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Bad news for fans of the pellet-munching hero, as Nintendo has declared that battle royale online game Pac-Man 99 will have its online servers shut down this October.
As per Nintendo Support, the free-to-play (with a Nintendo Switch Online membership) offshoot – which originally launched in 2021 – will no longer be available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online service from October 8, 2023. Prior to that date, paid custom themes will be taken down from the store and no longer available for purchase from August 8, 2023 and the paid DLCs Mode Unlock and Deluxe Pack will also be removed from sale on September 8 before the game itself goes offline a month later.
Nintendo say that the game will no longer be available to download for new users after the October shutdown, but anyone who’s previously downloaded the game will be able to redownload it and any DLC and play the game’s offline modes – CPU Battle, Score Attack and Blind Time Attack – without hindrance. However, the game’s primary modes – Battle Royale and Battle Royale (Private Match) will no longer be available.
Pac-Man 99 was released following the success of the similar Tetris 99 – and sees players attempting to complete Pac Man mazes as fast as they can against 99 other players. Of course, as courses would clear, the game would speed up – and as other players cleared their boards they could ‘attack’ other players by sending more ghosts and pellets to their opponent’s games. The person who survived the longest would be victorious.
It’s a shame to see another online-focused game get taken down -especially those interested in game preservation, although it’s fair to say Pac-Man 99 never quite had the same impact that Tetris 99 did upon its release.
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