On Amazon UK, a product titled "Nintendo Switch Online Membership - 12 Months | Switch Download Code" poped up at a cost of £19.99. On the same page a 3 month version for £7.99 is also listed and both have a release date of September 30th 2018.

It should be noted however that in the description of the item it says "Preliminary", so it might change.

Nevertheless, it is not the first time that a retailer, much less Amazon, has leaked advanced knowledge of a product. And when it comes with that many specifics, it is even less likely to be a simple placeholder or speculative product.

Below is a screenshot of the listing:

• Preliminary release date.
• You'll be able to play co-operative and competitive games online by signing in with your Nintendo Account.
• With this paid service, you can enjoy online multiplayer gaming as well as a dedicated smart device app that connects to your Nintendo Switch system and helps you connect with friends for online play sessions.
• Members will have ongoing access to a library of classic games with added online play, such as Super Mario Bros. 3, Balloon Fight and Dr. Mario.

Source

 

[DeletedMember411838]

Well now that we have Checkpoint, the cloud saves part doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore... And what if you restore your save file to an earlier save? Will it just sync again, and get over-written by the online copy?

Your working on the assumption that hacked Switches will be able to go online, I know 3ds could, PS4 cant, and hopefully Nintendo stepped their game up, and Switches wont be able to either.

From everything I have seen about Switches online Auth and such its more Akin to PS4, and nothing like 3ds. They have real security in the Switch, Online isn't looking good to me. I am not saying that Switch online wont happen, just saying dont get your hopes up yet.

That is also a valid reason for paid online, many will pay 20 a year for a every cfw user cannot go online console. Sorry to the Innocents, however you are the miniroty the cheaters need stopped.

 

[mizorechan]

I don't understand why people are making pre-orders of this. No discounts and no benefits for early adopters. Are people really "excited" to start to pay for something which is free?

 

[pedro702]

I don't understand why people are making pre-orders of this. No discounts and no benefits for early adopters. Are people really "excited" to start to pay for something which is free?

they are afraind paid online runs out lol so they have to get it for free

 

[Jayro]

Your working on the assumption that hacked Switches will be able to go online, I know 3ds could, PS4 cant, and hopefully Nintendo stepped their game up, and Switches wont be able to either.

From everything I have seen about Switches online Auth and such its more Akin to PS4, and nothing like 3ds. They have real security in the Switch, Online isn't looking good to me. I am not saying that Switch online wont happen, just saying dont get your hopes up yet.

That is also a valid reason for paid online, many will pay 20 a year for a every cfw user cannot go online console. Sorry to the Innocents, however you are the miniroty the cheaters need stopped.

With TX, we will be able to play online, but it's not recommend in CFW.

 

[Noctosphere]

I see a couple of person complaining about 20 bucks a year for online play
But i guess theyll be ready to pay 60 bucks for xbox online acces lol

 

[Xzi]

I don't understand why people are making pre-orders of this. No discounts and no benefits for early adopters. Are people really "excited" to start to pay for something which is free?

I don't see a reason for pre-ordering it either, but it's $20. Vast majority won't see it as a big deal spending that ahead of time. This is a forum with a majority of pirates who are often too cheap to buy games that cost $10-$20, so obviously the overriding opinion here is going to be different from that of the mainstream.

 

[DeletedMember411838]

With TX, we will be able to play online, but it's not recommend in CFW.

Well we don't really know that yet do we? Nintendo sees everything we do, they could be holding off on a TX ban, until after it ships and there is a bunch of users to catch at once.

Or you could be able to play with TX online, who knows. I'm fine with people with TX playing online, afaik, it is not CFW, just a cart launcher on stock firmware, with no save manipulation, so no cheating I'm cool with that.

That said, I doubt TX online will work, each cart has it's own header now, playing pirated games will get you banned, if you backup your own copies, you may be able to play online. However they may have a way to check encryption on the cart, who knows. Switches security, is very similar to PS4s and online doesn't fly on PS4, hopefully Nintendo figured it out. That may be why they now feel they can charge for online, if it was a hacked mess, charging won't fly.

