As Xbox struggles with an uncertain future, a reader argues that Nintendo Switch Online is a far more successful subscription service than Game Pass.
There’s a lot of post-mortems going on at the moment for Xbox and I can’t say they don’t deserve to have the benefit of the doubt taken away from them. Personally, I’ve never owned one and I’m certainly not going to start now, but while playing Star Fox 64 on Nintendo Switch Online last night (to make comparisons with the remake) a thought occurred to me that it has come a lot closer to being the Netflix of gaming than Game Pass ever did.
Like most people (including Microsoft) I thought Game Pass was going to be a massive hit that would change the industry. In fact, I was pretty sore about the whole idea because I felt like Microsoft was cheating and doing something with their money that no other company could match, thereby giving them an unbeatable advantage. Obviously, I shouldn’t have worried.
It took a while for people to understand why Game Pass hadn’t worked and then they realised that most people don’t really have time to play that many games, so not only do they not have the money to spend on playing something they might not like they don’t have the spare time either. Combine that with Game Pass’ rising prices and the lack of decent first party games and you’ve got a problem.
Nintendo Switch Online is something I very rarely hear anyone talk about and yet apparently it’s got the same number of subscribers as Game Pass. I put this down to more people owning a Switch and it being quite a bit cheaper.
But there’s also the fact that it’s all retro based so you kind of already know what you’re getting. Even if you’ve never played a game before you’ve probably heard about it and maybe always meant to give it a go. You’re not paralysed with choice because there’s not that many per format and yet the service has been going long enough that it already has most of the top games available.
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It’s not a lazy crash grab either, as some of the games have never been released in the UK before and they have different versions of the same one from different countries. Also, Nintendo Switch Online has exclusive games sometimes – I really liked Tetris 99 – and you need it to play online for most games, so there’s always some reason to have it.
Personally, I also pay for the Expansion Pack, which is basically the Premium tier, but it’s still not that much money and it gives you more retro formats and most DLC for free.
The thing is though, and this is where I think the big difference with Game Pass is, I often forget I’ve got it, because it’s cheap enough that it’s not a burden and, unlike Microsoft with Game Pass, Nintendo aren’t banging on about it every five minutes, making me sick of hearing about it.
Microsoft are constantly pushing Game Pass in your face, but Nintendo just gets on with it, and I think Nintendo Switch Online has quietly become just a given that most Switch owners pay for. Its reasonably priced, it doesn’t pretend to be the be all and end all of gaming, and it offers things you actually want.
The secret of Netflix’s success is kind of the same. It’s also something that a lot of people just consider a basic necessity, or at least one of the last luxuries they’d give up on. I feel that Nintendo Switch Online has reached that point for Switch, but the failure of Game Pass is that it never did for Xbox.
By reader Onibee
