Nintendo Switch’s online service is set to launch soon, but before it does, two new facets of the service have surfaced, and it’s more inauspicious news for Nintendo fans.
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One, you will need to connect your Nintendo Switch to some type of Internet connection every week in order continue playing your free NES games. Two, your cloud saves — which don’t even come supported with every game — will be deleted if your service lapses.
Why you need to connect to the Internet every week if you’re subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online isn’t clear and Nintendo, at the moment, hasn’t provided an explanation for the odd restriction.
One of the Nintendo Switch’s greatest asset is its portability, so it seems odd to not allow its players to be away from Internet more than a week to play NES games. It’s an issue that will probably plague very few, but it does undermine the very design of the system.
Meanwhile, the cloud saves is another example of Nintendo’s shortcomings in the online realm. On PlayStation 4, cloud saves are kept six months after a PlayStation Plus subscription lapses. Meanwhile, on Xbox One, cloud saves don’t require any subscription of any sort.
In other words, if you don’t have automatic renewal on, you’re playing with fire with your cloud saves. And when your cloud saves could include a 100-hour Zelda journey, that’s fire you will want to avoid at all costs.
However, it’s worth remembering that Nintendo Switch Online is much cheaper than the competition, coming in only at $20, meaning it being lighter and less appealing in certain ways is inevitable. That said, these two aspects of the service, particularly the required connection to enjoy NES games, seems like an odd choice by Nintendo, who, at the time, hasn’t commented on either revelation.
Nintendo Switch Online is poised to go live next week on September 18. You can find more details here.
As always, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you think. Does this make you rethink about subscribing to Nintendo Switch Online? Is Nintendo’s stripped, $20 feature set the way to go, or should it overhaul the service and charge what Sony and Microsoft do?
Source: Eurogamer
