WiiU online discontinued date predictions?

[Ceresbane]

At the earliest I'm saying the moment online becomes a paid service.
Reasonable I say the first year of paid online.

Serving as an example though. PSN to this day still has free ps3 online.

 

[Dessgeega]

Probably not for a couple years minimum, if just because of the enduring popularity of games like Smash Bros and Mario Kart. New versions or not, they'll want to ride that money train as long as they can.

 

[Ceresbane]

Probably not for a couple years minimum, if just because of the enduring popularity of games like Smash Bros and Mario Kart. New versions or not, they'll want to ride that money train as long as they can.

not really how that works seeing as they don't gain anymore money by continuing the service on that platform (unless they plan to add dlc).

This is why rereleases and reboots exist for milking an existing franchise. If anything, its a PR related thing, where the company keeps its promise to keep its online (most likely making previously server based games into p2p).

Might I reference the recent discontinuation of PS3 support for server based mmo-rpg final fantasy 14. Meanwhile games like street fighter third strike can still be online (because its p2p).

Just need a confirm here. Does splatoon use a server for online play or is it p2p? Smash bros is (for 3ds at least dunno bout wiiu)

 

[Dessgeega]

Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart 7 lasted six years. Diamond and Pearl lasted 7. I'm looking at the online life spans of various Nintendo games, and the average is 5 to 6 years. Smash Wii U and Mario Kart 8 came out 3 years ago, Splatoon 2 years ago, so if the trend continues they've got a good amount of shelf life to them still. Whether the communities are still around is a different matter, of course.

Splatoon uses peer to peer and connects to a server for validation and matchmaking, which is a set-up that costs them a trivial amount of money to keep running.

Also, you're comparing an mmo which demands many active players and a one-on-one fighting game. The latter could live forever even if the number of active players was in the single digits, the former not so much. Not to mention FF14's situation is a different beast, they're offering free upgrades to the PS4 versions for all existing users, so it's just technology marching on.

 

[Fullmental]

Probably not for a couple years minimum, if just because of the enduring popularity of games like Smash Bros and Mario Kart. New versions or not, they'll want to ride that money train as long as they can.

Haha I remember when I said the same thing about the DS Wifi connection, because of course they'd wait a few years after releasing popular games like Black2 and White2, right? Nope, not even a year after releasing X/Y and barely 18 months years after B2W2 released they shut it down...They also killed it for Mario Kart 7 at the same time, a full week before Mario Kart 8 was even released. Talk about no crossover...

 

[ZEROrevive]

Just to add to this- The Wii and DS's servers were mostly shut down due to GameSpy. You can read about it here. So it may not be the best judgement to use on when Wii U's online service will close its doors.

 

[Dessgeega]

Fair points. Either way, I'm standing by my 2 year guess for various reasons like the peer-to-peer system.

Have any 3DS or Wii U games shut off yet? I mean, Steel Divers Sub Wars and Denpa Men 2/3 are still going, as obscure as they are.

 

[Fullmental]

Fair points. Either way, I'm standing by my 2 year guess for various reasons like the peer-to-peer system.

Have any 3DS or Wii U games shut off yet? I mean, Steel Divers Sub Wars and Denpa Men 2/3 are still going, as obscure as they are.

I'll say that since Nintendo is clearly supporting the 3DS into 2018, it's fair to assume that the online services (which are unified on both systems) will continue to operate at least that long. How much longer probably depends on how much traffic it gets. For example, if Splatoon and Mario Kart drop to almost nothing following their Switch releases, then they wouldn't be a driving factor in keeping the service alive. Either that, or they might drop Wii U support first and drop to a minimum number of servers to support 3DS, while reallocating the old hardware to the new Switch platform. Really, there's no way to know how it'll turn out. However you look at it, Nintendo's 3DS and Wii U networks are doing nothing but costing the company money as a free service, so they're more likely to drop it as soon as they can than keep it alive when barely anyone uses it. Also, Nintendo is known for being a pathological liar when it comes to this stuff (remember when they said the GBA wasn't going away and a new successor would be released alongside the DS? Remember when the Switch was a "third pillar" in the gaming generation? etc).

 

[Dessgeega]

I'll say that since Nintendo is clearly supporting the 3DS into 2018, it's fair to assume that the online services (which are unified on both systems) will continue to operate at least that long. How much longer probably depends on how much traffic it gets. For example, if Splatoon and Mario Kart drop to almost nothing following their Switch releases, then they wouldn't be a driving factor in keeping the service alive. Either that, or they might drop Wii U support first and drop to a minimum number of servers to support 3DS, while reallocating the old hardware to the new Switch platform. Really, there's no way to know how it'll turn out. Nintendo is known for being a pathological liar when it comes to this stuff (remember when they said the GBA wasn't going away and a new successor would be released alongside the DS? Remember when the Switch was a "third pillar" in the gaming generation? etc).