 

[Xzi]

Well we don't really know that yet do we? Nintendo sees everything we do, they could be holding off on a TX ban, until after it ships and there is a bunch of users to catch at once.

Or you could be able to play with TX online, who knows. I'm fine with people with TX playing online, afaik, it is not CFW, just a cart launcher on stock firmware, with no save manipulation, so no cheating I'm cool with that.

I'm sure you can play online, but the bans for playing online without owning the game are likely to be near-instantaneous. I'm fairly torn on using SX OS on my main Switch at all, I don't think I wanna risk it with Smash and Pokemon coming up soon. Perhaps I'll just shelf the SX Pro for a while and wait for CFW to be separated from OFW, only going online with the latter.

 

[DeletedMember411838]

I'm sure you can play online, but the bans for playing online without owning the game are likely to be near-instantaneous. I'm fairly torn on using SX OS on my main Switch at all, I don't think I wanna risk it with Smash and Pokemon coming up soon. Perhaps I'll just shelf the SX Pro for a while and wait for CFW to be separated from OFW, only going online with the latter.

Well that's what I'm saying though, I highly doubt that we will ever see online with CFW, Nintendo knows that ain't going to fly with charging people.

I could be wrong, I just feel like people think this is 3DS 2.0, and I really don't think that is the case.

This is intensified by the fact they got the likes of Fortnite coming maybe, if that happens it's just fuel on the fire. Look at Nintendo's lineup, they are pushing Splatoon, they are pushing Pokemon, Pushing Smash, they are banking on the switch to be an ESports Console, which is a great idea, but won't work with hacked systems online.

 

[Xzi]

I could be wrong, I just feel like people think this is 3DS 2.0, and I really don't think that is the case.

This is intensified by the fact they got the likes of Fortnite coming maybe, if that happens it's just fuel on the fire. Look at Nintendo's lineup, they are pushing Splatoon, they are pushing Pokemon, Pushing Smash, they are banking on the switch to be an ESports Console, which is a great idea, but won't work with hacked systems online.

I don't know that they're really pushing it as an eSports console, Nintendo has had a lot of great IPs with online play for generations now. The online subscription fee is definitely meant to stave off piracy becoming too common, though. The games you mentioned lose much of their appeal without online play.

 

[DeletedMember411838]

I don't know that they're really pushing it as an eSports console, Nintendo has had a lot of great IPs with online play for generations now. The online subscription fee is definitely meant to stave off piracy becoming too common, though. The games you mentioned lose much of their appeal without online play.

Well, I think they are, as they are pushing Splatoon and Smash as Esports, and Pokemon I'm sure is headed the same way. If they start adding Fortnite, if they can talk Riot into putting league on Switch, Blizzard into an Overwatch port, the Switch is litteraly made for ESports. The graphics don't have to be Amazing, and ESports on the go, would be a revolution, it could be a huge thing.

I don't know for sure if they see that bigger picture or not, but I can, and that would be a great idea for them. Once again though, it would require hack free online. I already think Splatoon could be much bigger than Overwatch, as I prefer it, if they brought those games to switch it could push their ESports agenda.

 

[FAST6191]

I don't understand why people are making pre-orders of this. No discounts and no benefits for early adopters. Are people really "excited" to start to pay for something which is free?

As far as Amazon or the people running the part of Amazon that handles this it is another product so they probably loaded it up to send it live as and when rather than having to scrabble around on the day.
It is reported on here because it is at least a very strong indication as to how a service we know surprisingly little about will play out.

 

[kingfrost]

You get nes, and snes games, with online functionality, I'd pay $20 a year for that imo

I wouldn't. Obviously very few would or they would go the PS Now route. Free games given with online are just the carrot they give when they already whip you .

I think that if people pay to get online access there will be less cheaters.

Sadly no. That hasn't happened with any console I know of. Likely it'll just lead to you being banned if you have Homebrew installed and more draconian security measures like Song and Microsoft .

