One year on, Devil's Third is shutting down - but you can pick it up on the cheap today
Near universally-derided Wii U exclusive quietly shutting up shop in December.
Nintendo has announced it will close down online services for Devil's Third.
As of December 28 the game's online multiplayer will be unavailable, although the single-player campaign will be unaffected. Since the Valhalla action affair launched in North America in December 2016, that's a pretty short lifespan.
Rather more pressingly, microtransactions are shutting down on Monday - so if you wanted any Golden Eggs, you'll need to grab them now. They expire after 180 days, so even if you stock up you'll only have the use of them through September.
Since half the game is going to vanish in a few months Nintendo has sensibly dropped its purchase price from $60/€60/£50/¥7,236 to $30/€30/£25/¥3,618. The new pricing comes into effect at 9:00am PT Thursday.
No explanation has been provided for the news.
"Thank you for your continued loyalty to Nintendo," the platform holder's Support team said.
"We are deeply thankful for all the players who have enjoyed Devil’s Third online multiplayer service, and thank you for your understanding regarding this decision."
Devil's Third has had one of the roughest histories of any video game in recent memory. From Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki, it was initially announced by THQ as a chance for that famed developer to go indie after breaking out of Koei Tecmo's shackles.
THQ, making one of its rare good decisions, dropped the project when it started its long descent into bankruptcy. After a long period of uncertainty, it was picked it up as a Wii U exclusive; Nintendo occasionally has these flights of fancy and imagines it needs to expand its catalogue with "mature" violence and multiplayer modes and what-not, you see. When previews made it clear the project wasn't turning out as well as anticipated, there was serious doubt over whether it would release in North America.
Anyway the whole thing was a s**t show in the end, and critics ruthlessly panned Devil's Third. It seem unlikely anybody will be much bothered by this turn of events.
Still no update on the promised PC version, by the way.