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Nintendo announced today that its Switch Online service will be launched on September 18th. For $ 20 a year, Switch owners will have access to online games, cloud backups for most Nintendo Entertainment games and classic games. A free seven-day trial will be available for all switch owners
Nintendo Switch Online is strange for many reasons. Switch released in May 2017, but this subscription service took more than a year to be ready to be launched. In the meantime, people have been playing free online games like Splatoon 2. Nintendo also links components of its online service, including voice chat, to a smartphone app. So, if you want to talk to your friends while playing online with your Switch, you have to launch an application on a separate platform.
In contrast, the online plans of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were launched with their consoles. Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus allow players to access online games and voice conversations online (without having to use a phone application). They also offer players free games every month.
Switch Online also offers subscribers free games, but these will not be new Switch games. Instead, you will get digital downloads of classic NES games such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. When launching the service, 20 NES games will be available. Nintendo plans to launch more regular games regularly.
Nintendo has used the strength of its back catalog to create micro-consoles as the big hits of the classic NES edition, so these digital versions could spark interest for Switch Online. But compared to free Xbox One and PS4 games, this might not seem like a good deal for consumers. Nintendo adds new features to these games, such as online multiplayer, to increase their attractiveness.
Nintendo Switch Online will also be cheaper than Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus. A year of Switch Online costs $ 20, while a year of Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus costs $ 60.
But some of the features of Nintendo Switch Online already show holes. Giving cloud backups to players is supposed to be a selling point for the service, but some games (including Splatoon 2 and Dead Cells) will not support this feature. Nintendo says it's to avoid cheating in these games. This is an example of Nintendo that has problems with an online feature that its competitors have found years ago.
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