Nintendo has delayed their online subscription, that was set to launch in Autumn 2017, to launch sometime in 2018, meaning users will get some more time experiencing online on the Switch for free! They also revealed the prices and the fact that people with a paid subscription will get access to older games with new online play support. The full details and prices can be seen below.

Online lobby and voice chat
Our new dedicated smart device app will connect to Nintendo Switch and let you invite friends to play online, set play appointments, and chat with friends during online matches in compatible games─all from your smart device.

A free, limited version of this app will be available for download in summer 2017.

Classic Game Selection*
Subscribers will get to download a compilation of classic titles with added online play, such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Balloon Fight and Dr. Mario.

Subscription prices:

1-Month Membership
$3.99 (USD)

3-Month Membership
$7.99 (USD)

12-Month Membership
$19.99 (USD)

Source

More information regarding the classic games collection:

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.”

Source

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

Jeez, stop fanboying so hard.
1. Yes, it's a co-development with Hori AND Nintendo - hence the Squidboy wearing the exact same design headset in-game.
2. The hidden costs of extra devices and any ongoing bills associated with those devices.
3. Nintendo's apps don't work with everything that supports Android or iOS... I'd like to see someone implement that headset setup with bluestacks!

'Acceptable' is (unsurprisingly) acceptable - bearly better than acceptable for a fee is not acceptable.

I'm not being a fanboy, I'm just being logical. I'm not trying to say their mobile configuration is the best way to do things, but I have the basic mental capacity to understand that I can't truly judge something until I've used it first hand, you obviously know me very little as other people here will know that I'm not the biggest fan of Nintendo's decisions.

1. Something being endorsed by Nintendo isn't the same as it being BY Nintendo. Like the new Hyrule Encyclopedia for Zelda which is endorsed by Nintendo and has content in it that wouldn't be considered canon.
2. If you dont have a wifi plan at home I would wonder what the hell you are doing with your life. If you don't own a phone you're obviously not lving in the 21st century since more people on the planet own a smartphone than people who own functioning toilets:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timwor...have-mobile-phones-than-toilets/#656993186569
3. If you cant provide evidence for that bullshit claim, then you're quite obviously bullshitting!

Just to quote the forbes article:

Six of the world's seven billion people have mobile phones - but only 4.5 billion have a toilet, according to a U.N. report.

So to argue that "they might not have a phone" is just stupidly ridiculous as it is almost impossible to live your life in the modern world without one. If you live in a cave, that's your life, but don't start crying when you get left behind.

 

[duwen]

1. Something being endorsed by Nintendo isn't the same as it being BY Nintendo. Like the new Hyrule Encyclopedia for Zelda which is endorsed by Nintendo and has content in it that wouldn't be considered canon.
2. If you dont have a wifi plan at home I would wonder what the hell you are doing with your life. If you don't own a phone you're obviously not lving in the 21st century since more people on the planet own a smartphone than people who own functioning toilets:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timwor...have-mobile-phones-than-toilets/#656993186569
3. If you cant provide evidence for that bullshit claim, then you're quite obviously bullshitting!

1. It might be 'endorsed by', but it might be 'in partnership with'. From what I've seen, my money's on the latter.
2. You're being really silly now. If this is about wifi, then why does the service require a mobile phone/tablet/whatever at all? (this is rhetorical - it will be revealed in a moment)
A wifi connection should be (and is) possible natively on the Switch. This service should be available without the need for the extra device - then the Splatoon headset could plug directly into the console (or better yet, the pro pad while the console's docked). The reason the phone's are part of the equation at all is purely because of the portability of the Switch, meaning that you wouldn't always have wifi access but could still connect online due to the 3g capacity of your phone. So please stop repeatedly trying to paint me as some kind of technological neanderthal when only one of us was savvy enough to distill this point.
3. Fire Emblem Heroes does not work on my Google Asus 7. That's all the proof I need. It will only run on certain devices and those certain devices must have the most current version of Android.

