When the Nintendo Switch launched March last year, it arrived with free online gaming. While Sony and Microsoft both charge for online gaming on their PlayStation and Xbox platforms respectively, Nintendo will only start charging for their online services come next month. As announced on the official Nintendo blog, the Japanese gaming giant will begin charging players for online services in the second half of September.
To play games online and back-up data to the cloud, Switch users will have to subscribe for $3.99 a month, $7.99 for three months, or $19.99 for 12 months. Nintendo are also offering a 12 month family membership, which will allow an account holder to invite up to seven others to join a family group, granting them all access to the Switch's online services.
One of the other benefits of subscribing is access to a rotating selection of classic NES games, some of which will include newly added online play between systems. Three or 12-month individual memberships can be pre-ordered already, although the exact launch date for this service has yet to be revealed.
Before the Switch launched March 2017, Nintendo announced that they would begin charging for online around summertime of the same year. However, numerous delays pushed the start date of the service back until it missed its target by over a year.
