A bit over a month we got every detail there is to know about the new service provided by Nintendo—
Nintendo Switch Online—except for one thing: the replacement for the Virtual Console.
Many people seemed to agree that the service itself looked like a pretty good deal as it isn't particularly expensive, it does seem to offer a decent amount of content that does sound promising, and it looks like it will provide players with a new way to play classic titles online—titles that weren't playable online before, that is—with the new
Nintendo Entertainment System feature.
The problem is that, as of yet, the service doesn't fully reveal a proper list of titles playable through said feature since it only featured classic NES titles that we've seen before. While they will probably announce more current titles later on, the announcement still left fans scratching their heads and somewhat excited for the service itself.
Today we got some new information about the Nintendo Switch Online Service fro Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé in an interview with
IGN, in which he mentions that he sees Nintendo's new service as the Virtual Console's successor of sorts.
"
The Virtual Console successor is Nintendo Switch Online, right? With the mentality that says we're going to be offering a slate of games, and it's a slate that's going to increase over time", which definitely puts to rest the doubts any fans could've had about the service not offering other games rather than classic NES titles. Fils-Aimé also mentioned that "
for many of these games, there's going to be additional online capability provided in those games. That's the vision we have for how to best bring our legacy content to Nintendo Switch".
That is certainly reassuring as the service does look promising and if they really intend on adding online features to classic titles like The Nintendo 64's
Super Smash Bros. or any other multiplayer game, for that matter—it ends up sounding like a pretty good deal.
When talking about the pricing of the Nintendo Switch Online service, Fils-Aimé is confident that people will be willing subscribe and pay to get the full service.
"
What we've laid out is a proposition where, yes you get the competitive play accessibility, you also get the cloud save, and you get access to the legacy content. That's a fantastic proposition for $20 a year. We believe that it's not going to be any type of issue for us. In fact, it's going to enable us to continue offering a varied slate of opportunities from an online experience standpoint".
He is right in this regard given that the Nintendo Switch Online service is, indeed, the cheapest out there right now, and it looks like it could also end up becoming the norm from here on out. While the service itself may not be perfect, there is always room for improvement and the pricing alone gives them the upper hand when compared to the services provided by Sony and Microsoft. Let's just hope that they can put their money where their mouth is and deliver a proper, high quality service that people will be eager to pay for—but they need to offer a wider variety of games quick.