February 18th, 7:00 PM-7:45 PM, PST. If that date and time rings a bell, then you were also probably waiting for the first opportunity to try out the Online Play Test for one of Nintendo’s upcoming titles, Nintendo Switch Sports. The next addition to the Wii Sports franchise (if you can even call it that anymore) brings back three of the classic sports of the first games while adding three brand-new ones. Following this announcement from the Nintendo Direct on February 9th, Nintendo also announced a global online play test to “evaluate various technical aspects” by giving players the chance to try out the three returning sports.
This was definitely a major announcement of the presentation and I couldn’t wait to not only participate in the play test, but also share my experiences here. I practically called dibs on the subject to the other writers. So I played it that night and had a blast destroying everyone in tennis and chambara…bowling was a whole different situation though. Either way, I was outlining my experiences until I visited the website where redeemed the code to verify the times.
It was then that I saw something that I missed and may or may not have already violated: “By downloading and participating in the Nintendo Switch Sports Online Play Test, you agree not to publicly share any details from this online play test, including on your social media channels.”
Honestly, I’ll admit I’m salty because I didn’t read the policies before playing and writing, which is definitely on me. But even then, I think it’s a very lame rule to set for an online play test of all things. People aren’t listening to it anyway (and rightfully so), but the fact that they made it a policy in the first place sucks, and just adds on to the impression of how weird Nintendo can be with… basically anything. But this is not only a matter of weirdness, but also a matter of this decision making absolutely no sense for whatever they plan to achieve.
It seems like Nintendo really wants this to be their next big online-focused game, with it having customization options and skill-based online matchmaking. I can honestly see a lot of events being held for it in the same manner of Splatoon 2 and Smash Ultimate’s, and honestly, I’d be down to take part in them. But if they were really aiming to improve the quality of the game, doesn’t that make sharing our experiences with the online play test even more important and valuable for them?
People are saying that they’re doing this because they don’t want the game to receive bad publicity. But it’s an online play test. It is literally meant to test the online playability of the game. It’s not like a demo of the game, where you’re just getting a taste of what’s in the final product. Have I said the word ‘test’ enough yet? Anything bad that could be found in it shouldn’t be seen as a bad aspect of the game to deter people from buying it, but rather something to be fixed before it gets released to the public.
The sad thing about this is that a lot of people were pleasantly surprised by the announcement of the online play test, myself included. It seemed like Nintendo was taking a step in the right direction to truly get out of that ancient era of time they’re so clearly stuck in, which they definitely needed after that music copyright striking situation on YouTube. But this proved to be otherwise. I have to say this every time I complain about them because it’s going to seem like I’m just hating on them just to hate, but I love Nintendo, I really do. But it seems like they can’t do anything cool without snapping us back to reality one way or another.
Maybe we will get some kind of survey or another play test before Nintendo Switch Sports releases on April 22nd. Maybe it’ll even include the other three sports. But if we are prohibited from sharing our experiences in some way before the game releases, either through a survey or posting about them online, I don’t have a lot of faith in the greater future of the game. I’d be glad to be wrong though.
What do you think? Do you see no problem with Nintendo prohibiting people from sharing information? And since they’re doing it anyways, how did you feel about the online play test for Nintendo Switch Sports? I’d love to hear your thoughts.