Nintendo Switch

[El Spatula]

Whataboutery. 

[Stanley]

2 minutes ago, Clipper said:

The latter point is irrelevant to me they are adding and have added nothing to Mariokart

 

And I didnt get annoyed a year ago because a year ago I didnt know that

 

a) The service would be exactly the same bare bones system I assumed free was bare bones and paid would actyually improve

b) No idea what price they were going to charge.

 

Some may be able to get value from it - i you play ARMS or Splatoon I guess.

 

I reiterate I think it is a poor move by Nintendo.

Well yeah it's different for everyone but no different than having to pay £50 per year when all you play is COD or FIFA on PS4.

[Simmy]

1 minute ago, Stanley said:

They're not suddenly charging for it though, in fact they've have actually delayed charging for it. They were upfront about this from the beginning.

 

For your average user, where were they upfront about it? Was there a system message on the console relaying this info?

[Girth Certificate]

At least I can still sell MarioKart for pretty much what I paid for it a year ago

[Stanley]

Just now, El Spatula said:

Whataboutery. 

Are you saying it's irrelevant?

[El Spatula]

For this argument? Yes. 

[Stanley]

Just now, El Spatula said:

For this argument? Yes. 

Well only if you're going to remain closed minded. 

 

I wish it was free too, and PS+ Xbox Live etc.

[SozzlyJoe]

I think plenty do complain about the PS+ price, but at least you get some totally stonking games now and again. You also get stuff like Spotify discounts, and their online party system is decent. It's just a grudging acceptance of where online console gaming is at these days - an acceptance Nintendo are happy to exploit, without putting in the necessary table stakes on their side.

[Simmy]

Bare bones service and now charging for it. I can see why the majority are confused.

[Stanley]

2 minutes ago, Simmy said:

 

For your average user, where were they upfront about it? Was there a system message on the console relaying this info?

It was during a Nintendo Direct I believe, which was viewable in the Switch news section.

[Clipper]

2 minutes ago, Stanley said:

Well yeah it's different for everyone but no different than having to pay £50 per year when all you play is COD or FIFA on PS4.

it is different

 

PS4 didnt start the gen with a bare bones service and say it was going to become paid at some point with no indication of price when it did charge

 

If they had done that I'd complain abotu that as well.

[Simmy]

1 minute ago, Stanley said:

It was during a Nintendo Direct I believe, which was viewable in the Switch news section.

 

Ah right but never specifically stated on its own.

 

I can see a lot of casual users getting a big surprise come September. 20 NES games ffs.

[Stanley]

Just now, Clipper said:

it is different

 

PS4 didnt start the gen with a bare bones service and say it was going to become paid at some point with no indication of price when it did charge

 

If they had done that I'd complain abotu that as well.

I'm fairly certain they've mentioned pricing before too, but prepared to be corrected if I'm wrong.

[Clipper]

Just now, Stanley said:

I'm fairly certain they've mentioned pricing before too, but prepared to be corrected if I'm wrong.

at launch?

 

dont think so

 

[SozzlyJoe]

I also suspect PS3 online remained free for the lifetime of the console as it blatantly wasn't up to scratch with the opposition, and Sony just didn't have the cojones to charge for it. Nintendo on the other hand have big clanking brass balls, god bless them.

[Bojangle]

Just now, Simmy said:

 

Ah right but never specifically stated on its own.

 

I can see a lot of casual users getting a big surprise come September.

I seem to remember it being on an insert in the Switch box plus mentioned on the news page on the Switch plus first time use pop ups when going online in those games.

I'd imagine most casual users will shrug their shoulders and pay if they're enjoying Mario Kart, ARMS, Splatoon and whatever else is online by then.

[Stanley]

1 minute ago, Clipper said:

it is different

 

PS4 didnt start the gen with a bare bones service and say it was going to become paid at some point with no indication of price when it did charge

 

If they had done that I'd complain abotu that as well.

Horses for courses. I knew they were gonna charge at some point and am glad they delayed it giving us essentially another year for free.

