Nintendo has reported that its online subscriptions service has cross 10 million subscribers since its launch in September last year. Nintendo Switch Online is a subscription-based service, similar to what Sony and Xbox offer with their PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold services.
Granted that some of the games require an online subscription of the service to enjoy multiplayer options, the service offers other benefits as well. This includes the ever-growing library of classic NES games.
Nintendo president Shutaro Furukawa spoke during Nintendo’s annual shareholders meeting where he said wanted the company to further enrich the subscription-based service in the future.
Nintendo’s policy is that we will consider whether each product we offer is suited to a subscription model as we expand our business in the future. [We] will continue to make the content of the service even more appealing going forward.
Nintendo last reported in April that the subscriber count had hit 9.8 million subs. That number seems to be growing strong and will likely go higher by the end of this year. Comparing the numbers with Sony and Microsoft would be unfair, but nonetheless, Sony has reported 36.3 million members since February of 2019. On the other hand, Microsoft doesn’t really share the number of its Xbox Gold Live subscriber numbers, but as of April, this year Xbox Live had over 63 million users across multiple platforms.
Nintendo Switch Online is greatly cheaper than the likes of PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold, costing $19.99 for a yearly subscription, compared to $59.99 for the online services of Xbox and PlayStation. There is no denying that both PlayStation and Xbox offer free monthly games, which is why the higher price of these services can be justified.
Nintendo Switch Online gives players the opportunity to play online multiplayer in games such as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Splatoon 2, in addition to the library of NES titles. The most important reason to go for the online service is for the cloud save feature, which allows you to safely back up your game files online.
Are you a Nintendo Switch Online Subscriber? What features do you like the most? Post your comments below.
