Ubisoft: Wii U has scrapped friend codes

According to Ubisoft, friend codes are a thing of the past. Friend codes has often come under criticism from gamers but Nintendo’s position on friend codes has been stubborn and refused to let them go for the Nintendo 3DS. Could it be that they have scrapped them for the Wii U?

Yes, if the statements by Ubisoft producer, Adrian Blunt are anything to go by. It was while talking about Ghost Reacon Online for the Wii U that he let slip that friend codes were now a thing of the past.

When asked why he thought the Wii U would be a good fit for Ghost Recon Online, seeing as Nintendo isn’t exactly known for its online prowess, he said, “There’s a few things on that,” he said. “The first is the ability for individuals to make accounts. Rather than a machine having an account, each individual user has an account.”

He was then asked whether friend codes would be replaced with a system similar to the gamertag method that Microsoft employs and he said: “Yeah, exactly. Rather than using friend codes, which we’ve had in the past, we’re able to connect players in a much easier way, which allows us to have a community that’s playing together in the game.”

Adding to this that Reggie said that they would have all the functionality that is being used in PSN and Xbox Live and it seems like we will be saying bye bye to friend codes.

If friend codes truly are dead, will you be mourning them?

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. zxride64

    This is going to be sweet nintendo needs to have a strong online community with strong servers.

  2. wiiu? hell yeah i wiill......

    3DS and wiiu wifi coming together combining off line online streetpass etc into one easy to use friends lists

    navigating info and messages etc on 3DS and the tablet all and staying connected in sleep modes fantastic….

  3. chinomanila

    This going be good.

  4. Epic Kirby

    I can’t wait to see what Nintendo have in mind. I still find it hard to believe they have scrapped friend codes completely…

  5. FL767

    Ah, man, i LOVED friend codes! The frustration of copying them down wrong on a random piece of paper that i always use and trying to enter it on the phone twelve times… man, what will my weekends be like?

    Maybe i’ll actually get to play a game for once!

  6. Wiiu? hell yeah i will!!!

    never used a friends code in my life and enjoy online wii almost daily and for hours at a time

    i have a huge list of COD allies never once used a code the whole thing was blown up on the (rolls eyes internet) like harddrive lies and wii remote not for fps lies

    gotta love the net

  7. George Tirebiter

    Just so everyone knows, account-based online has only been officially confirmed for Ubisoft games like Ghost Recon Online. They’re leaving it up to Nintendo to actually announce their online approach.

    We can reasonably assume that Nintendo is taking this approach as Reggie said the online was on part with Live and PSN (ignoring the recent hacks, of course), but we can’t celebrate just yet.

    • F0

      I think now might still be a good time to go shopping for party supplies, though. When EA’s CEO went up on stage during the press conference, he noted the Wii U’s online as a particular high point of the system, so we’ve got good reason to get excited.

  8. Limelight788

    Finally, no more Friend Codes. You have no idea how awesome this news is; that was the worst online idea ever made.

  9. Matt

    So always online,No friend codes,Match-making system,Individual accounts,It sounds like a powerful Online made to please the developers instead of some Xbox Live thing where its a service with WiiU u get individual services off different developers which is good because its free,And with reggie saying it will have everything Live has makes me happy as i dont want a paid account like Live,I also love the Video chat on WiiU wow that looks leaps and bounds above Lives headset rubbish basically WiiU will have the most POWERFUL SOCIAL ELEMENTS IN A VIDEO GAME SYSTEM WITH THAT TOOL THAT IS (U-PAD) CONTROLLER WOW