Listen, I love Nintendo and their games but somebody gotta say something about their online subscription. This notion of “ah but it’s online €20 a year, we shouldn’t complain about it” mentality is absurd. We’ve spoken out on things in the gaming community before that we didn’t like and have acted upon those dislikes by simply NOT purchasing whatever heinous or straight up rip-off that was in question. This has led to some actual change, eg: EA and Battlefront! Now it’s time for Nintendo turn.
Of course, I’m not just gonna call out Nintendo on their BS and not offer any suggestions on how to fix it. I’ll be doing that in the later half of this blog. However, we need to look at the problem first. Nintendo has FINALLY released their own version of Online Subscription service, similar to that of the PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live. On paper, their offer sounds nice. Spend €20 a year and get an online service that gives access to cloud saving, online play and some SNES title…..Aaaand that’s it! No, for real, I’m not even trying to exaggerate it. We waited for over a year and this is the best that they could over?
As a Nintendo Switch owner, I’ve been pondering on their service for a long time now, and after careful consideration, I came to the conclusion that I would NOT purchase their service. Listen, how in 2018, is Nintendo offering us a service that can be found in 2012. Standard things like Trophies, online leader-board, a basic ass voice chat, simple friends and more are missing from the experience and I’d be dammed if I gave Nintendo the idea that their service is alright for me by spending my hard-earned money on. No way!
We need to stop celebrating Nintendo every time they add something that’s a standard for the market. This mindset that Nintendo does their own thing has gone far enough. In fact, Nintendo has realized this as well. Why do you think they’re trying to appeal to more of a mature audience with all their recent games?
As I’ve said at the beginning, here at the ESSENTIAL things that Nintendo needs to provide with their service, if they want it to be viable:
- Trophies.
- Online Leader-boards.
- A basic IN-GAME voice chat ( eg: Collaborate with Discord or make their own).
- Make adding friends easy.
- Custom Themes (seriously there’s theme on the 3DS… come on).
- Save Data that stays in the cloud for at least 30 days after the subscription has expired.
- The NES is a good start but they can do more! N64, GameCube and Gameboy titles are a must and would be welcomed with open arms.
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Exclusive deals & discounts (I’m aware of their “special deals” but I want normal deals too!
Listen, if Nintendo needs to bump their price up to make some of these happen, then I’m all for it. I’d rather a great service than a bare-boned experience. I’d highly suggest that if you’re on the fence on whether or not to pick up the Nintendo Service, I’d hold off for now. It’s important that Nintendo knows that they can’t keep getting away with crap like this. I mean, if you’re subscription runs out, your could save gets deleted. What is even the point of getting their service at all, aside from playing online. Which by the way has shown no difference.
