"NIintendo Switch fans won't be able to play online multiplayer during these maintenance periods next week.
Nintendo Switch fans are in store for some big multiplayer disruptions next week, as Nintendo announces two periods of maintenance.
The Nintendo Switch will be offline for two hours from midnight until 2am on Tuesday, April 18. For US Switch users, this means no multiplayer from 5pm (PT) until 7pm on April 17.
According to Nintendo, "some network services may become unavailable", including online play and rankings.
There's an even bigger disruption on Wednesday, April 19, when the Switch, Wii U and 3DS will all be taken offline for maintenance.
It begins at 6.45pm (PT) and runs until 8pm (PT), which means UK users won't be affected until 1.45am until 3am on April 20.
It's possible Nintendo is laying the foundations for the Nintendo Switch Online Service, which is scheduled to launch this autumn.
The Nintendo Online Service, meanwhile, is scheduled to launch this autumn, although a smartphone application will arrive in summer.
The app will let users invite friends to play online, set multiplayer appointments and chat through the app.
Much like Games with Gold and PlayStation Plus, Nintendo will also offer subscribers a free game each month.
The key difference, however, is that the games will only be available for a limited time, before being swapped out for other classic releases from the Virtual Console."