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

1. It might be 'endorsed by', but it might be 'in partnership with'. From what I've seen, my money's on the latter.
2. You're being really silly now. If this is about wifi, then why does the service require a mobile phone/tablet/whatever at all? (this is rhetorical - it will be revealed in a moment)
A wifi connection should be (and is) possible natively on the Switch. This service should be available without the need for the extra device - then the Splatoon headset could plug directly into the console (or better yet, the pro pad while the console's docked). The reason the phone's are part of the equation at all is purely because of the portability of the Switch, meaning that you wouldn't always have wifi access but could still connect online due to the 3g capacity of your phone. So please stop repeatedly trying to paint me as some kind of technological neanderthal when only one of us was savvy enough to distill this point.
3. Fire Emblem Heroes does not work on my Google Asus 7. That's all the proof I need. It will only run on certain devices and those certain devices must have the most current version of Android.

1. That's speculation and hold's no truth whatsoever.
2. I'm not saying what Nintendo is doing is the best way to do things. What I am saying is that your criticism of this functionality is best saved for when it is released, since a picture and a tweet can only explain so much about, what is presumably, a pretty robust system.
3. Yes and that's a game, the Nintendo App is a service like Facebook and Twitter, if your phone can't handle either of these then you have a case for yourself, otherwise, it falls apart.

 

[duwen]

I'm not saying what Nintendo is doing is the best way to do things.

Let's leave it at that, as that's something we can both agree on.

 

[the_randomizer]

People went from not accepting to pay for the p2p online retard taxes to cheering said retard tax is cheap.
Squeeze in the bullshit and slowly let it establish itself and it will be seen as a feature eventually.


Anything over 0.00USD for a service that does not exist is too much.

Then don't pay for it.

 

[Subtle Demise]

That's a load of crap, online play isn't always p2p and on the Xbox and Sony sides of things it's never p2p. They make you pay because they need to run dedicated servers.

Not true. XBOX Live has used p2p since the first Halo. Remember something along the lines of "host has left the game, switching to new host"? That's p2p and even Call of Duty does it too. The last few Battlefield games? Set up by DICE and EA. They even rented out server space to people who wanted custom rules on their servers. Also Premium buyers got priority for connecting to the servers. Don't think Microsoft/Sony would allow that on their servers.

 

[Jonna]

Wtf are you talking about? How's that even comparable?
The DS only required a wireless access point for online play - no wifi, no online play. There was no paid online service, no requirement for additional devices (unless you needed one of their dedicated wifi dongles, which cost next to nothing)... and this is the model for online play that Nintendo has maintained on all subsequent systems until now.

So, you believe that all the under 10's that have a shiny new Switch have unlimited data allowance on their brand new iPhones?

Woah. I think you might have gone into this argument and steered it a direction it wasn't going. We're just strictly talking about using data - something that isn't even required to go online since you can just use wifi at home or at your favorite hotspot. You'll only have to use data if you for some reason really need to get your fill of multiplayer online on the bus or on a car trip. And since that's a low bracket, otherwise will not imply you need to shell out even more money for a phone and data plan.

EDIT: Also, if the Switch is magically a thing by the time my daughter is old enough to play online (oh god), she doesn't need to have voice chat and talk to strangers potentially 20+ years older than her spouting all sorts of anger and profanity that I'd have to spend 3 hours explaining what it all means to her and complicate things further. At least not without me being there.

All else and she's okay, she can just use discord.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Problem is, Nintendo have a history of only supporting a select few makes and models of phones. Not to mention timed exclusives with Apple devices, so expect to find workarounds if you don't have a Samsung Galaxy or iPhone.

True. If they keep it the way of Miitomo, shouldn't be an issue, I believe? Did that app release simultaneously on ios and Android?

 

[Nemix77]

Phew. It's delayed to 2018.

The pricing whether USD or EUR seems to be exactly the same, and guess for GBP that'll apply too. £1.67 per month is a pretty good price but how do the classic monthly games work? Do we get to keep them as paid members or are they just monthly rentals?

