{"id":29344,"date":"2022-08-20T01:58:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T00:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/nintendo\/which-nintendo-series-would-work-best-as-a-free-to-play-game\/"},"modified":"2022-08-20T01:58:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-20T00:58:22","slug":"which-nintendo-series-would-work-best-as-a-free-to-play-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=29344","title":{"rendered":"Which Nintendo Series Would Work Best As A Free-To-Play Game?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"Live
Image: Nintendo Life<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Live service, free-to-play games are the new hotness. With massive fanbases built around games like Genshin Impact, Destiny, and Fortnite, which are regularly updated with new characters, content, and quests, it’s easy to see how other game development studios might be tempted over to the dark side.<\/p>\n

Games-as-a-service (GaaS) is a little hard to pin down when it comes to Nintendo, because the Japan-based mega-corp likes to forge its own path in everything.<\/p>\n

When microtransactions were the new trend, we saw Nintendo dabble in haggling with Rusty’s Real Deal Baseball. When ongoing mobile games were the flavour du jour<\/em>, Nintendo made their first one to test the waters: The surprisingly-pricey-for-a-mobile-game Super Mario Run. Now that subscriptions are the current fashion, Nintendo offers the NSO service and the Expansion Pack, neither of which are fantastic<\/em> value for money, but do offer extra content for existing games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.<\/p>\n

When it comes to live service games, Nintendo has once again dipped their toes in the water with games like Mario Kart Tour and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp… but it seems like they’re reluctant to leave the mobile game sphere.<\/p>\n

So, will Nintendo get into live service games properly \u2014 or will they forever be treated as experiments that never quite reach the level of success of, say, Final Fantasy XIV? Let’s take a look at which Nintendo games could benefit from a pivot into live service…<\/p>\n

Splatoon<\/h3>\n
\"Splatoon
Want your ink to be a cool purple? It’s a purchasable cosmetic!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As many people have argued, Nintendo abandoning Splatoon 2 to make Splatoon 3 is a frustrating move for many who still play the former regularly.<\/p>\n

Nintendo could have instead made Splatoon 2 into an ongoing live service game, with regular updates, season pass content, and server support to keep it going well into the future, rather than just ditching it for something new and shiny (that some seem to think isn’t different enough<\/em> to warrant a whole sequel).<\/p>\n

Given that Splatoon draws its inspiration from other online shooters like Destiny, it’s strange that the games are still treated as standalone releases with a limited shelf life.<\/p>\n

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Would Splatoon make a good live service game? (619 votes)<\/h3>\n
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  1. Yes<\/strong>68<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. No<\/strong>32<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    Pok\u00e9mon<\/h3>\n
    \"Pokemon
    Buy yourself a cape like Leon’s!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    The Pok\u00e9mon series has dabbled in games-as-a-service a few times, and despite a few successes (Pok\u00e9mon GO, Pok\u00e9mon UNITE) many of the games just haven’t really caught on in a massive way. There was the disappointing Pok\u00e9mon Shuffle, which relied too heavily on timers; Pok\u00e9mon Caf\u00e9 Mix, which gets barely any promotion from Nintendo or The Pok\u00e9mon Company, and Pok\u00e9mon Picross, which was made by the Picross studio Jupiter, but involved too many stingy free-to-play mechanics.<\/p>\n

    They just can’t seem to get it right. But Pok\u00e9mon Sword and Shield made some moves in the right direction, with new Pok\u00e9mon being added on a fairly regular basis, plus two large DLCs that allowed you to visit new areas, catch new Legendaries, and find new items. Given how many people get angry about limited Pok\u00e9dexes in every single new release, we can imagine that a Pok\u00e9mon game that gradually introduces every<\/em> Pok\u00e9mon over a series of months might be a very, very popular idea indeed.<\/p>\n

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    Would Pok\u00e9mon make a good live service game? (624 votes)<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. Yes<\/strong>28<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    2. No<\/strong>72<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      Animal Crossing<\/h3>\n
      \"Animal
      Only premium subscribers get the option to wear Bunny Shirt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

      Nintendo have already proved that they can do Animal Crossing-as-a-service with Pocket Camp \u2014 and that people really appreciate it, too.<\/p>\n

      Although Animal Crossing: New Horizons has a few updates here and there, notably the Happy Home Paradise DLC and the various items that get added for holidays and festivities, imagine an Animal Crossing game that gets the full<\/em> attention of a dedicated GaaS team. Imagine an Animal Crossing game that gives you new furniture, villagers, and mechanics on a regular basis, with a season pass that grants you access to special events and maybe even mechanics before the rest of the world. It would potentially smooth over all the difficulties that people experienced jumping from New Leaf to New Horizons and finding a lot less customisation and personality!<\/p>\n

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      Would Animal Crossing make a good live service game? (601 votes)<\/h3>\n
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      1. Yes<\/strong>52<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      2. No<\/strong>48<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

        Mario Maker<\/h3>\n
        \"Mario
        Imagine all the lovely items we could have<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

        Maybe Mario Maker would be better served as a live service game, rather than the game Nintendo always seems to forget about. We could get new asset packs, Nintendo-made levels, festive content, and maybe some season-pass-only abilities, like being able to set multiple endings, bonus goals, boss fights, ghost data, or power ups. Call us, Nintendo. We have big ideas.<\/p>\n

