Nintend's new online service. - From Nintendo's Website.

[vivster]

MDMAlliance said:

vivster said:

It looks like this myth created by companies and fanboys is already an accepted fact.

I don't think it's a myth.  It is probably a myth that it's required for better servers, but not a myth that it helps keep them running by paying for it separately.  

Businesses don't run on charity, so charging customers to keep better servers running 24/7 isn't really unreasonable.  Not saying this is a good choice for customers, but just something that happens.

It's just an additional revenue stream. Believe me, any company with online servers will choose the cheapest ones that are still barely acceptable and will use all of the tricks to squeeze the last ounce of performance out of them. The additional money will not be used to improve the servers in any way if they're still barely running.

So neither does paid online mean good servers, nor improved service. It's just more money for the company. Much like the hike from 60€ games to 70€ did not improve the quality of the games at all.

The only reason you're paying for online is that companies learned that people are willing to pay for it. If they weren't it wouldn't cost anything.