Nintendo Switch Online customers in Japan and South Korea will lose access to Super Formation Soccer on March 27th. This is a harsh reminder that subscriptions are not a replacement for ownership, and that legacy game publishers are not motivated by preservation.
Super Formation Soccer, known as Super Soccer in North America and Europe, was originally developed by Human Entertainment and published in the early 90s. The Super Nintendo (SNES) game was popular during its initial release and still enjoys a fanbase in Japan, where it was featured on the Super NES Classic Edition miniature console in 2017.
This marks the first time that a classic game has been removed from Nintendo Switch Online’s service. Nintendo of Japan made the announcement on its X account and in a blurb at the bottom of its Super Famicom NSO support page. The company also clarifies that everyone in Japan and South Korea will lose access to the game, regardless of their membership status or playtime.
Notably, Nintendo acknowledges that Super Formation Soccer is currently owned by Spike Chunsoft. The game development company, which recently had a big hit with Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, may have pulled Super Formation Soccer from the Japanese and Korean NSO services in anticipation of a retro games bundle or some other re-release. Or, as Polygon notes, Nintendo’s license the carry the game may have simply expired. We’ve reached out to both companies for clarification.
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As for whether an expiring license agreement will affect the English-language Super Soccer—we don’t know. I haven’t had much luck finding the current owner of Super Soccer. And, because Nintendo handled the North American publishing for this game in 1992, Nintendo may retain some rights to the localized property. It’s also possible that Super Soccer is roped under a different licensing agreement than Super Formation Soccer and will leave NSO at a later date.
Frankly, the loss of Super Soccer would go unnoticed by most Nintendo customers in North America and Europe. It’s a good game, but it’s far from the most popular title on NSO. From a western perspective, Super Soccer may be best known for naming one of its in-game teams “Nintendo,” which is pretty unusual for a third-party title (although, to be clear, Nintendo is the one who inserted this name in the English localization).
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This story is important because, for the first time in Nintendo Switch Online’s seven-year history, subscribers are losing access to a game. Spike Chunsoft and Nintendo are setting a precedent—from here on out, third-party developers may intentionally exit the NSO service in order to find more profitable means of re-distributing old games. Of course, we’re making a lot of assumptions here. For all we know, Nintendo may have refused to renew its Super Formation Soccer license due to unfavorable terms that could affect the price or quality of NSO—we don’t have enough information to draw a strong conclusion.
In any case, Nintendo Switch Online is not a cheap service. It starts at $4 a month but can cost up to $80 a year if you spring for the Expansion Pack Family Membership. The fact that subscribers pay so much for a service that only provides temporary access to classic games is, frankly, very frustrating. A 30-year-old title like Super Soccer shouldn’t be locked behind a monthly fee. I understand that online multiplayer is NSO’s primary function, and that classic games are simply one of many “perks,” but customers should at least have the option to buy and own digital copies of old games.
