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Nintendo to Discontinue Online Play for Wii and DS

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Probably won't help Wii U (Score: 5, Insightful)

by mth@pipedot.org on 2014-02-28 10:07 (#81)

If it's a cost-cutting operation, it might be related to the poor Wii U sales. If they're doing it in the hope Wii owners will buy a Wii U, I doubt that will work. I have a Wii and I never played online with it, so some users won't even notice the difference. People who will miss online play have to buy a new system and new games, so there is nothing that binds them to Nintendo. And since Nintendo was the one who switched off the online component for a system that was sold less than half a year ago, I don't expect they'll get much loyalty from those users.

Re: Probably won't help Wii U (Score: 4, Informative)

by tempest@pipedot.org on 2014-02-28 15:12 (#8A)

I'd say its a matter of cost cutting, but I wouldn't say it's unique to Nintendo. I bought Grand Tourismo 5 a week ago, the DLC voucher is only good for another two months and will then be unavailable. After 2 years availability of online play is fairly iffy. It seems like game companies have caught on that you can showcase online play as a feature, then pull the plug earlier to push purchases closer to the release date. You don't have to put up with the never ending resale market, or people like me who wait at least a year for the price to drop to $20.

Moderation

Time Reason Points Voter
2014-03-02 00:00 Informative +1 bryan@pipedot.org
2014-03-03 10:48 Insightful +1 canorris@pipedot.org
2014-03-02 04:15 Underrated +1 lacey@pipedot.org

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