Retro games will still come, but they'll stand alone.
Among the items retired in the transition to Switch will be the Virtual Console name.
Following the announcement of Nintendo Switch Online adding enhanced NES games, Nintendo issued a statement to Kotaku regarding the status of the legacy Virtual Console service:
“There are currently no plans to bring classic games together under the Virtual Console banner as has been done on other Nintendo systems... There are a variety of ways in which classic games from Nintendo and other publishers are made available on Nintendo Switch, such as through Nintendo Entertainment System – Nintendo Switch Online, Nintendo eShop or as packaged collections".
Classic games on Switch are currently represented through the Arcade Archives service from Hamster (SNK/Irem/Nintendo) and Flying Tiger Entertainment (Data East), as well as through collections such as the upcoming Mega Man (X) and Street Fighter collections from Capcom and the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection published by NIS America. Sega has also announced their Sega Ages line of enhanced releases from M2 will launch on Switch.
I can't wait for the first batch of games that Nintendo yanks from their online service because they have a competing product to sell, probably starting when they want to sell that N64 Mini.
And don't say it won't happen because the oh-so-precious Netflix pulls shows & films all the time, and Nintendo just DID that with Tropical Freeze on the Wii U.
By ditching Virtual Console branding, Nintendo’s strategy may be offering consumers two choices: buy a Classic Edition console to own these games or pay the membership fee for access to them.
Yikes. An account system that transfers your purchases is an existing concept that Nintendo could easily implement. If software isn’t locked to a platform, it seems Nintendo wants people paying for these games in perpetuity.
Hopefully just the branding of the VC is done away with and one day we'll get to purchase those old games like we are accustomed to. Still all of us paid for them games 35 times over, let me just move em forward once more Nintendo!
I've never used Virtual Console much at all since I still own all my classic games, but this is still disappointing to hear. Nintendo's clearly not listening to consumers, many of whom have been begging for Switch Virtual Console since the system was released. This will greatly limit the number of classic games we can play on the go.
Actually it looks like they did. For years people complained the prices of games were too expensive on the Virtual Console so now they're turning it into a subscription based service. For the general public this will certainly be a better deal to most of them since now people will have access to a larger number of games for a much lower price then having to buy them individually would have been before.That still sounds like Nintendo didn’t listen to consumers. People complained about the price so instead of just lowering the price and/or tying purchases to an account like every other platform, Nintendo took Virtual Console away entirely, locking past purchases to old hardware forever, then gave consumers something else that they now always have to pay for to have access to.
Actually it looks like they did. For years people complained the prices of games were too expensive on the Virtual Console so now they're turning it into a subscription based service. For the general public this will certainly be a better deal to most of them since now people will have access to a larger number of games for a much lower price then having to buy them individually would have been before.That still sounds like Nintendo didn’t listen to consumers. People complained about the price so instead of just lowering the price and/or tying purchases to an account like every other platform, Nintendo took Virtual Console away entirely, locking past purchases to old hardware forever, then gave consumers something else that they now always have to pay for to have access to.
I figured Nintendo would be dropping the Virtual Console name for Switch, but hopefully they'll still sell games outside of the sub service.Hopefully. I’m not sure what dropping the Virtual Console name accomplishes to that end. Maybe it helps organize third parties games that never appeared on Nintendo platforms before.
I figured it would mean that the games didn't have a set pricing structure by system, and instead had varying prices for games from the same system. Though I guess they did start doing a little bit of varying with the Game Boy VC. I don't know how the royalties / legal side of things work, but perhaps it would be easier and more profitable for third parties if they didn't have to use the VC name. No idea on that one though. I also figured it would mean the games could have more added features instead of just being straight-up emulations. And if there were any negative stigma with the VC name (not sure if there is, just pondering) it would help do away with that.I figured Nintendo would be dropping the Virtual Console name for Switch, but hopefully they'll still sell games outside of the sub service.Hopefully. I’m not sure what dropping the Virtual Console name accomplishes to that end. Maybe it helps organize third parties games that never appeared on Nintendo platforms before.