New court documents from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority seem to confirm that Nintendo’s next gaming system will use the Nintendo Switch Online service. The news was first shared over on Reddit, and can be seen directly at the source on the UK government’s website. The documents come from the ongoing Microsoft-Activision Blizzard acquisition case, which is bringing us lots of interesting bits of news (like our report on Sony saying the Switch could never run a Call of Duty game).
In the new documents, the CMA are assessing Nintendo’s online services as a cloud gaming platform, to make comparisons to Xbox Cloud Gaming. The report ultimately decides Nintendo isn’t competing there, as their online service focuses on multiplayer gaming. One of these points however specifies that “Nintendo’s cloud gaming service is only available on the Nintendo Switch device and [REDACTED]”. The Nintendo Switch Online service isn’t available on any other console at present, especially one that would need to be redacted. The implication here therefore is that system is unannounced, and would likely be Nintendo’s next console.
If that wasn’t enough, we got almost direct confirmation of Nintendo’s plan to keep their online service going into their next console generation back in 2020. The report features a slide showing the Nintendo Account functionality expanding into the future with their next unannounced system, along with their ‘value-added service’ (such as retro game catalog) expanding as time goes on. This new reminder from the CMA report works to once again reinforce that Nintendo is keeping up their online offerings, giving us hope that their next platform will be continuing and expanding their on-demand retro library.
What other online features do you want to see on the Nintendo Switch successor system? Let us know in the comments below, and keep your eyes on GameLuster for more gaming news.
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