In complete disagreement with you here. Nintendo kicks out some fantastic first-party games with online features every generation (Pokemon, Smash, Mario Kart/Mario sports games). We might even get online for Metroid Prime 4 and an Animal Crossing game. All that and more for $20/year.

Now, compare that with Sony, who is truly all about the single-player story-driven stuff lately. I appreciate that in its own right, but without first-party support I'm not sure what it is they think they have to offer that makes online play (PSN) worth $60/year. You can play all the same games online for free on Steam.

Literally every console has games with online features. Those gamez have also had online features before and the functionality is still pretty simple and I don't see it changing. And to be honest if I didn't like Nintendo's charm in their first party games I wouldn't have a Switch. PS4 and Xbox are a lot cheaper than building a gaming PC and are more likely to be relevant longer but with the way the fanbase eats itself generations of consoles get shorter making ignored worthwhile.

 

[Xzi]

Literally every console has games with online features.

Which is why I was referring specifically to first-party titles with online play. Nintendo is the only one of the three that cranks those out with any frequency now.

PS4 and Xbox are a lot cheaper than building a gaming PC and are more likely to be relevant longer but with the way the fanbase eats itself generations of consoles get shorter making ignored worthwhile.

Consoles being cheaper used to be a given, but I'm not so sure that's the case any more. Not when you factor in yearly subscription costs, half-gen hardware upgrades like XB1X/PS4 Pro, loss of free mods and other free content, etc. Regardless, if we're just comparing apples to apples here, the point still stands that PC is the only platform that has a free service for online gaming now. Nintendo is next closest to free at $20/year.

Lastly, PC gaming is always going to be relevant for longer than any console generation. It was relevant for decades before PS4/XB1 were around.

 

[DeletedMember411838]

Sadly no. That hasn't happened with any console I know of.

Umm it has happened, maybe not because of the paid online, but it still has happened. You can't chat on PS4 or Xbox, people screaming "Hacker, Hacker" and someone actually cheating through hacking are totally diffrent things.

Likely it'll just lead to you being banned if you have Homebrew installed and more draconian security measures like Song and Microsoft .

And there she blows.

I wouldn't call, fighting online cheating, by stopping it at it's source draconian, but okay.

Fact is, the jailbreak laws don't apply to Game Consoles, they are well within their right to ban you, and cheating starts with Home brew, so I am all for no online if you have home brew. I say that as someone who also will have a Switch with CFW, I do not plan on cheating with it, and have another console to go online with. So it's no sweat to me.

I hope they take it a step further, and ban Local Play on home brewed switches as well, to stop people from trading over hacked Pokemon.

 

[FAST6191]

Even if the DMCA exemptions applied to consoles then from where I sit they would still be allowed to exclude you from their online services.

 

[Deleted User]

Your working on the assumption that hacked Switches will be able to go online, I know 3ds could, PS4 cant, and hopefully Nintendo stepped their game up, and Switches wont be able to either.

From everything I have seen about Switches online Auth and such its more Akin to PS4, and nothing like 3ds. They have real security in the Switch, Online isn't looking good to me. I am not saying that Switch online wont happen, just saying dont get your hopes up yet.

That is also a valid reason for paid online, many will pay 20 a year for a every cfw user cannot go online console. Sorry to the Innocents, however you are the miniroty the cheaters need stopped.

So you rather give nintendo free money just so people cant have the option to cheat? That's pretty selfish when it comes down to the average consumer who wants to play online without being restricted by a stupid paywall.You are pretty much singling out every average consumer as a cheater if we all have to pay just to keep cheating away.As I sead in a previous post,there are stealth servers that allow people to cheat anyway.So why restrict online and ruin everyone else's online expierence?Making online payed isnt going to stop cheaters,it may keep them away for a bit but it won't completely get rid of them.

 

[kingfrost]

Which is why I was referring specifically to first-party titles with online play. Nintendo is the only one of the three that cranks those out with any frequency now.


