The reason for my question: I don't want to own obsolete hardware in 10 years. Lately most games seem to depend on a "phone home" feature, which is not really an issue for my pc because it is always connected, but a console is something I want to play always and everywhere.

I already did some searching and found that games can be played offline fine (most of them, some exceptions are there like Multiplayer and Mortal Kombat), but:

There is something like the paid Nintendo Online Account. I am not planning on having a paid account. How much of the system depends on the account?
Can I have progression in a game (let's say: one of the Zelda franchise) and will my Wife and Kids all have their own progression, without having to pay for X accounts?
People who own a Switch, let's take this to extremes, do you feel like in 20 years from now you can still do the same things on your hardware as you can do now? (No multiplayer is fine)

Also, feel free to rant about "paying is not owning", the state of the gaming industry is horrible.

edit: Thank you all for the comments! I don't post a lot, so it was kinda overwhelming :)

For clarity:

I meant I want to "buy for life" (not really "life", but, if the hardware survives you can play on pre-internet consoles forever - you can even buy more games if you can find them)
I want to buy a physical copy of the games, not download them

I've decided to go with the Nintendo DS for now (I have a DSi - this week I bought a couple of games, 2nd hand). Reasons:

I already had it
Joycons on switch. Multiple people mentioned having problems with them. I don't count on being able to buy them new in 10 years, meaning they will have to last.

Again: thank you all for the useful input!

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[–] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

There are games like "Control" that are guaranteed to be dead in 5 years max as they're glorified remote play solutions. The game is playing on someone else's computer and streamed to the switch. So the bill for that computer is paid by new sales like a Ponzi scheme. No more sales = the dev turns off their servers = no more playing

[–] ErwinLottemann@feddit.de 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

control is streamed? for switch or in general?

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

It was news to me as well. Here is a Verge article talking about it but it says the following

In order to play the game, you’ll need a Nintendo Account to access cloud service and “a persistent high-speed internet connection to play the game.” (It includes similar technology to Stadia and Luna, but Control’s cloud game will be handled by Ubitus.) Any interruption in the connection will cause it to disconnect in minutes. In order to buy the game, players will be required to use a launcher application to test that their connection can handle its requirements for five minutes. It will also require buying an Access Pass, priced at $39.99.

I really hope it doesn't go the same way as other game streaming services but I wouldn't be surprised.

[–] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Nintendo online will go away at some point just like every other online serve they've had.

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

This isn't Nintendo Online this is a third party service I'm worried about caving within a year or two.

I don't expect it to last indefinitely I'm just hoping it lasts longer than things like Stadia.