Many of us have been skeptical to say the least about paying for an online service that Nintendo has been providing for free for the past two consoles. Although, having some revenue come in for these services could increase the overall quality of playing online with a Nintendo console, which has been sorely lacking compared to efforts by Sony and Microsoft. A new tidbit shared on Twitter suggests that the price could be a lot lower than expected.
1) Just in: Nintendo president Kimishima tells the Nikkei Switch’s online service will be priced at 2-3,000 yen ($17.50 – $26.50) *YEARLY*.
— Dr. Serkan Toto (@serkantoto) February 1, 2017
So according to the current Nintendo President, Tatsumi Kimishima, the online service will be priced as shared in this Tweet (this is of course hoping that Serkan Toto is sharing correct informaiton). In USD that’s approximately $17.50 – $26.50, which is a stellar price compared to Sony and Microsoft that are $60 annually. Of course, this goes without knowing what will be included in that service aside from a free classic game (with temporary ownership perhaps) and online connectivity. Could this be a mult-tiered product, like a more expensive one for more features? We’re not sure yet.
However, its clear from this detail that Nintendo is continuing to keep low prices at the forefront of business as they have many times before. Personally, I hope to see this online service create enough revenue to pay for better servers and offer more games to its subscribers. We could also see special access to demos and betas, just like on PS4 and Xbox One. Could the Nintendo Switch really be jumping into the modern console era in a way we’ve always wanted Nintendo to do.
I also hope to see more value for those who subscribe to this online service, like being able to carry your game library with you across devices with an account login. Hopefully all of those games bought on Wii U and 3DS can move to the Switch eventually as well. That’s a feature that has deterred many a sale, myself included.
We should know more concrete details about the online service in the coming weeks, and if not, then when Nintendo Switch launches on March 3rd. Until then, we’ll be enjoying all the excitement of a new console on the way.
Original story from Nintendo Wire.
