Super Mario Run Requires Always-On Internet Connection to Play Due to Piracy Concerns

[bbeagle]

And how do you propose they win back people like me who will just forget the whole thing now it's been soured by this decision? They'd have to reverse course on the always-on connection and drop the price now for me to possibly be interested again, because they have offended me, essentially calling me a potential pirate and expecting me to give them money. They don't have an automatic right to my custom if and when they dein to stop accusing me of piracy.

Nintendo obviously can't win with you, so I'm glad they're not trying to win you over.

You'd find something else to whine about if they dropped the always-on internet connection. Even if they dropped it TOMORROW - BEFORE THE GAME'S RELEASE - you'd still be 'offended'.

I'm MORE likely to buy a product which is doing things to reduce piracy. So, I guess my 'more likely' to buy counteracts your 'less likely' to buy position.

 

[Speedy Dingo]

Hmm I'm not overly enthusiastic about this news. I mean I'm fine playing it on my phone but if I install it on my iPad, which is wifi only and somehow don't have internet access on it, I won't be able to play. >_> What about people with an iPod touch? What if they want to play it on the go? That's the point of the game. I'll still buy the game as 99.9% of the time I'm connected, but I absolutely hate always-online games. It's an excuse that helps no-one but the developer (looking at you EA!). Nintendo will lose sales due to this imo.

 

[M2M]

I would agree with you if piracy wasn't so rampant.

But since it is, I completely agree with Nintendo. Why should I pay $10 for a game, while someone else gets it for free?

You can implement piracy checks with (limited) offline capability. Let's say it validates every 48-96h. Should be enough to deter piracy, while you can still play during flights or weekends.

 

[windywalks]

Do you play those on an iPhone?
No, you do not, you play them on a PC/console.
Your argument is invalid.

Everyone pretending to be outraged and says they're no longer going to buy it, is lying. It's CoD MW2 boycott over again. Get over it.

 

[RoboCop001]

Everybody tweet to them. I pretty much always play on the subway. This is a pretty lame anti-piracy method.

 

[Porco]

Nintendo obviously can't win with you, so I'm glad they're not trying to win you over.

You'd find something else to whine about if they dropped the always-on internet connection. Even if they dropped it TOMORROW - BEFORE THE GAME'S RELEASE - you'd still be 'offended'.

I'm MORE likely to buy a product which is doing things to reduce piracy. So, I guess my 'more likely' to buy counteracts your 'less likely' to buy position.

I was all set to buy this. You can search past stories on it where I said as much.

Games are supposed to be fun. It stops being fun when you know the game could stop working due to things beyond your control, for reasons targetted at people who aren't you.

If they dropped the always-on requirement I'd still buy it. Maybe not immediately, and maybe not until the price dropped now.

I wouldn't find something else to "whine" (always a sign of a desperate argument to me, that term, sorry) about, I think I've set out my position quite clearly.

I'd be happy to agree with you that piracy is bad, and that reasonable steps can be taken to make it harder to pirate. But when it materially damages the product to the extent that legitimate would-be customers decide not to purchase, what's the point?

I would guess you were buying this anyway (?) so between the two of us that's two sales down to one sale, no?

 

[Gigatel]

So much outrage for a game being played on a device that almost always has a connection to the internet.

I swear you people are always looking for something to complain about.

 

[69Mustang]

What's funny is the pirates will crack the DRM so they will have a better user experience than the people who paid for it.

God damn I hate overreaching DRM. Did no one watch what happened to Sim City?

This. Gaming history is littered with cracked DRM. I give it an over/under of 4 days before people are playing this game without an internet connection. Alway on connection? Nintendo is going to unnecessarily learn the same lesson Microsoft had to learn with the release of the XB1. Sim City... just don't. Don't.

No - the game saves itself through a connection to Nintendo's servers. It also loads levels through a connection to Nintendo's servers. Both can't happen if the pirates simply stop the 'phone home' aspect of the game.

A persistent connection is not needed. Fairly certain this will be found out in short order after the game is released. Nintendo is creating unnecessary aggravation for themselves. But hey, sometimes lessons have to be learned to be appreciated. Nintendo will need to realize they're not releasing this game on their home consoles. Mobile really doesn't work with that lock down mentality.

 

[odditie]

This is just like the stupid legal warnings in front of movies. Piracy prevention should hinder those who want to get it illegally, NOT provide a worse experience for customers.

 

[hybroid]

Do you play those on an iPhone?
No, you do not, you play them on a PC/console.
Your argument is invalid.

The platform is irrelevant as the concept is the same. Just like with game pre-orders and DRM etc. People bitch and whine yet still pay. Same will happen here.

The odd few may genuinely no longer buy it, but rest of us will and you know it. It'll top the sales chart guarenteed.

 

[windywalks]

People never learn. EA disaster with the last Sim City that they originally claimed only could be played online "due to the cloud" but wasn't , the original plans for the Xbox One and the gamer backlash that got the whole division pretty much fired, etc.

Good luck, Nintendo. They already screwed up their next console launch by not having the new Zelda done in done in time and won't sell any at all now.

Since when is Zelda to only reason to buy a Nintendo console?
The Game Cube titles alone will be worth the purchase for me and I'm sure there will be plenty of launch titles that will attract attention.
I just hope that they don't botch the specs and battery life too much.

Super Mario Run is just a little cash cow in spe to attract attention to Nintendo.
10 bucks is a lot for a runner.

I really hope they take off with the NX since mobile gaming on iOS is nowhere near as engaging and complex as I'd wish. It all comes down to time killers such as Super Mario Run.

