Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima provided new information regarding the Switch’s online service in an interview with The Nikkei Asian Review today. The yearly fee for the service is expected to run Japanese gamers 2,000-3,000 yen, or USD $17.66 – $26.49, which is less than half Sony and Microsoft’s USD $60 price tag. Although Nintendo could tack on a few extra dollars for the local market, they’ll still most likely undercut the competition by a fair margin if this information is correct.
There’s still much speculation about what exactly Nintendo’s online service for the Switch will offer, and how it will function. Kimishima explained, “With paid [services], we will be able to fully commit to customers.” Hopefully, this means better options for multiplayer and DLC than those offered by the Nintendo Network, which replaced the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in 2012 and is the current online service for the Wii U and 3DS.
Last month, Reggie Fils-Aime stated that a smartphone app will tie into the new service to provide matchmaking and voice chat, though it’s unknown if said app will be the only way to use these features. We’re also still waiting to find out if the next iteration of the Virtual Console will require users to re-purchase games they already own on other systems, but we do at least know that a monthly game rental will be available to paid subscribers.
Kimishima briefly mentioned VR for the Switch in the interview, stating that they would support it “If we are able to resolve the issues with playing [VR] comfortably for long hours”.
Is there a VR-enabled Switch with a sub-$30 online service in our future? Will we all end up re-buying our Virtual Console titles while shouting into our phones during multiplayer games? With just over a month until launch, hopefully, answers to these questions will come quickly.
(via Ars Technica)