It works like Netflix, all the games are available for play at anytime as long as you pay for online subscription.

 

[Yil]

Not true. XBOX Live has used p2p since the first Halo. Remember something along the lines of "host has left the game, switching to new host"? That's p2p and even Call of Duty does it too. The last few Battlefield games? Set up by DICE and EA. They even rented out server space to people who wanted custom rules on their servers. Also Premium buyers got priority for connecting to the servers. Don't think Microsoft/Sony would allow that on their servers.

Doesn't this mean we should appreciate Nintendo instead of comparing the new service to Xbox Live and PSN in addition to being cheap?

 

[the_randomizer]

It works like Netflix, all the games are available for play at anytime as long as you pay for online subscription.

That's a smart way to do it, but I hope the option to pay for games to keep is also available.

 

[Yil]

1. It might be 'endorsed by', but it might be 'in partnership with'. From what I've seen, my money's on the latter.
2. You're being really silly now. If this is about wifi, then why does the service require a mobile phone/tablet/whatever at all? (this is rhetorical - it will be revealed in a moment)
A wifi connection should be (and is) possible natively on the Switch. This service should be available without the need for the extra device - then the Splatoon headset could plug directly into the console (or better yet, the pro pad while the console's docked). The reason the phone's are part of the equation at all is purely because of the portability of the Switch, meaning that you wouldn't always have wifi access but could still connect online due to the 3g capacity of your phone. So please stop repeatedly trying to paint me as some kind of technological neanderthal when only one of us was savvy enough to distill this point.
3. Fire Emblem Heroes does not work on my Google Asus 7. That's all the proof I need. It will only run on certain devices and those certain devices must have the most current version of Android.

Got a better solution besides implementing it on the switch and occupying less resources to games?
Are you going to play online while away with LTE being rather laggy?
Did you root your phone?

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

2. What hidden costs? Its £15 a month.

Since the pricing is the same on USD and EUR then chances are it'll be £19.99 too on GBP.

It works like Netflix, all the games are available for play at anytime as long as you pay for online subscription.

It works like Netflix? Netflix removes content to add new content. Wouldn't it be more accurate to say it works like XBL/PSN?

 

[Steena]

Yeah and that model meant that we had shitty online on previous consoles, just try to play sm4sh on wii u with strangers.

What about GGPO?

 

[dpad_5678]

1-Month Membership
$3.99 (USD)

3-Month Membership
$7.99 (USD)

12-Month Membership
$19.99 (USD)

Damn.... Much cheaper then I expected.

 

[Steena]

EDIT: Also, if the Switch is magically a thing by the time my daughter is old enough to play online (oh god), she doesn't need to have voice chat and talk to strangers potentially 20+ years older than her spouting all sorts of anger and profanity that I'd have to spend 3 hours explaining what it all means to her and complicate things further. At least not without me being there.

It's a feature!

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

It's a feature!

Or like, she won't hear that at school, outside, when browsing the internet or under any other circumstance. Overprotective parents spoil their kids too much.

The more protective you are, the less she'll trust you.

 

[Blue]

Online released on a console, a year after its release?

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

Online released on a console, a year after its release?

Switch has online service right now, it's free than paid. PS3 semi-went this way too but kept online play free completely while they made it a paid feature on PS4.

 

[Deleted User]

So if the switch is only 20$ a year,how long do you think the switch will last? If its 5-6 years like the wiiu,then that means you would only have to pay 100$ extra for multiplayer for the switches whole life cycle.Unless they pull a Sony and increase the price.

 

[Thirty3Three]

I don't know any one who doesn't have a phone with data already. Also, data isn't an issue, because if you're playing online on the Switch without wifi outside your home, you're obviously prepared enough to use data anyways. Otherwise, you might as well have used this argument way back when Mario Kart DS rolled out online play on a handheld.

This. And same can be said for Sony's grotesque internet prices. Gotta pay for a router, internet connection, etc.