Topic: Let's talk about Nintendo Switch's online service...

[Evan_B]

Pretty well. Some are current-gen full retail titles.

[Oedo]

Pricing will dictate how well this is received. Free is obviously ideal. I think most people can live with $20 a year. Same as Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus, get the **** out of here. Nintendo is starting at a deficit because its online infrastructure has never been great, and it won't have as much content as One and PS4. Considering the epic nickel and diming Nintendo is pulling with Switch peripherals, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Switch's online service exceeds the cost of Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus.

Pretty much. The service doesn't sound particularly robust, but I don't want to make any sweeping conclusions before we get the price. At $20 a year, I think this what they're offering is fine. However, given that most everything they've revealed the price on so far is higher than most people expected, the odds of it being $30 or more are higher than I'd like.

[BranDonk Kong]

The Shield Android TV supports voice chat (in the game that support it) and you can stream or record your gameplay at up to 1080p. Switch needs to have its store on the console, support voice chat, etc. It's mind-bigglinf that they went with 32GB storage again - unless somehow saves and DLC go on the cartridge.

[nickmitch]

Saves likely will go on the cartridge.  DLC might be a whole other issue, unfortunately.  Maybe devs can leave enough space for Day 1 patches, but who knows about DLC.  That's a lot harder to plan out.

[Stratos]

Don't forget as far as we know pokemon bank is still sold separately

Thought could bundle that into the service if they need to provide an incentive to hop in the Switch Train.

How do those free PS+ games hold up to SNES and NES games?

I am intrigued at the possibility of added multiplayer/online for these older games. Might even lead to some fun new content. I'm not opposed to loosing access after a while. But Nintendo should give you an offer to buy it at a fair discount during the month. Something like 25% off.

[Evan_B]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but SDXC cards up to about 256GB are relatively cheap, no?

I used a 320 GB hard drive on my Wii U and barely filled it, and I had 12 retail games and a slew of eShop stuff on it.

[Ian Sane]

Another thing to think about is how many people will pay for multiple online gaming subscriptions?  Like maybe you'll own the PS4 and Switch but are you going to want to pay for online for both or just one?  The PS4 already has a large online community.  If you're into online gaming odds are your friends already have a PS4 so if you have to pick one online fee, that's the one you'll pick.  Since Nintendo is essentially joining this generation late they're going to obviously have the smallest online community at first and with PS4 or XB1 owners a Switch purchase would be a second currently supported platform.  Free online would give Nintendo a chance to build the online community.  Instead I figure Switch-only owners will be the only ones to pay for online and those numbers will be small at first which will just discourage people from paying for it.  It would make sense to have a free generation to build up the base and then ask that base to switch to a pay model in the next generation.

In fact this and the $300 price tag make this a very expensive option as a second console, which is what the Wii excelled at and the Wii U was incapable of becoming because of the price.  You're going to need to spent some serious money to own another console and a Switch and even more to take both of those online.

[ejamer]

I feel like this online subscription fee is just a reaction to Splatoon's success. Nintendo feels like they can make some extra coin, and so they are going for it. I don't blame them, but online play for a Nintendo console isn't worth bupkis to me.

[Adrock]

Nintendo obviously wants to make money. However, if making money was ever the impetus for online services, it would have charged a subscription fee all the way back on DS. I think Nintendo viewed online as a simple feature so it offered it for free. Then, the realization set in that having online and doing it well were entirely different things. Servers and maintenance cost money. The no frills connectivity for online matches that Nintendo has offered for over a decade probably wasn't setting the company back a ton. Eurogamer ran an article a few years ago wherein a developer stated:

At some point in this conversation we were informed that it was no good referencing Live and PSN as nobody in [Nintendo's] development teams used those systems (!) so could we provide more detailed explanations for them? My only thought after this call was that they were struggling - badly - with the networking side as it was far more complicated than they anticipated. They were trying to play catch-up with the rival systems, but without the years of experience to back it up.

I'd imagine once Nintendo finally researched this and decided to expand its online features, it realized it couldn't realistically offer a robust online service without charging.

I've played very few games online on my own hardware. Mop it up and I played Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D for a couple weeks a few years ago, and that was the most I played a single game online ever. Regardless of Switch's subscription fee, I can probably pass. I doubt I'd use it enough to justify it.

[NWR_insanolord]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Nintendo's starting to charge for online with their first hardware launch after Sony started charging for it. They were the only ones not charging for online the last few years, and I'm guessing they saw that as leaving money on the table.

[ShyGuy]

Having your smart phone as an option for online is great idea, but it shouldn't be the only option.

[KeyBilly]

Having your smart phone as an option for online is great idea, but it shouldn't be the only option.

Yeah, I haven't heard a good reason to do that.  Reggie justified it by saying that it would keep us from wearing bulky gamer headsets when on the go.  Apart from the obvious fact that a standard phone headset should work on the Switch, I wonder how many people will be playing the Switch online when they are on a train or whatever.  It would need to be tethered to the phone, and people will need data plans that allow significant amounts of tethered data.  That is very expensive, unless data plans exclude Switch data from counting.  I could see T-Mobile doing that as a promotion.  At least keeping chat on the phone will save a little tethered data.

