Nintendo Switch Online First Free Download of 2024 Is Now Available
Nintendo Switch Online subscribers have new freebies.
We are five days into 2024, and now we have our first Nintendo Switch Online free download of the year. Subscribers on Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED will need to wait a bit longer for the first free game downloads of the year, which should arrive later this month, in a couple of weeks. Whether these will be NES, SNES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, or N64 games, remains to be seen, but before that all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers -- no matter the tier of subscription -- can download some new Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet freebies.
More specifically, until this coming Thursday, January 11, all Nintendo Switch Online subscribers can claim some new and special Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet player profile icons. Notably, these icons include two of the cover monsters for the game. Some additional Pokemon are also featured, as well as some trainers.
As always, the icons cost Platinum Points to redeem. To this end, every icon runs at either five or ten Platinum Points, depending on the icon itself. Once redeemed, each icon is yours to keep, regardless of whether or not you maintain an active subscription. That said, whether they will carry forward with the next Nintendo console -- rumored to be a successor to the Nintendo Switch and releasing this year -- remains to be seen. Knowing Nintendo, probably not.
As you may know, this is the fifth wave of Pokemon Scarlet/Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC icons. And with the promotion set to continue until January 18, there should be two more waves after this. And once the waves come and go, your chance to claim the icons will come and go. Nintendo rarely releases any given Nintendo Switch Online icon more than once. With the Switch lifespan coming to an end soon, we don't expect this to change.
Nintendo Switch Online is available in two different forms. The standard tier runs at $20 a year. The upgraded tier, the Expansion Pack tier, runs at $50 a year. For more coverage on the subscription service, all things Nintendo Switch in general, and everything else under the Nintendo umbrella, click here.