Comment on Super Mario Maker is shutting down, how should I prepare?
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 9 months agoI think it’s more just that the server running cost is an ongoing cost, while each purchase of the game is a one-time cost. So even though the server cost is likely very low (all it does is host level designs and some metadata around them), eventually sales for the game were bound to drop to the point that they would be losing money on the servers. Honestly, given how poorly the WiiU sold and how long ago it came out, I’m surprised they kept it going this long, but I supposed that just speaks to the cheapness of the server running cost.
Quexotic@sh.itjust.works 9 months ago
Maybe they should have just done a dollar a month subscription that goes along with the game or give that as an option now to keep the server alive.
Even if it’s a couple bucks sure the most faithful adherence of the game would not really mind paying it. The biggest problem for me here is that they’re totally removing the consumer’s agency, their choice.
I agree with what someone else said in this thread that if the support goes away then the server’s code should go open source. By law.
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
I guess you could say that the consumers chose to buy the game, knowing that it had a dependency on an online service that they weren’t being charged an ongoing cost for. Obviously that’s a bit of a cop-out answer, but I I agree with you that if game companies shut down their servers, they should release the server code. Or at very least the API of the server so that it can be reverse engineered more easily.
Quexotic@sh.itjust.works 9 months ago
Perhaps a class action lawsuit could set that precedent.
bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 9 months ago
Class action lawsuits only work if a law has been broken.