Nintendo has confirmed plans to shut down the free-to-play battle royale Switch title Pac-Man 99.
Pac-Man 99 launched in 2021 as a replacement for Super Mario Bros. 35, and allowed up to 99 Nintendo Switch Online Members to compete to be the last Pac-Man standing.
According to Nintendo, the game will start to have its features shut down from August before the entire title is removed from the eShop in October.
On August 8, the option to buy custom themes will be removed from the game. A month later, on September 8, players will no longer be able to purchase either of Pac-Man 99’s DLC and, on October 8, the game will be delisted with all online services ending.
Nintendo has confirmed that the paid DLC game modes CPU Battle, Blind Time Attack and Score Attack will still be available to play after the main game is delisted because they work offline. Paid custom themes will also be viewable offline and any purchased content can be re-downloaded following Pac-Man 99’s shutdown.
On 08/10/2023, the online service for PAC-MAN 99 will end and the game will no longer be available as part of a Nintendo Switch Online membership.
For more information, please see our website: https://t.co/qXQczN2pPd pic.twitter.com/3gAMqvE572
— Nintendo UK (@NintendoUK) May 17, 2023
Nintendo hasn’t given a reason for the delisting. A statement on their website simply reads: “Pac-Man 99 will be available as part of a Nintendo Switch Online membership until October 8th, 2023. After this date, the online service will end.”
Battle royale title Super Mario Bros. 35 launched in 2020 as part of the 35th anniversary celebration for the original Mario game. The reworked version of the classic side-scroller allowed 35 players to compete against one another online, until one player emerged as the last Mario standing. It was de-listed the following year with Pac-Man 99 launching shortly afterwards.
Fellow Battle Royale title Tetris 99 launched alongside the Nintendo Switch in 2019 and is still available to play.
Last year, it was reported that a live-action film based on beloved video game Pac-Man was in the works.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bandai Namco Entertainment and Wayfarer Studios are developing the project. There’s no word on a director nor cast yet.