Nintendo prices Switch online subscription, debuts inaugural Super Bowl commercial

[Shawn Knight]

Nintendo has revealed that the cost of the online service for its upcoming Switch game system will be between 2,000 yen and 3,000 yen per year. That works out to around $17.50 to $26.50 in US dollars although it’s unclear if Nintendo plans to price it similarly across all regions.

Tatsumi Kimishima, Nintendo’s fifth and current president, admitted as much during a recent interview with Japanese publication The Nikkei.

Assuming Nintendo goes with a unified pricing structure, access to the Switch’s premium online service would significantly undercut the competition. Both Microsoft and Sony charge roughly $60 for access to Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus, respectively, when paid annually although you can usually shop around and find a moderate discount.

Nintendo is entering new territory with the premium subscription offering as it doesn’t charge for online multiplayer and other connected services on the Wii U.

In related news, Nintendo earlier today published an extended cut of what’ll be its first-ever Super Bowl commercial. A condensed version of the ad is slated to air this Sunday during Super Bowl LI. According to Variety, Fox commanded anywhere between $5 million and $5.5 million for a 30-second spot this year. Ouch.

The Nintendo Switch is scheduled to arrive worldwide on March 3 with a $299.99 price tag in North America.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/67995-nintendo-prices-switch-online-subscription-debuts-inaugural-super.html

 

[Panda218]

If they plan on charging that much the virtual console games that you get monthly should be yours for life... Look at PSN and XBL they are both 9.99 and they allow me to keep the games I downloaded for free.

 

[mrjgriffin]

If they plan on charging that much the virtual console games that you get monthly should be yours for life... Look at PSN and XBL they are both 9.99 and they allow me to keep the games I downloaded for free.

charging THAT much? they're charging less than half of the 2 other companies lol.

 

[Panda218]

charging THAT much? they're charging less than half of the 2 other companies lol.

Well I read that completely wrong and am a POS. I am now closing my laptop and promise to pay attention in this meeting.

 

[Puiu]

If they plan on charging that much the virtual console games that you get monthly should be yours for life... Look at PSN and XBL they are both 9.99 and they allow me to keep the games I downloaded for free.

charging THAT much? they're charging less than half of the 2 other companies lol.

He was clearly talking about the console price not the online subscription.

Even so it's still alot for a subscription that offers no free games besides that 1 month rental. They also have none of the big online services that both Sony and MS have. Nintendo is just not offering anything that's worth paying so much. Online game servers? --> these are extremely cheap and easy to set up. Downloads? you kinda can't since you don't have the space to do so, just a few games will fill the Switch up.

 

[Evernessince]

"Assuming Nintendo goes with a unified pricing structure, access to the Switch’s premium online service would significantly undercut the competition. Both Microsoft and Sony charge roughly $60 for access to Xbox Live Gold and PlayStation Plus, respectively, when paid annually although you can usually shop around and find a moderate discount."

Pretty sure this is just a money grab by nintendo and that their online service will only provide basic service. You simply can't afford much at the price they are charging, I most certainly wouldn't compare it to the console services. Nintendo is obviously leaning heavily mobile with the switch and their advertising has honestly been misleading towards console gamers. The switch could be a good mobile device but it has nothing that indicates it will get anywhere near good AAA game titles that the consoles do. This takes into consideration how woefully under powered it is, more so than any other Nintendo console that will not only effect graphics but simply disallow them from creating certain game experience that require beefier hardware. At around the same power as the Wii U, the switch will likely not get the AAA games it wants to attract.

 

[Austin Bear]

If you shop around at all you shouldn't be paying $60 for ps plus or xbox live. 40 bucks a year tops is what you should be paying. Newegg, Ebay, Amazon, and other retailers put 1 year subscription cards on sale quite often. The free games those 2 services offer justify keeping your subscriptions active to keep access to you free monthly digital games. Nintendos proposed rental does nothing to retain subscribers.

 

[Kibaruk]

Oh boy... I will be torn between eating a pizza with a coke zero -yeah duckers, even though I'm eating a lot of grease doesn't meant I want my sugar on an all-time high- or getting the annual subscription from those thieves... how they steal money god those monsters should be punished!!