) as they have both to some extent partnered with ms azure.

In short i expect well see all the major players improving in the online area