What part about Nintendo's online service needs improved the most?

[DarkDesertFox]

It's been almost 2 years now since Nintendo launched its Nintendo Switch Online membership. I think most of us can agree the improvements to it have been very minor and have not really improved the quality of service. Today I'm here to ask what about the membership needs improved the MOST. If I had multiple selections turned on, I'm pretty sure people would select everything so I'm narrowing it down to a single choice. What is the most important improvement Nintendo could make to the online service? For me personally, I think some dedicated servers would be useful because the online really is crap connection sometimes even when running an Ethernet cable because the other person's connection is bad. It was hard choosing between that and a better communication system.

 

[Chris]

Cloud saves. I go back and forth between two consoles and too many of the games I play aren't supported.

 

[Midoriya]

I‘m going to go for dedicated servers. We’re paying a good amount of money every year to be able to use online features so the least they could do is give us online servers instead of relying on P2P servers, lol.

 

[ForgottenT]

It's absolutely disgusting that we are paying Nintendo for "online" that doesn't exist.
They're liars, and thieves.

 

[DinosaurDumpster]

A lot of it needs to be improved, like not having to pay for horrible online, improve the servers, etc.
But I HATE the fact that my favorite games don't have cloud save data. Because of this I'm not even sure if I can buy my own switch and transfer all of my many hours on those games and not have to restart all over again.

 

[Jhine7]

I went with cloud saves and better communication. Both just seems like it could be better.

 

[Larsi]

If there was an option "all of the above" I would've chosen that.

But the servers are the biggest problem. So many communication errors. Not only terrible with games like AC...
But Nintendo always has been terrible with connection... the Wii was terrible, WiiU with only WiFi which is horrible with online games or Netflix, Switch also only WiFi and bad servers. What... I even get communication errors with local multiplayer when the 2 switches are in a range of 1 meter so they can even get that working!! I hope the next generation will be a lot better.

 

[Alienfish]

Better online servers. We basically pay for the free online that came with Wii U and 3DS

 

[rubyrubert]

Online servers is what I voted for.

But communication online is horrendously bad. I think I’ll stick to my PC or my friend’s PS4 if I want to play multiplayer games.

…How did we go backwards from the 3DS and WiiU??

 

[Halloqueen]

I'm going to have to choose the servers. It feels outrageous that we're now paying for what was free on the 3DS and Wii U, with seemingly no improvements whatsoever and, in some ways, for less than we had before. Tying into that point, if I could vote for a second option, I would choose more Virtual Console options, because I vastly preferred having a huge library of games from various systems available for purchase like we have on the Wii, 3DS, and Wii U, instead of having a bunch of cherry-picked games, most of which I have little to no interest in, that you can only have access to for the duration of your subscription to their online service. I'd also like to see more GameCube titles make their way to the Switch; ideally that would've been through the old Virtual Console system, but if more are coming they'd probably be sold at full price Switch game prices.

Every option in the poll could be improved, but aside from what I've already said above, it's especially annoying that a number of features, like half of the functionality of Pokémon Home and the ability to chat with friends is tied to having a smart phone. Some of that's more of a me problem since I don't have an interest in or much use for a cell phone, but that's going down another tangent about how increasingly important they're becoming in society. The chat feature being tied to an app seems fairly useless if you have any alternative though, like Discord, Skype, etc.

The whole thing's really just a mess.

…How did we go backwards from the 3DS and WiiU??

Greed.

 

[Vitis]

Quality of matches first and foremost. Other things are pretty basic like communication and you shouldn't have to go through their app for it, but not everybody would use it. They try too hard to brand themselves as the family console, but it's really just a crutch they lean on to cut features and excuse gimmicks versus giving a more traditional gaming experience as they had in the Gamecube and prior days. Factor in now you're paying a premium to use garbage online services it's just a further insult to more traditional gamers and fans of old Nintendo, really fuels the Nintendo being the kiddie console fire along with the casualization of their IPs though that is more a problem with Nintendo than their online service.

 

[Belle T]

Servers for sure. Most of the other options are all things that ought to be standard by now as well, but failing all that, the primary feature should at the very least be functional. If all the other features were removed, but multiplayer was stable, I would still call it an incredibly underwhelming service, but at least it would be worth it for competitive players. Second to that would be cloud saves. Without any way to back up save data externally, this is a must, and I'm flabbergasted that Nintendo thinks that its current implementation is okay. I mean, not really flabbergasted, but for dramatic effect, just assume I can't contain my shock.

On the subject of Virtual Console, I think Nintendo's model for that on Switch is terrible, as well. I think it should work more like Amazon Prime or Comixology Unlimited. That is, you can buy all these games without premium membership, but you can access them all (or at least a large selection of them) if you have a subscription. Asking me to pay $20/year for a small selection of games I already own is pretty silly to say the least. I don't know what this forum's policies are on this kind of thing, but as much as Nintendo would like to deny it, there are alternatives that are actually better. Including playing it on their previous system (which sold terribly, to be fair, but still).

If it isn't already obvious, despite being a pretty big Nintendo loyalist, I'm immensely disappointed with how Nintendo has managed, or mismanaged, their online service. In the past, it was always free, so while it was never good, I never felt ripped off. But now that they're asking money for it, it strikes me as a particularly ill-intentioned move. So much so that I swiftly refused to subscribe to it even after someone offered to pay for me.

 

[Corrie]

They need an actual server so I'm not just paying for internet to internet play.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

we need N64 games pls and ty

 

[JSS]

It's absolutely disgusting that we are paying Nintendo for "online" that doesn't exist.
They're liars, and thieves.

