UPDATE: We can confirm directly that the Pac-Man 99 no longer appears as a Special Offers Game under the Nintendo Switch online app. You can still look for Pac-Man 99 on the Nintendo Switch eShop, or on the Nintendo website here. From either of these locations you can still download Pac-Man 99 and buy the DLC.
Original story is found below.
Nintendo has revealed the closure schedule of Pac-Man 99, confirming that the popular battle royale version of Pac-Man is closing this year.
While no reason was provided for the shutdown, it’s reasonable to assume that Nintendo and Pac-Man owners Bandai Namco had a contract for Pac-Man 99, and that the game has reached the end of said contract. Both Nintendo and Namco decided not to renew the contract, so they agreed to shut it down.
I will point out that the slow degradation of products and services on a platform like the Nintendo Switch is a possible hint that Nintendo is preparing to move on to the console they are releasing after the Switch. Perhaps a new Pac-Man game idea will even emerge on that next console, which justifies the closure of this current game. But this is speculatory for now.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, while all the online features will definitely be terminated, if players bought the game’s DLC, those will still be available.
The Pac-Man Mode Unlock DLC is $ 14.99. This DLC includes eight custom Pac-Man themes, as well as three offline modes. Those modes are CPU Battle, Blind Time Attack, and Score Attack.
On the other hand, the Pac-Man 99 Deluxe Pack costs $ 29.99, and bundles everything in the Unlock DLC with 20 custom themes. These themes make your Pac-Man 99 game look like other classic Namco titles.
These include fairly obvious games similar to Pac-Man, such as Rally-X and Dig Dug, but also some not-so similar games, like Galaga and Rolling Thunder. There are also some real deep cuts, like Bravoman and The Return of Ishtar.
On top of that, there are also a few free themes that you can download to see if you even want to try different themes at all.
Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can still get some playing in now and decide for themselves if they want to buy the DLC and keep it forever. However, please note that the DLC will go first before the game gets delisted and taken offline. With that in mind, this is the schedule for the closure of services for Pac-Man 99.
August 8, 2023 – buying individual themes will be removed.
September 8, 2023 –Pac-Man 99 Deluxe Pack and the Pac-Man 99 Mode Unlock DLC will be removed.
October 8, 2023 – Pac-Man 99 will be delisted, online services will be terminated, game and free themes will be removed.
