March 31 brings the end of two gaming services
As the day ends on March 31, gamers worldwide will see the close of two programs that have been with us for a few years: Club Nintendo and PlayStation Home.While Club Nintendo will technically live on until June 30, 2015, tomorrow is the official last day for users to register their games to earn those last few coins through the program. Players will then have until the last day of June to choose which of Club Nintendo's final prizes they wish to call their own.
As the day ends on March 31, gamers worldwide will see the close of two programs that have been with us for a few years: Club Nintendo and PlayStation Home.
While Club Nintendo will technically live on until June 30, 2015, tomorrow is the official last day for users to register their games to earn those last few coins through the program. Players will then have until the last day of June to choose which of Club Nintendo’s final prizes they wish to call their own.
Since 2002 in Europe and 2008 in North America, Club Nintendo has been a loyalty program rewarding players coins when registering the code included when purchasing a game, or by completing surveys administered on the site. Coins are then used to purchase rewards, and players who had collected enough coins were granted Gold or Platinum status, receiving additional special prizes for each level. Nintendo announced the closing of the program earlier this year, stating the decision was to make room for a new cross-platform membership service.
A few weeks after the announcement of its discontinuation, the final prizes were revealed and included some pretty cool stuff, including t-shirts, poster sets, and a plethora of game downloads to choose from.
The goodbyes don’t stop there though, as Sony announced last year that March 31 would also see the closing of PlayStation Home, a virtual social simulation world that came during the PlayStation 3 era.
Home allowed users to create a customizable virtual avatar to traverse the world to interact, communicate, and play games with other avatars. The service was free to use, though the option to purchase premium clothing and furniture for your avatar’s apartment was available.
As of March 2013, Sony reported 31 million users had made avatars in PlayStation Home. One great memory of Home is the presence of Sony’s virtual E3 booth in the world that included both game demos and a stream of their press conference across multiple years.
The last update for Home came in March 2014 when trophies were added to the experience.
A lot of us have spent years alongside these services. Are you sad to see one – or both – go?