Tentative Online Service Pricing Unveiled For Switch

Despite the March 3 launch date of Switch zooming up quickly upon us, Nintendo has yet to spill the goods on a number of key factors about its latest video game console. Thankfully, company president Tatsumi Kimishima has peeled back the curtain a bit on one of those big questions marks: pricing for Switch’s online services. Until now, the only word on the topic was that Nintendo would be offering a free trial of the system’s online services until the Fall of this year. What wasn’t clear was how much said services would cost once the trial ended.

Luckily, we’ve finally gotten a ballpark figure on the pricing from Kimishima himself. According to analyst Dr. Serkan Toto, who Tweeted the information based off of a translation of a recent interview conducted by Nikkei of Kimishima, Switch’s online services will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $17.50-26.50 annually. The prices are rough conversions of the yen amount that Kimishima was quoted as offering, so realistically speaking Nintendo will likely be pricing with whole numbers whenever an official announcement is made.

For comparison’s sake, it’s worth noting that Microsoft and Sony both charge $59.99 for a year of their own online services. The key difference between the services on PlayStation and Xbox being that Switch isn’t offering any sort of monthly free games like its competitors; instead, Nintendo has opted to offer month long trials of some of its classic software. In any event, the comparatively cheaper cost of paying for Nintendo’s service might make it an easier pill to swallow.

What do you think of the price? Will you be plunking down your hard earned cash to play Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online? Tell us in the comments!

Source: Nintendo Life