-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Nintendo Switch paid online coming 2018 ($19.99 a year, Dr Mario w/ online play)
- Thread starter jmizzal
- Start date
All it takes is people like you going "you know what, this is right. I don't really care but I support and expect better policies from Nintendo so I'll co-sign your argument" instead of playing devil's advocate, dismantling discussions critical of Nintendo saying no one cares. It doesn't hurt you to add your voice to the conversation in a way that supports your fellow Nintendo fans. What you're doing is only making it harder for people to expect better of Nintendo. All it takes is for people like you to argue on forums against people who are upset instead of agreeing with them or signal boosting them or making a tweet of your own. It's really not that hard to add one more voice of dissent.
Sure, maybe it's not a big deal, but as a fellow fan of Nintendo, wouldn't you like it if they did a better job?
The Last One
Member
That's really amazing! Can't wait to voice chat with my friends using the Switch.
tbh it's really weird to me people are getting upset at Nintendo for suddenly charging for online when I have to pay 3 times that for Xbox and PS+. And no, I don't consider the slim pickings of free games they give us to be worth the cost of admission.
I'm not a fan of paywalls for any console but this seems like a weird hill to die on considering it is at least affordable.
I'm not a fan of paywalls for any console but this seems like a weird hill to die on considering it is at least affordable.
Well, about that...
Its not a weird hill to die on when your paying for online for a Voice Chat system that it not even on the system itself, the mobile app has to be open at all times no turning off the screen or letting it dim and any notification, text message, ect, closes the app. Even if those things are are fixed its still a fucking mobile app that requires an adapter running from your mobile/switch to get both audio and voice chat .
Nintendo would have to PAY ME for me to use that abomination.
The Last One
Member
Oh I know that. I'm just finding really funny the reason for this thread's bump.
Council Pop
Member
Mate- they're a company. They're gonna do what they want and there's no point pretending otherwise. All this stuff about boycotting and making voices heard etc is ultimately pissing in the wind. I'm not making it hard for people to be critical of Nintendo. I'm just saying that I don't care about people moaning about stuff in such a way that implies they're personally offended by a faceless companies boring business decisions.
This is capitalism, the free market- we have absolutely zero democratic control over basically any aspects of huge companies. The point of unregulated financial markets, and the goal for ALL capitalist enterprises, is to give the worker (including both employees and consumers) the least you can possibly get away with, while keeping as much as you possibly can of the accumulated capital. That's why the dock on the Switch doesn't 'cost' $90, and that's why Nintendo's online subscription isn't going to fund vastly improved online function- the point is profit, and in terms of online, there's absolutely zero point for Nintendo not to charge, as there is nowhere else for console gamers to go, and online subscriptions are now just accepted as the norm.
Maybe this is why I honestly, really do not care about this stuff- because I completely expect it. Not because 'oh Nintendo are bad guys', but because this is what our entire financial system dictates.
At the same time, I'm certainly not as cynical about the creative, development side of Nintendo, which is incredibly unique and valuable and certainly not profit driven. Nintendo's devs are risk-taking developers, with a very inclusive approach to making games, and are some of the few developers who you feel work entirely on their own terms. In that sense, I love Nintendo in the way I love Ghibli, for the stuff they create- but in the broader 'corporate empire with video games, merchandising, media and theme park interests' sense, I couldn't give a shit about Nintendo at all.
Final thought- I'm actually pretty glad Nintendo haven't invested in, and "don't understand" online gaming. Because if they had a fully developed and feature-rich online infrastructure that they'd nurtured over previous generations, they would definitely be charging a subscription on a par with Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo's online is functional, just very basic. I'd rather save the £30 a year and have fewer features tbh.
2018 will be exclusively NES. If I was a bettin' man I'd put money on it.
Majukun
Member
for what is offered,sounds too much
There should be better more focused texts on this somewere (specially studies about ww2), but if you defend the "change" just because you should be aware of normalisation ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalization_(sociology) ).
I dont remember the name of the experiment some people did in a school, that started in a class then it spread throughout the school, but still, letting this normalize is not good, just look how the music industry works nowadays pressuring governments to max their profit(where the artists dont get much of that) from what i understand.
I dont remember the name of the experiment some people did in a school, that started in a class then it spread throughout the school, but still, letting this normalize is not good, just look how the music industry works nowadays pressuring governments to max their profit(where the artists dont get much of that) from what i understand.
SporeCrawler
Member
So a netflix of nintendo games. Thats worth 19.99 p.a.
Bruce Springsteen
Member
it really is $20 for nothing
Hades Hotgun
Banned
You know this isn't true, right? Are you are being intentionally obtuse? There are thousands of examples of how the market dictates to businesses, rather than simply being forced to except what they are given.
Your sentiment is almost word for word what Ben Kuchera claimed regarding Microsoft's Xbox One policy before launch.
You just replaced fart with piss.
Jaded Alyx
Member
Let's see:
1. FAST RMX
2. Super Bomberman R
3. Puyo Puyo Tetris
4. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
5. ARMS
6. Splatoon 2
7. FIFA 18
8. Rocket League
9. WWE 2K18
10. NBA 2k18
11. NBA Playgrounds
12. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
13. Ultra Street Fighter II
14. Pokken Tournament DX
15. RedOut
16. Steep
17. Minecraft
18. Pocket Rumble
I'm likely missing some and some might slip to later release dates.
It doesn't work that way. I will pay to play online, because I have to, but there's still absolutely no value added to my online experience, because they're not making any improvements to it. It's the same for PS+ and XBL. You're not paying because online has a certain value, you're paying because x constructor knows that you value more paying online than spending 20/50/60$ a year.
SinCityAssassin
Member
Considering the original pitch included SNES games to begin with, I'm assuming they're rolling it out platform by platform.