 

I'm not arguing it's a great service btw. Voice chat should be better and cloud saves should be free, but I suppose that's reflected in the price. Not ideal though.

[Stanley]

1 minute ago, Clipper said:

at launch?

 

dont think so

 

pretty near to. I don't know the exact date.

[Simmy]

2 minutes ago, Bojangle said:

I seem to remember it being on an insert in the Switch box plus mentioned on the news page on the Switch plus first time use pop ups when going online in those games.

I'd imagine most casual users will shrug their shoulders and pay if they're enjoying Mario Kart, ARMS, Splatoon and whatever else is online by then.

 

I can actually see the opposite happening, with very poor uptake in the service compared to the other big consoles.

[Stanley]

1 minute ago, Simmy said:

 

I can actually see the opposite happening, with very poor uptake in the service compared to the other big consoles.

You could be right, but once the likes of Smash Bros arrives, Pokemon, Fortnite etc. they might be persuaded.

[PyramidFace]

The amounts of money involved are so negligible that it's hard to imagine getting worked up over it.

[Stanley]

Just now, PyramidFace said:

The amounts of money involved are so negligible that it's hard to imagine getting worked up over it.

I think this is true. £18 a year is hardly a lot of money these days compared to any other online service.

[Bojangle]

2 minutes ago, Simmy said:

 

I can actually see the opposite happening, with very poor uptake in the service compared to the other big consoles.

I don't see it personally, us people on the forums are the odd ones out here. Like Stanley said people are happy paying 50 quid a year just for FIFA and COD. These people don't even bother adding the free games to their accounts, they're paying solely for the online. Nobody is going to begrudge paying Nintendo £18 to play Fortnite on Switch aside from us vocal lot on forums.

[SozzlyJoe]

Just now, PyramidFace said:

The amounts of money involved are so negligible that it's hard to imagine getting worked up over it.

 

And yet as is usual with corporate interests, this rule only applies on the customers side...

[Not Thread Owner]

22 minutes ago, El Spatula said:

if you've been playing online games on the console for a while for free, then it's not alright to suddenly charge for it.

 

They're not suddenly charging for it. They told everyone 18 months ago online was only going to be free for a trial period.

[SozzlyJoe]

5 minutes ago, Stanley said:

You could be right, but once the likes of Smash Bros arrives, Pokemon, Fortnite etc. they might be persuaded.

 

Fornite, as a F2P game, can be played without PS+. I wonder if any hypothetical Nintendo port would follow the same principle.

[Stanley]

Out of intetest what do people think they should charge for the service they've announced. Knowing you've got no choice what's the most you'd be willing to pay?

[rgraves]

26 minutes ago, El Spatula said:

if you've been playing online games on the console for a while for free, then it's not alright to suddenly charge for it. By all means, charge for playing online for games released after the service launches but retrospectively applying a charge to games people have already been enjoying online thank you very much is a shitty thing to do.

 

if it wasn't Nintendo people would be more up in arms.

 

Nintendo have been totally up-front with this. They've said for some considerable time (since launch) that the current free online was going to stop - in fact they had originally said it was going to stop much earlier. They also made the outline pricing clear quite some time ago - they first gave details back in June last year:

 

https://kotaku.com/nintendo-details-switch-online-service-will-be-20-yea-1795743981

 

It's been referenced multiple times, in multiple directs, in the gaming media, and on their own website. The other two platforms already charge for online access. We all knew it was coming, like it or not.

 

If it wasn't Nintendo, I suspect some people would be a lot less up in arms about it.

[Stanley]

Just now, SozzlyJoe said:

 

Fornite, as a F2P game, can be played without PS+. I wonder if any hypothetical Nintendo port would follow the same principle.

It can't, you need PS+ otherwise you can't play online rendering the game useless.

[Bojangle]

Just now, Stanley said:

It can't, you need PS+ otherwise you can't play online rendering the game useless.

You actually can play it without PS+. On Xbox however you DO need a Gold account.