Seeing everyone else say this... Is this true?! I didn't realise it was this bad. Do Sony, Microsoft, etc. have dedicated online servers? If so then... I'm not completely surprised though, over the years I've been less and less a fan of their business practices. Especially when they tried to sweep the joycon lawsuit under the rug and only recently acknowledging the issue and apologizing.

I picked to see games like N64 and GameCube on it. I'd love the older Mario Party games and the original AC. To be fair though all the other options speak to me just as much.

 

[DarkDesertFox]

Seeing everyone else say this... Is this true?! I didn't realise it was this bad. Do Sony, Microsoft, etc. have dedicated online servers? If so then... I'm not completely surprised though, over the years I've been less and less a fan of their business practices. Especially when they tried to sweep the joycon lawsuit under the rug and only recently acknowledging the issue and apologizing.

I picked to see games like N64 and GameCube on it. I'd love the older Mario Party games and the original AC. To be fair though all the other options speak to me just as much.

It's a bit puzzling to me how it works. I believe it's a mix of both Microsoft/Sony and the game developer's own servers on each console depending on the game. Like I know for Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) that Xbox Live can be 100% up and running but if EA's servers are down, you can't play online. I am really surprised Nintendo has been able to stay afloat with their business practices. They're just so far behind everyone else and are able to stay afloat through their innovation, built up consumer loyalty, and popular IPs. However, with the growing need for a better and better online play, I'm not sure how long this will last for them. On the other hand, Nintendo really feels like one of the few companies pumping out big offline single-player experience games which is something I don't want to see go away either. I don't want everything to focus on the online aspect. I personally think they should try taking advantage of online couch co-op for more games like they have going with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Smash Ultimate. Hardly any companies release good couch co-op games that go online these days so that would be a great market to take advantage of considering the focus on being a family console.

 

[Corrie]

It's a bit puzzling to me how it works. I believe it's a mix of both Microsoft/Sony and the game developer's own servers on each console depending on the game. Like I know for Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) that Xbox Live can be 100% up and running but if EA's servers are down, you can't play online. I am really surprised Nintendo has been able to stay afloat with their business practices. They're just so far behind everyone else and are able to stay afloat through their innovation, built up consumer loyalty, and popular IPs. However, with the growing need for a better and better online play, I'm not sure how long this will last for them. On the other hand, Nintendo really feels like one of the few companies pumping out big offline single-player experience games which is something I don't want to see go away either. I don't want everything to focus on the online aspect. I personally think they should try taking advantage of online couch co-op for more games like they have going with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Smash Ultimate. Hardly any companies release good couch co-op games that go online these days so that would be a great market to take advantage of considering the focus on being a family console.

It's 100% their IPs. If Animal Crossing, Mario, etc was suddenly available on say, the PS4, I bet a lot of users would jump ship. I know I would. I'm sick of their lackluster gaming consoles and their business practices.

Until then, if you wanna play those titles, you're forced to deal with the crap.

 

[Cosmic_Crossfade]

It's been almost 2 years now since Nintendo launched its Nintendo Switch Online membership. I think most of us can agree the improvements to it have been very minor and have not really improved the quality of service. Today I'm here to ask what about the membership needs improved the MOST. If I had multiple selections turned on, I'm pretty sure people would select everything so I'm narrowing it down to a single choice. What is the most important improvement Nintendo could make to the online service? For me personally, I think some dedicated servers would be useful because the online really is crap connection sometimes even when running an Ethernet cable because the other person's connection is bad. It was hard choosing between that and a better communication system.

I'd definitely say their online servers need much major improvement. Their online WiFi is just way too clunky and it's far less dependable as opposed to the Nintendo 3DS... We are paying for their online services after all so the least they could do is make sure that online that smooth and less corruptible then what it is now.

I'm glad that the services are $20 and not something outrageous like $50 because there would be a most definite problem if that was the case.

 

[Belle T]

It's a bit puzzling to me how it works. I believe it's a mix of both Microsoft/Sony and the game developer's own servers on each console depending on the game. Like I know for Star Wars Battlefront II (2017) that Xbox Live can be 100% up and running but if EA's servers are down, you can't play online. I am really surprised Nintendo has been able to stay afloat with their business practices. They're just so far behind everyone else and are able to stay afloat through their innovation, built up consumer loyalty, and popular IPs. However, with the growing need for a better and better online play, I'm not sure how long this will last for them. On the other hand, Nintendo really feels like one of the few companies pumping out big offline single-player experience games which is something I don't want to see go away either. I don't want everything to focus on the online aspect. I personally think they should try taking advantage of online couch co-op for more games like they have going with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Smash Ultimate. Hardly any companies release good couch co-op games that go online these days so that would be a great market to take advantage of considering the focus on being a family console.

It's been pretty disappointing to me how even with Nintendo regaining the support of third party companies thanks to the success of the Switch, Nintendo consoles still remain the inferior way to play third party games. I think Nintendo will be fine, because they've found their niche and have done well with it. But what I wouldn't give for a reality where Nintendo was the viable option for playing, as opposed to the substitute for not having a PS4 or gaming PC.

 

[JSS]

It's 100% their IPs. If Animal Crossing, Mario, etc was suddenly available on say, the PS4, I bet a lot of users would jump ship. I know I would. I'm sick of their lackluster gaming consoles and their business practices.

Until then, if you wanna play those titles, you're forced to deal with the crap.

I completely agree with you on this and I think Nintendo know it themselves, which is why they're so protective of their exclusives. AC is one of the very few Nintendo franchises I play, but it's my favourite of all and it's a game I know I get years out of. So it made more sense for me to buy a Switch instead of another console. But there's definitely games I'd love to play like The Last of Us and the new Resident Evil remakes. Thankfully some third party games have made it to the Switch at least and I'll get a chance to play/replay some older ported titles.