Nintendo Switch Free Monthly Game Service Isn’t Nearly as Good as PS Plus and Xbox Live Services
Last night was a big night for Nintendo as all the juicy details for Nintendo’s next console was revealed. Price, release date and a glut of new games were all announced. One detail from last night that went mostly unnoticed had to do with the Nintendo Switch’s paid online service. This service will include a “monthly game download” which is an offering seemingly similar to Microsoft’s Games with Gold and Sony’s PlayStation Plus. There is; however, a huge catch to this online service.
According to the description of the service from Nintendo’s site: “Subscribers will get to download and play a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) or Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super NES) game (with newly-added online play) for free for a month.”
The service is available as a free trial until Fall 2017. Nintendo has stated that the games granted for free are titles from the NES and SNES consoles, presumably playable via the Virtual Console — a retro console service launched with the Nintendo Wii back in 2006.
Just like Xbox Live and PS Plus offerings, so long as you remain a subscriber to Nintendo’s paid online service, you have access to those “free” games. For Xbox One, the backward compatible Xbox 360 games are actually yours to own, forever. But on the Nintendo Switch, it means you have a month to play the game and then it’s no longer available, you’d need to buy it to continue playing. Even though we don’t know what this paid service will cost, this is making people very upset. Check out the responses to Wired’s Chris Kohler after he confirmed the news.
Confirmed by NOA: Monthly free classic game on Switch is indeed only available for that month. More deets on Virtual Console before launch.
— Regular Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) January 13, 2017
Sheesh, even my explanation was unclear. Sorry.
After a month, you can no longer PLAY the monthly Switch online classic unless you buy it.
— Regular Chris Kohler (@kobunheat) January 13, 2017
While we love Nintendo is going to have a similar service to that of Xbox Games with Gold and PS Plus, it is a bit of a let down the games are nothing more than rentals. Tell us what you think in the comments below?