Aliens: Fireteam Elite has had its cloud servers shut down, leaving Nintendo Switch owners unable to play the game without any form of refund.
While this shutdown does not come as a surprise — owners were informed of the servers’ impending closure earlier this year — the loss of another digital service is sparking headlines in the wake of PlayStation’s recent controversial announcement that it was ending disc production for new PS5 games from January 2028 onwards.
As players discuss the inevitable rise in digital downloads and loss of permanently-playable physical copies, Aliens: Fireteam Elite has become the latest cloud-based Switch game to get switched off, just three years on from its 2023 launch.
Previously sold for $29.99 or $59.99 for its Ultimate Edition, Aliens: Fireteam Elite follows Square Enix’s cloud-based Kingdom Hearts Collection into silicon heaven. Kingdom Hearts owners could get a discount when re-buying the games for Switch 2, though there’s no word on a similar offer for Fireteam Elite.
Indeed, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 will soon launch for Nintendo Switch 2 — and it seems like developer Cold Iron Studios is content for fans to just go buy that at full price instead.
“Reminder for anyone that still needs to hear it: Never ever buy a cloud game,” one fan wrote in a lengthy thread discussing the shutdown on Reddit. “You don’t own it and it can be taken away from you at any time.”
“I feel bad for anyone who bought into these cloud games but you had to expect this to happen,” wrote another fan. “I’m also not defending this practice either. They should offer refunds for these games if they feel like they can simply take them away on a whim.”
Unlike when digital games are delisted (which can typically be redownloaded if you have purchased them previously), cloud games exist only on remote servers. When purchasing a “copy” of the game, you are simply paying for a license to access the copy hosted elsewhere — with seemingly no protection if access is later removed.
Last week, Sony was spotted placing advisory stickers on PlayStation 5 consoles, warning players that physical games will soon be discontinued. Ironically, Nintendo has suggested it has no plans to follow suit, pointing out last week that it still sells more than a third of its games as boxed copies.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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