SolarMystic
Member
It is weird that Nintendo can't even offer the basic functionality of an online system to even match what MS and Sony were doing over a decade ago.
I'm going to have to pay $20 to play two multiplayer games online?
That seems pretty messed up...
First of all, you have people who don't play much on the PlayStation or Xbox ecosystems who are being exposed to this in earnest for the first time. So of course they have their own opinions on it.
Second, Nintendo is supplying half the functionality (at best) for half the price. If you compare it to what you get on competing services, it doesn't look good. Most of what you want to do is on your phone.
Third, if you were hoping for this trend to die off (and you should, you're paying for something that used to be free), this looks less likely with Nintendo latching onto the scam.
Fourth, what does it matter if it's "affordable" or not? You're being forced to pay an annual fee in perpetuity for a service that has been free and still will be up until the near future. Companies feel entitled to the money in your wallet to make up for the fact they can't turn a profit on selling you hardware and software. Why are we supposed to be OK with that?
Merchandise
Member
With the bare bones multiplayer options in Splatoon I don't actually know yet if I'll bother with the subscription. Splatoon is the outlier anyway; what other online games would I even consider playing, besides maybe Mario Kart?
Meanwhile I'm subscribing to PS+ only for Overwatch.
I know I'll be playing Splatoon, Mario Kart and maybe ARMS (if I end up bying it) for a long time online. Just like I'm playing Overwatch for a long time online.
Yup. Sadly the whole console industry has now decided that's the way to go.
I wonder if Steam will ever start charging a monthly/annual subscription fee... at that point, I hope GOG Connect is more robust.
They can't, PC is not a closed environment like on consoles, people will always find alternatives.
Nydius
Member
This is pretty much where I'm sitting as well. Who knows how I'll feel about Splatoon and MK8 online play by the time the paid service launches.
Due respect to Jaded Alyx's list o' games, I'm just not seeing why playing any of those online under this very barebones online system should require ANY fee at all. Nintendo wants one-third the cost of PSN or XBL but is offering less than one-third of the value in terms of features and support.
Council Pop
Member
Lol yeah but the point is that a small section of vocal gaming enthusiasts aren't "the market", they're a minority. If Nintendo's subscription and online policies are enough to prevent the casual majority from signing up (i.e. not out of principle, but just because A. they feel they don't need it or B. they can get a better offer elsewhere), then perhaps the market will 'dictate' to Nintendo. But that's very, very unlikely, and it will never happen through Gamergate-style internet boycotts.
It's literally a capitalist myth that individuals have any sort of sway over huge corporations via the free market. The only way to control what large companies do, in any meaningful way, is through government regulation, unionisation and worker participation.
Also Microsoft changed their Xbone policy because of massive press backlash and a very successful PS4 announcement, of which an internet backlash was only one part of.
Where did you think that press backlash come from? Press themselves don't really care about policies that much. Press are often just signal boosting consumer complaints. Look at kotaku. Every day there are articles going "players are unhappy about" etc.
It all being handled on the console for one.
DESTROYA
Member
This 1000%, if it was built into the system, sure why not $20 bucks a year is no big deal, having it tethered to my phone , no thanks.
Parties, cross game voice chat on a system level, regular discounts on games, 3-5 free* modern games a month, cloud saves, occasional early access to betas.
I understand what you're saying, but why did Nintendo change their policy on the monthly subscription with games? It certainly wasn't because of the casual majority you mention.
I think you're underestimating the effect the internet and social media has nowadays.
Of course the sales and how the market react to a product will have more power than a few internet threads, but when it get's to the point that it becomes a trending topic across social media, YouTube etc and big gaming websites start reporting it, then companies pay attention to it, hence why we've had a history of companies making changes before their product even hits the "casual majority".
Camper Van Beethoven
Banned
Charging for online is shit no matter who does it. Nintendo's online system is so bad that regardless of price them charging is the most offensive however. And only giving away the same old shitty NES games.
I can only speak for XBL since barely use PSN (though most of this is true with PSN as well) but it has a party system, a working messaging system, built in chat, I mean just in general the social features are more fleshed out. And in some cases the Switch just doesn't have them. it's a bunch of little things that add up. Being able to record video clips and easily share them. XBL has a looking for group feature. There are clubs. You can stream straight from the console etc etc.
Honestly what is ninendo thinking with that bullshit. It's so messy
Games and discounts. The game selection has its ups and downs, you don't get to choose, but it's interesting to sample stuff outside the usual comfort zones, and every once in a while there's something you'd have bought if it wasn't free. E.g. PS4 had Tearaway, Life Is Strange and Until Dawn this year so far. Just Cause 3 and Ass Creed next month, both not really my thing.
Also, extra discounts. Just look at this:
https://store.playstation.com/#!/en-us/playstation-plus-specials/cid=STORE-MSF77008-PSPLUSSPECIALS
By parties you mean lobbies ? From my understanding you can do that on Switch but you need to pass by the phone app and it's not at a system level. Discounts are also supposed to be part of the online program in 2018 IIRC. For the rest I don't think anything has been mentioned and likely isn't coming.
Thanks for the answer !
And thanks to both of you too !
Eh. If it was $40 I'd have an issue with what's given, but $20 dollars is chump change; I'll bite and not lose a wink of sleep. Even if the app is barebones, I just wanna play online. I'm sure they'll iron out the kinks down the line, but I'm gonna wanna play with my friends; so oh well.
CoffeeJanitor
Member
Price seems reasonable until everyone realizes this will be absolute shit
Jaded Alyx
Member
Parties - from what we've seen - aren't even persistent on Switch. Never mind at system level.
For example in Overwatch, you can form a party in-game before you do anything else, then go do Quick Play or go do Ranked or whatever. In Splatoon, it's separated by mode.