Capcom seems to be losing faith in their cloud games, removing a feature from the Japanese version of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard Cloud on Switch. As many worry about the ownership of full-priced cloud titles, especially after the death of Stadia, Capcom’s move isn’t helping.
According to a statement from the company (translated by Siliconera), fans in Japan won’t be able to rent Resident Evil 7 on Switch after May 29. However, fans who still have a rental pass after the expiration date will still be able to purchase “unlimited access” to the game.
But how unlimited is “unlimited access” to Resident Evil 7 on Switch? If Capcom can take away the rental aspect of these games, they could take away all access to them as well. While this might just be a minor adjustment to some, it could lead to much worse things down the line.
Simply put, if a game company can pull a feature out of a cloud game, what’s to stop them from removing the whole game once the Switch’s lifespan ends? It’s an issue fans have also brought up in regards to the Switch Online service games but at least those aren’t full-priced like these cloud games.
For those unfamiliar, these cloud versions of games constantly rely on the internet just to play them. It’s a feature most gamers already dislike and the fact they’re mostly used on Switch, a system that thrives on being a handheld you can bring anywhere, is maddening.
Capcom loves bringing cloud versions of their triple-A games to Switch. They recently brought cloud versions of Resident Evil Village, Resident Evil 2 remake, and Resident Evil 3 remake to the system.
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Unfortunately, Capcom isn’t the only guilty party to do this on Nintendo Switch. Square Enix brought Guardians of the Galaxy and Kingdom Hearts to Switch via cloud gaming. We’ve also seen Hitman and Control brought into Switch via the cloud for some reason as well. It’s bad enough that they’re cloud versions but to add insult to injury they’re also full-priced like most triple-A titles.