Nintendo talks Switch online service pricing, and it’s not terrible

2,000 to 3,000 yen

When the Switch arrives we’ll be entering a paid online era for Nintendo. Hopefully that comes with perks like dedicated servers (ha) for some games and better infrastructure — for now, at the very least, we don’t have to pay for it. But when we do later in the year (whenever they flip that switch), it’ll at least be cheaper than the competition.

According to Dr. Serkan Toto, a Tokyo-based games consultant, Nintendo president Kimishima confirmed to Nikkei that the Switch’s online pricing will be around 2,000 to 3,000 yen, which roughly translates to $17-$26 per year.

That’s around half (if not a little less than half) than PS+ or Xbox Live Gold’s pricing. While that scheme isn’t locked in fully yet as they have plenty of time to shift their strategy, it sounds good for now. If only they’d change the Virtual Console benefit too so it didn’t expire after a month.

Dr. Serkan Toto [Twitter]