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        Would Mario Maker make a good live service game? (589 votes)<\/h3>\n
          \n
        1. Yes<\/strong>45<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
        2. No<\/strong>55<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

          Mario Party<\/h3>\n
          \"Mario
          Just don’t make it pay-to-win. No one likes that<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

          The Mario Party series has, for a while now, been little more than a light spruce-up every time it’s about time for a new release. Cool new mechanics, like the ones involving HD Rumble, are welcome \u2014 but few and far between, even in more recent Switch outings.<\/p>\n

          Mario Party is one of the games that would suit the free-to-play model best \u2014 if everyone was able to access a base version of the game, you’d get a lot more people wanting to buy the freemium content within, rather than asking all of your friends to fork out $60 for a copy each.<\/p>\n

          The content that you could get as extra stuff could be new boards, items, characters, themes, minigames… the list goes on!<\/p>\n

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          Would Mario Party make a good live service game? (575 votes)<\/h3>\n
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          1. Yes<\/strong>47<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
          2. No<\/strong>53<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

            Smash Bros.<\/h3>\n
            \"Smash
            Ridley is available in the Large Scary Boi fighter pack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

            For the periods when Smash Bros. games are putting out regular stage, costume, and character packs, the series is basically<\/em> a live service.<\/p>\n

            But imagine if the game had a longer shelf life, and the season pass granted you access to \u2014 for example \u2014 new characters as wide-ranging as those that Fortnite adds on a regular basis, plus massive events, tournaments, taunts, voice lines, and more. Smash Bros. could be a lot more colourful if it had lasting, ongoing support from its fans and players, rather than being supported for a few years and then left to slowly decay before the next instalment.<\/p>\n

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            Would Smash Bros. make a good live service game? (607 votes)<\/h3>\n
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            1. Yes<\/strong>40<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
            2. No<\/strong>60<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

              Mario Kart<\/h3>\n
              \"Mario
              Would you be more annoyed about Sky-High Sundae being a Mario Kart Tour track if it cost $3.99?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

              Nintendo’s approach to Mario Kart in recent years has been quite<\/em> weird. First, they released Mario Kart 8 in 2014 for the Wii U, later adding on DLC courses, characters, and free content like the Mercedes Benz pack (which we all agree was an odd choice). Then, they re-released Mario Kart 8 on the Switch, bundling in all the DLC (which was a much better choice).<\/p>\n

              Then there was Mario Kart Tour \u2014 the closest we’ve got to a Mario Kart live service game, but arguably not what many people wanted \u2014 and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, an AR\/AC racing game that sold a fraction of what MK8 did, and seemed to be aimed largely at families with kids. Nintendo’s clearly experimenting with the Mario Kart franchise, but to what end?<\/p>\n

              Now, Nintendo is releasing 48 tracks \u2014 doubling the number already in the game \u2014 as even more DLC for MK8 over the course of two years, which many people will get for free as part of their Nintendo Switch Online membership. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is, at this point, a live service game that only has half the benefits. We’re not getting game updates, new characters, or new modes, and although 48 is a lot<\/em> of tracks, a few people have felt let down by the quality of the textures and the fact that it feels a bit like an ad for the phone game version of Mario Kart.<\/p>\n

              At this point, it’s easy to wish for an all-or-nothing approach: If you’re going to turn Mario Kart 8 into a colossal, bloated behemoth of a game, rather than releasing Mario Kart 9… then go all in on it. Release one new course a month, and add new cars, new characters, new battle modes, new challenges. Would that please everyone? Nooooooooooooo. But it’s better than the halfway-between-new-game-and-old-game we have now, right?<\/p>\n

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              Would Mario Kart make a good live service game? (563 votes)<\/h3>\n
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              1. Yes<\/strong>46<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
              2. No<\/strong>54<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

                Now, we know that the free-to-play live service model isn’t necessarily a good thing. Many players end up spending more on cosmetics and content than they would have done on just the base game, and in some cases (like loot boxes and gacha packs) the F2P model can be predatory and unfair to those who don’t have huge amounts of money to drop on making their character better. And you’ll always get the rich jerks whose avatars are level fifty billion because they paid for it.<\/p>\n

                But Nintendo doesn’t have to go down those routes. A lot of the suggestions we’ve made above are the cosmetic kind \u2014 and we’ve been imagining that other players would still be able to see and appreciate the content, even if they don’t have it.<\/p>\n

                Imagine visiting an Animal Crossing: New Horizons island, and seeing it decked out in stuff that people paid real money for, or being able to play a Mario Maker level with items in it that you don’t have access to. Sure, it might feel a bit like you’re locked out of using those items yourself, but that’s sort of the point of F2P, at the end of the day, and it wouldn’t make a mechanical difference.<\/p>\n

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                Which of these series would benefit most from being turned into a free-to-play game with frequent updates? (681 votes)<\/h3>\n
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                1. Splatoon<\/strong>39<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                2. Pok\u00e9mon<\/strong>3<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                3. Animal Crossing<\/strong>4<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                4. Mario Maker<\/strong>3<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                5. Mario Party<\/strong>3<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                6. Smash Bros.<\/strong>3<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                7. Mario Kart<\/strong>3<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                8. None, I don’t like F2P games<\/strong>37<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
                9. None, I have another game to suggest<\/strong>4<\/span>%<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

                  But tell us: Do you agree with any of these games being better as live service games? Have we missed an obvious one? Do you think F2P and live service games are a blight on the industry? Head to the comments!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n