My guess is that Nintendo just doesn't know how to do online internally.  DeNA may have been asked for help with an app that Switch software developers can access with a simple API.  The thing I like about it is that it could also work with their games on Android and iOS.  Pretty much everything else about it is worse than just having it handled locally.

[nickmitch]

I've never played my 3DS online while commuting.  It just doesn't seem like a good idea.  Maybe if you're on a long flight and pay for the wi-fi?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but SDXC cards up to about 256GB are relatively cheap, no?

I used a 320 GB hard drive on my Wii U and barely filled it, and I had 12 retail games and a slew of eShop stuff on it.

256GB microSD cards aren't cheap
200GB mircoSD cards can be though

but theoretically SDXC cards can grow up to 2TB in size, but I doubt we'd be affording those w/in the Switch's active lifetime.

another reason why I was hoping for dual SD card slots.
edit: http://nintendoeverything.com/nintendo-confirms-switch-actually-supports-sdxc-memory-cards-up-to-2tb/

[Shaymin]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Nintendo's starting to charge for online with their first hardware launch after Sony started charging for it. They were the only ones not charging for online the last few years, and I'm guessing they saw that as leaving money on the table.

Thanks to PS+, PlayStation Network made more money last year than Nintendo. And this is BEFORE the price increase.

[ShyGuy]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Nintendo's starting to charge for online with their first hardware launch after Sony started charging for it. They were the only ones not charging for online the last few years, and I'm guessing they saw that as leaving money on the table.

Isanolord, are you going all digital again? You did that with the WiiU, right?

[NWR_insanolord]

I don't think it's a coincidence that Nintendo's starting to charge for online with their first hardware launch after Sony started charging for it. They were the only ones not charging for online the last few years, and I'm guessing they saw that as leaving money on the table.

Isanolord, are you going all digital again? You did that with the WiiU, right?

I intend to, though we'll see how quickly storage becomes an issue. I bought a 200 GB microSD when Newegg had them on sale for $50 last month expressly for this purpose, so I should be good for at least a little while. Zelda being only about 13 GB makes me feel somewhat better about those prospects.

[Stogi]

Online looks awful. I never thought Nintendo were straight-up greedy until now. An online subscription that doesn't provide VC games at no extra cost is a huge middle finger to fans. This is the third generation of the VC program and you expect people who have been with you all the way to pay for the very same games again AFTER paying for a subscription? This is a dick move and I really hope none of you subscribe until Nintendo changes their ways. Just like how Xenoblade was going to be a Japanese exclusive and is now one of their biggest games worldwide, we need to band together and bitch like we've never bitched before.

[Stogi]

It's either that or I'll wait for the eventual hack that allows me to play all the games for free.

[Ian Sane]

I've never had a console that requires me to pay for online before so I'm pretty ignorant on this.  The subscription just covers online play, right?  You don't need to pay to access the online store and download patches, do you?

[KeyBilly]

Correct, Ian.  The store is accessible without a paid account.

[BranDonk Kong]

256GB micro SD cards are very expensive. That price will probably drop by 50% in a year though. However, 256GB is not a lot of space. 256GB full SD cards are much cheaper, but still rather expensive.

Side note - even with a full size SD card, its mind-blowing that you can store 256GB of data on one (512GB on full size).

[Kairon]

Don't people remember when Microsoft was charging $110 for a 500 GB XBox 360 HDD drive? If so called "Hardcore" gamers put up with that pricing then, I'm frankly not that concerned with SD prices falling at the rate they're falling. The bigger question is how soon MicroSD cards at those capacities take the next jump to 512 GB.

[Soren]

http://time.com/4635415/nintendo-switch-online-reggie-fils-amie/

And we will look to make sure that in the end, we’ve got this robust, online environment that not only works well for our games, like Splatoon and Mario Kart and Smash Bros., but that also works great for our third party developers.

Oh hey the only 3 games Nintendo fans play online. I'm totally reassured by Nintendo's new paid online strategy now. Thanks Reggie!

[BlackNMild2k1]

I may have missed it, but I didn't see anyone mention the voice chat.

apparently being handled via smartphone app? included w/ subscription?
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/reggie-fils-aime-nintendo-interview/

The bigger vision is that we are going to provide an overall online service, subscription-based, that not only will capture the multiplayer opportunity, but also the voice chat capability that we’re going to provide through a global app. We think that that’s just as important as access to Virtual Console content.

The reason for that is, it continues to reinforce our commitment to online, and do so in a way that will enable the consumer to enjoy their Nintendo Switch and to still be able to play those connected experiences—like Splatoon, like Kart, like fill in the blank—while they’re on the go. Instead of having some sort of bulky gamer headset, you’ll be able to do it right off your smartphone, put in your earbuds that you use for your standard mobile device. We think that’s a pretty sweet solution. That’s part of the overall opportunity that we see in a subscription service.

if that means I can purchase my online sub w/ Google Rewards, then great.
But if this means they only release it for Apple, and then Android to follow at some future undisclosed date, then why bother.