 

[dwaltwhit]

Not a deal breaker for me. I have wifi most of the time. I don't think Nintendo would make this decision without calculating the risks with the benefits.

 

[davidwes]

It's really more than you might think.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/01/09/monument-valley-piracy/

For example, 60% of Monument Valley installs were pirated. I know a couple of devs, they say that this isn't an anomaly; their apps too get quite pirated as well. Mario on iOS is getting crazy amounts of hype, so I wouldn't blame them too much for trying to protect it.

Sooooooo misleading. They took paid and installed. Yet someone who has both an iPad and iPhone would show up then as one paid one pirated.

 

[Aluminum213]

The game is useless while driving my car so I guess we're even.

this is either a horrible analogy or horrible humor

 

[windywalks]

The platform is irrelevant as the concept is the same. Just like with game pre-orders and DRM etc. People bitch and whine yet still pay. Same will happen here.

The odd few may genuinely no longer buy it, but rest of us will and you know it. It'll top the sales chart guarenteed.

The game is being demoed on iPad minis IIRC. I'm guessing most of the ones that people buy don't have cellular.

The subway argument is valid here - subways seldom have cellular repeaters to provide signal. You're not going to play this game while walking yourself, right? It's a commute time killer. For adults of course, kids will play it whenever they want to.

I think that this whole announcement is just a way to measure how ticked off the public will be and to stir the pot before it goes live - a bit of free advertising prior to launch.

 

[tatonka]

It's really more than you might think.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/01/09/monument-valley-piracy/

For example, 60% of Monument Valley installs were pirated. I know a couple of devs, they say that this isn't an anomaly; their apps too get quite pirated as well. Mario on iOS is getting crazy amounts of hype, so I wouldn't blame them too much for trying to protect it.

Well that is really a strange analysis the made there.

"“The only thing we can do is, two bits of data: one, how many purchases we have and, two, how many installs we’ve got,” said Ustwo.

In other words, 60 percent of unpaid iOS installs is comprised of a large portion of pirated installs and a smaller portion of people who have both an iPhone and an iPad, and have installed the game to both devices."

I would guess that the majority (or at least a very large group of people) have more than one iOS device. Especially in the days before family sharing (and probably still) most device in a family will share an account in order to have apps installed on multiple devices.

I don't have the feeling that piracy is a particularly pressing issue for iOS and certainly don't like the always online option here .. I might still buy the game but it does leave a bit of an aftertaste.

 

[Porco]

Sooooooo misleading. They took paid and installed. Yet someone who has both an iPad and iPhone would show up then as one paid one pirated.

Great point. I bought MV and have it installed on 3 of my iOS devices.

This is just like the stupid legal warnings in front of movies. Piracy prevention should hinder those who want to get it illegally, NOT provide a worse experience for customers.

Yes. Exactly. Thanks for saying it far more concisely than I have managed to.

 

[iosuser]

They're worried about piracy, yet they're going to release it on Android

 

[dwaltwhit]

this is either a horrible analogy or horrible humor

I disagree. I think he speaks for those that are not dissuaded because their commute does not require him to ride, but rather drive. Not everyone rides a subway or train or bus or hot air ballon to work. I bet there are tens, if not dozens, of people who drive to work.

 

[912181]

I just want the game to release early.

 

[profets]

It's really more than you might think.

http://www.idownloadblog.com/2015/01/09/monument-valley-piracy/

For example, 60% of Monument Valley installs were pirated. I know a couple of devs, they say that this isn't an anomaly; their apps too get quite pirated as well. Mario on iOS is getting crazy amounts of hype, so I wouldn't blame them too much for trying to protect it.

Wow, that is strange. Not saying it's untrue, but I have a tough time imagining how 60% of installs of a popular game are pirated.

How would one even pirate an iOS game, from jailbreaking? Even then, Mario is going to be a free game with in app purchase (not sure if that makes it even more complicated to pirate or not).


I can get what Nintendo is doing, but still, they make so many games on their handheld devices that don't require an internet connection at all. Kind of sucks for them to force that here. Thinking about kids that won't be able to play on iPods and iPads while out of the house / on the road, etc.
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It wont even be a good game just a typical run game with mario face, looks nothing like old mario games

Really? It might not look like Mario games from NES or SNES, but the visuals and physics are identical to all of the side scrolling Mario games from the Wii and Wii U.

 

[cwazytech]

Well, there goes my distraction during my flights.

 

[nt5672]

At the very least they could have put some thought into the response.
This sounds like a bot spewing out gibberish.
Of course, let it phone home, but always on is a bit much.

Look it went through a translator, not a PR firm, so I would not put much stock in the actual words used. Fact is that spending millions for a new game probably should be concerned about piracy. But this is just a reuse of old images with adopted code. Sure it costs a little bit, but there are probably better ways to protect it. The problem is mindset. Nintendo has a console mindset and expect iOS game to have the same problems and security issues. Not sure I agree. Apple and Nintendo could very well have come up with a better customer experience than this, if they had wanted to.

 

[Exile714]

Sooooooo misleading. They took paid and installed. Yet someone who has both an iPad and iPhone would show up then as one paid one pirated.

As would someone who installs on iPhone, deletes for space, then re-installs. Very misleading indeed.

 

[nooaah]

Well that's changed my mind on whether I'll buy it. Pretty much useless on my journeys.

Yup I only play games on plane rides. And gogo is unreliable crap which I refuse to expense anymore. Bye, Mario.