Well they're hardly alone in that regard when it comes to lying, but yeah. Guess we'll see how robust the communities are. I'm kinda hoping, if just for entertainment's sake, that we wind up with another Melee situation someday.

 

[Ceresbane]

Peer 2 Peer should be free since Nintendo aren't providing any kind of service to provide the connection. Thats your ISP doing that. Online ranked is barely Nintendo contributing, they can cancel that if they really want.

So long as I can continue to play splatoon.

*edit

Slightly unrelated.

But when did the ds and wii eshop get discontinued since the release of the newer console?
I just wanna see how long I might have before I have a clear idea on what Wiiu exclusives (or not yet on switch as of today), will not be on switch.

 

[Fullmental]

Peer 2 Peer should be free since Nintendo aren't providing any kind of service to provide the connection. Thats your ISP doing that. Online ranked is barely Nintendo contributing, they can cancel that if they really want.

So long as I can continue to play splatoon.

And what service do you think does the matchmaking and serves the results? Without that, Splatoon would wind up LAN-only.

 

[ZEROrevive]

But when did the ds and wii eshop get discontinued since the release of the newer console?
I just wanna see how long I might have before I have a clear idea on what Wiiu exclusives (or not yet on switch as of today), will not be on switch.

According to Wikipedia...

Presently succeeded by the Nintendo eShop, the Wii Shop Channel remains accessible on the Wii U console via Wii Mode, supporting the download of most WiiWare titles, as well as most legacy, Wii-based Virtual Console titles, consequently allowing users to continue purchasing/downloading many Virtual Console titles that are yet to be available via the Nintendo eShop.

 

[RelicRaider]

I'm worried about 3DS servers, but what's reassuring is that yes, the 3DS family is still being supported 6-7 years on. What saddened me the other day though was I couldn't find a single game just by going online on Mariokart 7, and that was the first game I ever played online, and I watched it evolve from everyone choosing the wuhu mountain loop just so they could skip a whole lap, to people still choosing that and trying the glitch after the update and sit there for the whole race losing. I did on the other hand, find a group in communities, but I had a lot of memories with that game so it's sad to see people are leaving it behind.


As for Wii U servers, they could possibly shut off before The 3DS ones, but then again the Miiverse community goes hand in hand so not so sure. The Wii and DS servers (what little there was of the DS ones) were still running til the Wii U was in its swing (again, what little there was) I believe. I think it was March something 2013/14. We've got a few years yet.

 

[Lyn]

I feel like they'll probably wait longer this time. The Wii U is a LOT more online dependent than the Wii or DS were, especially with things like Miiverse and Splatoon being so major. Splatoon 1 would essentially be selling a broken game at that point. Can you even start Splatoon without online?

 

[ZEROrevive]

Can you even start Splatoon without online?

You can, your Plaza will just be empty without any inklings- except for some default ones made by nintendo for when the game has been booted up for the first time (or in this case, is offline). I'm pretty sure thats what happens at least but its been a while...dont quote me on that.

If starting a new game though, shops would be unusable (your too unfresh and cant level up) and you would be limited to single player and local multiplayer mode (that infamous one nobody uses). So you would be missing alot.

 

[Fullmental]

I feel like they'll probably wait longer this time. The Wii U is a LOT more online dependent than the Wii or DS were, especially with things like Miiverse and Splatoon being so major. Splatoon 1 would essentially be selling a broken game at that point. Can you even start Splatoon without online?

Splatoon will be a broken shell of its former self the second Splatoon 2 releases. It also has a hacking/cheating problem, which will only become more apparent as regulars move to the new game, leaving only the hackers and unfortunate regulars without a switch playing.

 

[Ceresbane]

Splatoon will be a broken shell of its former self the second Splatoon 2 releases. It also has a hacking/cheating problem, which will only become more apparent as regulars move to the new game, leaving only the hackers and unfortunate regulars without a switch playing.

Seems legit.

 

[Fisherman]

I don't think they will voluntarily shut it down, the Wii/DS server's were shut down because GameSpy (the company that hosted the servers) went bankrupt, and Nintendo probably thought there wasn't a point on buying new servers.

 

[WOOMY Y NGYES]

I read that they will discontinue online at ends of 2017 sadly,probably that soon because the Wii U was a failure and Nintendo wants to try that the Wii U never existed.

 

[Dessgeega]