The Nintendo Switch Online service went live in September, marking the first time that Nintendo has offered a paid online service. It is also a service that basically gates online play as well as features like cloud saving behind a paywall, so there’s been some expectation that players will end up subscribing to it, even though it’s not actually all that great when it comes to value (for now, at any rate).
Speaking to investors in a Q&A session, Nintendo’s President Shuntaro Furukawa revealed that the service has had a “good launch”, but given how early it is for it right now, Nintendo has no plans of sharing subscriber numbers or ratios just yet. That might indicate that the numbers aren’t that impressive for now—or at least that they can easily be viewed in a less than favourable light.
“We think Nintendo Switch Online had a good launch, but the service has only just begun, so we have no plans to disclose any current subscriber ratios or number of subscribers at this time,” he said. “Our objective for launching the service is to bring ‘More Games. More Features. More Fun.’ to Nintendo Switch. Our focus at this point is on boosting the appeal of the service. We need to further enhance the content of the service for the subscriber base to reach a certain size, so that is what we’re working on, with the understanding that the time it will take to do so will be measured in years.”
I suppose the good news here is that Nintendo does plan to work on this over the long term to try and enhance the value of the service. If we are to be stuck with a paywall for Nintendo’s online, I would rather it at least be something worth paying for.
If you’re a subscriber, make sure to check out the new video put out by Nintendo showing off the November additions to the NES game catalog.
