Although Nintendo is quite legendary for their IPs and their game design philosophy, there’s a common sentiment that they’re quite behind when it comes to online services. However, Nintendo has recently stated that they wish to increase the appeal of Nintendo Switch Online.
Nintendo Switch Online features
Nintendo Switch online is much cheaper than the other online services for the other consoles. However, despite that, there are still complaints that it offers very little.
Because Nintendo’s first party games usually don’t rely on online multiplayer for its entertainment, there’s little appeal for the service.
NSO does offer a library of NES and SNES games. But the list of games hasn’t really grown significantly in the past few years.
Nintendo President on “Increasing the Appeal” of NSO
President Shuntaro Furukawa has stated that Nintendo is “working on increasing the appeal” of Nintendo Switch Online to make it “even more fun and convenient to play” on the Switch.
Nintendo started the Nintendo Switch Online service in September 2018 for Nintendo Switch users. People with memberships can play games with their friends online, such as titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons. In addition, they can play some of the games that were released for the NES and the SNES. Membership in this service exceeded 26 million paying accounts in September of last year and is still growing steadily, in step with the increase in Nintendo Switch system sales. For Nintendo Switch Online, it’s important not only to increase the number of new members, but also to encourage existing members to continue using the service, so we are working on increasing the appeal of the service to make it even more fun and convenient to play with Nintendo Switch.
Nintendo President, Shuntaro Furukawa
No explicit details or hints are currently given on what is going on behind the doors. Many fans are hoping that the NSO library will expand to include Nintendo 64 games. Or perhaps even games from their earliest handheld systems.
NSO is already really successful, having over 26 million members as of September 2020, so it will be interesting to see what Nintendo has planned for the service.