Consoles being cheaper used to be a given, but I'm not so sure that's the case any more. Not when you factor in yearly subscription costs, half-gen hardware upgrades like XB1X/PS4 Pro, loss of free mods and other free content, etc. Regardless, if we're just comparing apples to apples here, the point still stands that PC is the only platform that has a free service for online gaming now. Nintendo is next closest to free at $20/year.

Lastly, PC gaming is always going to be relevant for longer than any console generation. It was relevant for decades before PS4/XB1 were around.

First, first party or third party hardly matters. The online features in most Nintendo games or in games in general still don't merit an online subscription. An always evolving server based mmo does but they charge on their own already.

Two I was referring to PC hardware but you made that point for me already when you said that the half hardware upgrades of consoles. Hardware doesn't stay relevant as long anymore.

And let's not forget the Switch is basically a mid generation hardware upgrades itself.

Umm it has happened, maybe not because of the paid online, but it still has happened. You can't chat on PS4 or Xbox, people screaming "Hacker, Hacker" and someone actually cheating through hacking are totally diffrent things.



And there she blows.

I wouldn't call, fighting online cheating, by stopping it at it's source draconian, but okay.

Fact is, the jailbreak laws don't apply to Game Consoles, they are well within their right to ban you, and cheating starts with Home brew, so I am all for no online if you have home brew. I say that as someone who also will have a Switch with CFW, I do not plan on cheating with it, and have another console to go online with. So it's no sweat to me.

I hope they take it a step further, and ban Local Play on home brewed switches as well, to stop people from trading over hacked Pokemon.

I'm not. I'm calling searching your console and banning you when you don't even have the programs to cheat on it. I'm not hacking my Switch because there's not a point at this time and I doubt there will be one.

Also in app purchases are the reason that online is so regulated now. Of course they're going to crack down when they call see you the mods and take away the morality. At this point that's where games are going and Nintendo will get there too in their first party games.

 

[Xzi]

First, first party or third party hardly matters.

It does matter for exactly the reason I stated. You can play third-party games online for free, but it's not an option at all for first-party console games once Ninty's subscription starts.

The online features in most Nintendo games or in games in general still don't merit an online subscription.

That's your opinion, and I disagree in the case of Nintendo games. Give me one game to play online for the rest of my life and it'd probably have to be Smash.

Two I was referring to PC hardware but you made that point for me already when you said that the half hardware upgrades of consoles. Hardware doesn't stay relevant as long anymore.

It's not a hardware problem in general, it's console hardware which is usually outdated as soon as it launches. If you budget out a good PC build, it'll last you through 2-3 console generations. 4-5 if half-gen upgrades for consoles become the norm.

And let's not forget the Switch is basically a mid generation hardware upgrades itself.

Not at all, the Tegra X1 is as powerful as it gets for portable gaming right now (at a reasonable price anyway). "Switch Pro" would be a half-gen upgrade, but I expect Nintendo will simply release a Switch 2 instead whenever the tech becomes available and cheap enough.

 

[kingfrost]

It does matter for exactly the reason I stated. You can play third-party games online for free, but it's not an option at all for first-party console games once Ninty's subscription starts.


That's your opinion, and I disagree in the case of Nintendo games. Give me one game to play online for the rest of my life and it'd probably have to be Smash.


It's not a hardware problem in general, it's console hardware which usually outdated as soon as it launches. If you budget out a good PC build, it'll last you through 2-3 console generations. 4-5 if half-gen upgrades for consoles become the norm.


Not at all, the Tegra X1 is as powerful as it gets for portable gaming right now (at a reasonable price anyway). "Switch Pro" would be a half-gen upgrade, but I expect Nintendo will simply release a Switch 2 instead whenever the tech becomes available and cheap enough.

The Switch is a hardware upgrade the Wii U and is basically what it should have been in some ways. It's not next gen it is only current. Everyone claims that it is successor to both 3DS and Wii U and that is really all that I'm saying.

Also as for the rest I've not seen any online first party game that excites me but I don't play online typically anyway on any of my consoles.