Nintendo to start charging for online play in 2018.

jawafour wrote:The charge for Switch Online will not come into effect until 2018.

> Annual charge to be $19.99; pricing to be announced for other countries
> The "free" game(s) will initially be NES titles, with some incorporating online play
> Voice chat will be via an app for "smart devices"
> Subscribers will have access to eShop "deals"

Yeah, the USA pricing seems reasonably low but, then again, it really is slim pickings in terms of benefits. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but personally I'm apprehensive about voice chat being via a mobile phone and I'm underwhelmed with the idea of paying to play NES titles.

ITSMILNER wrote:Update from Kotaku

UPDATE (9:50pm): Nintendo confirmed that this monthly plan has indeed changed, telling Kotaku: “Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will have ongoing access to a library of classic games with added online play. Users can play as many of the games as they want, as often as they like, as long as they have an active subscription.”

Sounds like the 'Netflix' style service everyone has been asking for?

At the very least it sounds like they are giving themselves a bit of time to try and sort out the service before expecting people to pay for it. Changing to a PS Plus/Xbox Live Gold model for the rented games makes them a lot more appealing as the previously announced plan just sounded backwards by comparison.

Cool idea to start a specific thread, bear. Just to allay any fears that folk may have, it is only the Switch that Nintendo is charging an online fee for; the 3DS and Wii U online gaming will continue to be free.

I'm sure Nintendo will keep the online service running for many years for those two systems* :toot:

.

* They won't. Close-down by December?

If they get this right it could be great, I just hope the classic games are there and worth playing. From what I have read theyre going to be adding online components to all the games, Id much rather they just release a bunch of them and patch in online gooseberry fool later.

Also by being cagey about what systems are covered by this theyre just going to make people less likely to buy games on the VC for other consoles and create some pissed off consumers if they add them later. Id prefer if they were upfront about what they plan to do, if they are planning to add SNES or N64 games to this service then say so.

I await more details at E3!

Yeah a free NES game is not a good incentive when Microsoft and Sony are giving away current gen titles and AAA 360 and PS3 games.

But if it's £20 a year then I can't complain, but I can see it being £30.

captain red dog wrote:Yeah a free NES game is not a good incentive when Microsoft and Sony are giving away current gen titles and AAA 360 and PS3 games.

But if it's £20 a year then I can't complain, but I can see it being £30.

It's listed as $19.99 in the US and €19.99 in Europe so I can't see it suddenly being £29.99 here rather than £19.99.

Nintendo wrote:...
- Switch owners will subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online for each account, not as a console
- service is charged per each Nintendo Account
...

I think this indicates that if folk have set up accounts for different regions / eShops... they'll have to pay the online fee for each one? Source.

I was vaguely aware that they'd said something about starting to charge for online play at some point, but hadn't paid too much attention. I wasn't intending adding another subscription on top of Xbox Live and PS Plus, so I was prepared to say farewell to online Mario Kart, but £20 isn't so bad. I don't imagine I'll make much use of the NES library - really not that interested - but the discounts on digital purchases will offset at least some (perhaps all) of the subscription cost (as with Xbox Live).

Surely Nintendo won't lose much by offering out their entire NES and SNES catalogue to subscribers? over the past near decade they've been selling NES and SNES games on the WII, WII U and 3DS. I don't know how much this has generated for them in revenue but surely there can't be much mileage in trying to sell these games anymore?

The whole time they aren't letting purchases move between generations they can and will sell them over and over because people will buy them.

The £20 tag doesn't seem to bad assuming it works etc.

Hopefully the app will.only be for chat lobby stuff, it would suck if you need it to actually join an online game.

Nintendo to start charging for online play in 2018.

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