Nintendo Switch’s online services will launch this September.
Simply called Nintendo Switch Online, it will be a service similar to Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus - a subscription service that allows for online multiplayer games while also providing free games and discounts on Nintendo’s online store.
Currently, Switch owners are able to play their games online free of charge. That will change as of September, requiring players to purchase a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
While going from free to money is certainly not what most Switch users want to hear, it’ll be vastly cheaper than either Xbox Live Gold or PlayStation Plus at $3.99 for a single month, $7.99 for three months, and $19.99 for the whole year.
You may even get enough value out of the subscription for it to pay for itself. Nintendo Switch Online will launch with "a compilation of classic titles with added online play, such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Balloon Fight, and Dr. Mario."
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However, there’s a big caveat to those free original Nintendo games in that they’ll only be free for one month. The subscription service will rotate classic games every month, and once they’re gone you have to buy the game on Nintendo’s eShop. This is a big departure from services like Xbox Live Gold which allow the player to download the game and continue playing even after it has rotated out of the subscription service.
Keep in mind that Nintendo Switch Online is only for the Switch, and no subscription will be required for Wii U or Nintendo 3DS.
Along with the online subscription service, Nintendo will be launching a phone app once again imaginatively called the Nintendo Switch Online App. At launch the app will only sync up to your Splatoon 2 account and allow you to check player stats, gear, and purchase stuff from the online store.
Finally, subscribers will also get discounts on the Nintendo eShop similar to how Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus subscribers get discounts on their respective stores. As for whether Nintendo Switch Online will pay for itself in discounts, well, we’ll just have to wait until September to find out.
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