Back in January 2017 Nintendo talked for the first time about their revolutionary online service for Nintendo Switch. Kimishima stated "you will be able to invite friends to play online, set play appointments and chat with them in compatible games, all from your smart device".
Sounds cool. Maybe I'm out and about and suddenly I want to play Splatoon or Smash with my friends. So I could set a play appointment for the night and invite them. And even when I'm at home, let's say I was playing Mario Oddyssy, I could invite friends to play another game on my phone without changing the game until the party is set up. The app seemed like a great idea when it was revealed.
Some days latter, Reggie chimed in. He said the infamous phrase: "there are no friend codes in what we are doing". Then he said another thing I belive most people forgot: "the amount of servers we need to support Smash Brothers or Mario Kart — these big multiplayer games — is not a small investment". As you may know, neither of those games have dedicated servers... and long live the friend codes.
Then in June 2017, they declared the service. In the press release, they still stated that the
"app will help players chat with their friends during online matches in compatible games, set play appointments, and invite their friends to join them online". Oh and they also mentioned Nintendo eShop deals for subscribers: "special offers that may include discounts on select digital games and content".
Now we'll be entering 2019 pretty soon. There's no play appointments. Splatoon 2 is the only game that supports invites. There are no eShop deals. There are no servers. But of course there are friend codes.
They promised those features for fall 2017. They delayed the service a full year yet still they couldn't deliver most of them. What happened? Did they give up with their service? Why they kept lying to us, multiple times, about features that would never come?
I don't think they just didn't have enough time to develop the service... Something must have changed internally and Nintendo and now they have very different plans. I belive the ambitious online service they talked about just no longer exists.
Sounds cool. Maybe I'm out and about and suddenly I want to play Splatoon or Smash with my friends. So I could set a play appointment for the night and invite them. And even when I'm at home, let's say I was playing Mario Oddyssy, I could invite friends to play another game on my phone without changing the game until the party is set up. The app seemed like a great idea when it was revealed.
Some days latter, Reggie chimed in. He said the infamous phrase: "there are no friend codes in what we are doing". Then he said another thing I belive most people forgot: "the amount of servers we need to support Smash Brothers or Mario Kart — these big multiplayer games — is not a small investment". As you may know, neither of those games have dedicated servers... and long live the friend codes.
Then in June 2017, they declared the service. In the press release, they still stated that the
"app will help players chat with their friends during online matches in compatible games, set play appointments, and invite their friends to join them online". Oh and they also mentioned Nintendo eShop deals for subscribers: "special offers that may include discounts on select digital games and content".
Now we'll be entering 2019 pretty soon. There's no play appointments. Splatoon 2 is the only game that supports invites. There are no eShop deals. There are no servers. But of course there are friend codes.
They promised those features for fall 2017. They delayed the service a full year yet still they couldn't deliver most of them. What happened? Did they give up with their service? Why they kept lying to us, multiple times, about features that would never come?
I don't think they just didn't have enough time to develop the service... Something must have changed internally and Nintendo and now they have very different plans. I belive the ambitious online service they talked about just no longer exists.
The only accurate thing from all those interviews.
