Nintendo Reveals Details About Switch Paid Online Service

When the Switch was first announced, Nintendo talked at length about how the online components would work and made a promise: for a time, everyone could play online for free, but eventually it would get its own paid online subscription, just like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. We’ve enjoyed our free time with the Switch’s online capabilities (even if all the Teamspeak and chat stuff has to be managed through third-party apps), but it seems that time is coming to an end: the paid online service is rolling around in September, and in preparation for this moment, Nintendo has given a few more details about the extra benefits we’ll get, now that we’ll be paying to go online.

Once you sign up for a subscription, not only can you play online but you’ll also get special discounts on the eShop, and you’ll also get access to cloud saves, which is important, considering how little internal data the Switch actually has. Nintendo is also releasing a NES Classic Games service at the same time, which will allow people to play classic NES games online. They can switch between either classic multiplayer games or single-player games. This is an interesting, if slightly strange, little service.

The good news is that subscriptions are pretty cheap: 1 month is $3.99, 3 months is $7.99, and 12 months is $19.99, which means you can get a year of online time for about what three months’ costs on the PSN. The bad news is that each profile has to pay for its own online access, so if your Switch has multiple accounts each one will need to pay the fee. That said, there’s a “bulk package” for up to eight profiles that costs $34.99 a year, which is good for families who game.

No new voice chat system, sadly. So that’s two bits of bad news.