Nintendo Switch Online Set to Go Live Next Week

You saw the news earlier today that the rescheduled Nintendo Direct is set to take place tomorrow, with the latest 3DS and Switch games set to be revealed during the event. But it'll also be home to the long-awaited details for the Nintendo Switch Online service, which is coming sooner than you think.

Nintendo has confirmed that the service will go live starting Sept. 18th, this coming Tuesday. With that, you'll need to be a subscriber to partake in online sessions of games like Splatoon 2 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, among other games. There's no word yet on how it will affect free-to-play games like Paladins and Fortnite, but hopefully tomorrow's Direct will provide better clarification.

But if you're doubting the service or don't know just how much you'll be using it, there's going to be a trial available. Nintendo will offer a free seven-day trial when the Online service goes live, so you can see just how reliable it is, as well as try out its offering of 8-bit NES classics, which you can play with others online. Yep, your first week will give you games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Mario Bros. on the house, so you can see how well they operate.

The service itself, thankfully, isn't too high in price. It's set to go for a meager $3.99 a month, or $7.99 for three months. If you want to dive in for the whole year it'll only set you back $19.99, which is more than reasonable compared to other services on the market.

The real question here, however, is how well the service will hold up. Nintendo hasn't engaged in any kind of beta testing, so we don't know its level of effectiveness just yet. That said, you never know— the company could introduce a beta test for something like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate just to see how everything holds up.

We'll see what tomorrow's Direct holds, where we'll get the lowdown on everything the service has to offer, what it'll have on hand at launch, and what services could come in the future. Fingers crossed that it figures out a way to adapt Fortnite's chat solution into its future games — we're not a fan of the elaborate Splatoon 2 mobile phone setup as it stands.

Look for full details following tomorrow' Nintendo Direct!