Cognition Dissemination: 50 DOLLARS

From the moment that Nintendo revealed the Expansion Pack for Nintendo Switch Online, in which Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis games will be added to the current crop of NES and Super Nintendo games, it was clear they would cost extra. This seemed ostensibly understandable. An existing NSO subscription costs a mere $20 for a lineup of games from two classic console libraries and the option to play online, a solid deal compared to non-PC competitors. Price increases happen when services expand their number of available features.

The extent to which it’s actually increasing though has created a big talking point across the gaming community — for good reason. Nintendo confirmed during the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Direct that subscribing to NSO and the Expansion Pack will come to a whopping $49.99, a bulbous $30 increase to the current service. It is — and I cannot emphasize this enough — a straight-up bonkers hike. This was announced during the aforementioned Direct thanks to its new content being included as part of the Expansion Pack offer, in what will be the game’s final content update (whether support is ending too soon is another debate happening elsewhere). If you don’t play ACNH? Well, tough. You’re getting a raw deal.

The words “50 DOLLARS” were trending on Twitter shortly after the announcement, the “DOLLARS” in caps capturing the sticker shock. I had to laugh upon seeing it, and thus had to use it for the title here. You understand.

It’s difficult to imagine N64 and Genesis games being worth an extra $30. Nintendo themselves are responsible for conditioning the audience for this worth, after offering a fair amount of NES and SNES games for $20 (don’t argue with me about this if your favorite games have been left out — I know), in addition to services like playing online and storing save files in the cloud. Even through offering the best N64 games like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Mario Kart 64 will this not seem worth it. Only rare titles could justify the hike, particularly games unavailable on prior Virtual Consoles like Mischief Makers and Goldeneye 007. You could read that sentence in two different ways: Literal Rare titles could help too. Nintendo and Microsoft are on light speaking terms, after all.

It’s especially tough to justify this cost with Genesis titles. Consider the sheer number of prior platforms Sega has released the games for, several with great emulation. The games are available on far more platforms than N64 thanks to Sega being a third-party publisher. The Sega Genesis Mini wasn’t as rare a commodity as Nintendo’s mini Classic Edition consoles for a time, though it’s getting rarer as time progresses. Games that weren’t found on previous Virtual Console platforms or available through other means could justify this, similar to N64, but it’s tougher to think of titles that qualify. Maybe we’re finally learning the real price of Sega having M2 handle the emulation jobs for each game.

In addition to simply being expensive, a key problem with the price hike is how it puts the entire Nintendo Switch Online service within the vicinity of PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold, both of which comparatively cost a mere $10 more annually. NSO, in true Nintendo fashion, doesn’t offer anywhere near as many features and functionalities as them. You still have to, for example, use your phone for voice chat instead of the system’s functionalities. Not to mention both offer a larger array of games on a monthly basis.

If it’s true that Nintendo had to charge a higher price because of licensing costs with key games, particularly those from Sega and Rare, they should reveal that. I’m aware it’s not customary for publishers to reveal these kinds of deals to the public, especially Japanese companies, and especially Nintendo. But it would go a good way towards justifying the price in the eyes of the public. I know this will not happen even if it’s actually the case, but it’s worth a shot.

There’s been plenty of complaining in any place where discussions about this can be found on the internet, but it’s similarly unlikely that the audience will change Nintendo’s mind on this decision. There’s, in fairness, a higher chance of this happening than Nintendo being up-front about the deals they had to make. But keep in mind that Nintendo is not Microsoft, which backtracked mere hours after trying to slyly double the price of a yearly Xbox Live Gold subscription. It’s already been more than 72 hours since this announcement as of this writing, and it would be wiser to bet against this scenario playing out with Nintendo.

Anyone who looked at the price of this plan and was alarmed enough to type “50 DOLLARS” in caps shouldn’t shell out for it. The only excuse is whether they’ll be in it for the Animal Crossing: New Horizons update and want the classic games on the side, which already accounts for a sizable amount of the Nintendo audience. There’s also the chance of rare games being uploaded to the service, however low. But I know better: Even a bunch of the loudest complainers will shell out for this, especially (though hardly exclusively) if they acquired a Switch Nintendo 64 controller before they sold out. I’m old enough to know how these situations play out.

Related posts:

Cognition Dissemination: Nintendo’s Unique Strategy for Switch Cognition Dissemination: The Downsides to Nintendo’s Switch Unveil Strategy Cognition Dissemination: A Return to the New Normal for Nintendo at E3 2017 Cognition Dissemination: Are Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101 Really Coming to Switch?