Nintendo has announced a limited Nintendo Switch Online price increase coming on July 1. The subscription service was first launched back in 2018, and it has not had a single price increase in the United States since, which is remarkable considering how everything in gaming is getting perpetually more expensive, and recently, everything in gaming is skyrocketing in price. The good news for those in the United States is that this impressive streak isn’t changing. Nintendo Switch Online is staying at $20/$50 a year. It’s increasing for some subscribers elsewhere, though.
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Starting on July 1, Nintendo has announced that every Nintendo Switch Online subscriber across both the Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 in Japan will be paying more for the subscription service going forward. For individual plans, this means the one-month plan will increase from ¥306 to ¥400, while the 3-month plan will rise from ¥815 to ¥1,000. And then the most popular plan, the 12-month plan, will increase from ¥2,400 to ¥3,000. These are the individual plans; there is also a price increase for the 12-month family plan that will see the price go from ¥4,500 to ¥5,800. To cap this off, the Expansion Pack tier is also increasing in price. To this end, the 12-month individual plan will be up to ¥5,900 from ¥4,900, while the 12-month plan has climbed to ¥9,900 from ¥8,900.
Global Price Increase Coming?
Sometimes, with subscription services, in particular, prices will increase in select regions ahead of a global price increase or at least an increase in the biggest markets. And it feels like Nintendo Switch Online is due for a sweeping price increase. However, the reality is that the yen is terrible right now, and this is likely nothing more than a response to this from Nintendo, which has apologized for the price increase. Those in Japan can circumvent this price increase by stocking up before July 1 begins. To this end, subscribers can acquire up to 1,095 days of subscription.
Of course, some will argue Nintendo Switch Online already had a price increase when the Expansion Pack was launched, and Nintendo started locking so much behind it. That said, the standard tier still offers plenty for what it is, and is substantially cheaper than PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass, and certainly better value than those for anyone on a budget.
If Nintendo was going to raise the price of Nintendo Switch Online, the start of the Nintendo Switch 2 generation would have been the time to do it. Subscribers should be safe for the remainder of this generation. It’s the Nintendo Switch 2 itself, and future hardware, that is going to cost more due to component shortages. Nintendo could offset some of this by increasing the price of Nintendo Switch Online, but we don’t see this happening.
All of that said, and as always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think, or join the video game conversations over on the ComicBook Forum.
