Nintendo Says Switch Online Expansion Pack Subs Are "Steadily Increasing"

I have it and am inclined to keep it mostly for the N64 games but I am definitely not surprised it's slowing down over time. They've basically stopped putting up Genesis games entirely, N64 ones pretty much all year have been lackluster, and they're majorly dragging their feet on GBA ones. You're being charged a premium on a premium but it doesn't really feel like you're getting doubly premium value out of it.

After getting my fill of online play from multiple games (which was a lot), nothing really hooked me to stay. I did enjoy checking titles I'd never played before plus all the classics are great but not enough for me to re-up

They blame the lack of newer titles releasing for a decrease in subs - which sure, definitely affected it. But I’d say it’s the actual value of the subscription. It’s still taking time to become what it should’ve been day one. Here’s to a more robust system come Switch 2!

Consumers are finally getting fed up of being nickeled and dimed year after year for subscription services. Bring back virtual console as an option to play classic games.

I get both the increase and decrease: the former due to the music app and the latter due to the frustrating lack of consistent updates regarding their Virtual Console services. They DEFINITELY need to overhaul things with the alleged successor.

Also replace the Genesis games with PC Engine/TurboGrafx games.

@GameOtaku I doubt that'd change anything if we're to go by previous Virtual Consoles.

Not biting until they give us the RSE and FRLG. But if/when they give those, I'm not letting go of the service.

I have just let my sub lapse, there was just no reason to keep it.

But here's a tip for anyone with an upcoming expiry. Turn off the auto-renew and let it lapse and then keep an eye on your inbox.

Nintendo sent me an email offering £8 in eshop credit to renew... Not much but almost 25% off the expansion pack.

Give us the option to download and keep a couple games each month and I’d sign up in a heartbeat.

I won’t sign up for expansion again

I still feel silly for paying money to play online. One day I will be strong enough to say no.

I got the basic subscription. Wanted to play A Link to the Past and Mario World SP. The GBA should really have been part of the basic tier.

I love it, honestly.
If I see what kind of cool games came to the service in a year, or even in the past few months, I have no regrets!

The only thing I can't wrap my brain around is that I need friend codes to play with other people. I'm still not playing four swords even though I know I could've had they allowed anyone to join!

They just kinda gave up on adding more DLCs to the service huh, and it doesn’t help that one of the inclusions is for an outdated game that barely anyone will buy

Would making the 'switch' from basic to expansion pack account for that though? So, of course there would be less of the standard membership? Sorry, may have misunderstood the data!

This was the first year where I was a little unsure whether I would keep going with the expansion pack.
If it weren't for the 12+2 month deal that was on a few months back may well have downgraded. Hopefully I'll get more use out of it in the next year!

I had the sub for a year but stopped it as I never used it
Don't think I will be going back any time soon
I prefer to own games not sub them.

It's cheap*, it's decent, it gives great classic games and some dlc packs, it gives music.

*) compared to the competition

I actually really like NSO service and think it is decent value for money. I always renew on CDKEYS, as it is half the price (that is a legit site BTW..I always buy games from there) I just bought Just Dance 2025 from there for £18 instead of £49

This month was the first month ever, that i bought the expansion part. with the games now available, its worth it for me. My wife also wanted it for the animal crossing DLC and Mario kart.
Also for me the reason was to play Mario Luigi on gameboy advance haha. To prep myself for brothership.

@GameOtaku With all due respect, the last thing I want is a return to the Virtual Console model. The expansion pack is £35 a year for me at most. It would have cost me far more than that to buy all of the games I’ve played on the service.

And yes, I would technically “own” a license for each game but most are one-and-done curiosities, not long term investments. So I’d either be playing far less or spending far more. Neither situation is ideal.

And a hybrid situation wouldn’t even necessarily work. Assuming everything on NSO could also be bought, that likely increases the subscription price, or still just limits what could be added due to contracts, so you’d be able to buy less anyway.

While far from perfect, I personally prefer the NSO model.

I've been subbed to the Expansion Pack ever since it came out, no regrets.
$50 a year is cheap.

The releases of games, are über slow, compared to Virtual Console on Wii.
Still so many systems still missing.
And it doesn't help, when they keep releasing games noone is asking for, instead of the good stuff. "Oh, you want PC Engine games? Here's Soccer for the NES instead"....

@Jprhino84
Thing is you are not going to want to play every game on the service. So those games are just taking up space. Personally speaking I don’t see games as one and done but go back and replay them whenever the urge takes me. You’d be far better off buying the individual titles you’d play and curate your own gaming library than waiting for the one who makes the decisions about which games are on the service decides to drop the game you are looking forward to.

NSO is a prime example of a no-value-add solution:

• You get online play << with the amount of money they're turning over I expect this to be free
• You can back up your saves << same as above
• You get access to a select few games via emulation << been emulating since the 90s, your mileage may vary so this one doesn't excite me as a customer but can see how it's a draw for others
• You get access to .. music? << was there to see the advent of MP3s so this one seems odd to be excited about as well

And that's it to my knowledge?

Sounds like a peculiar bulk of the userbase not caring for the save cloud on a portable console, but then again, I recently had a Reddit commenter tell me with a straight face that he needed them for incompatible "differing experiences" like Pokemon and Splatoon and wouldn't mind losing many hours of progress in "less diversified progress" playthroughs like BotW or Xenoblade. Even with Switch's blessing of portability accounted for, these folks must have one truckload of free time.😅

@N00BiSH and strip Crusader of Centy of its sole residence on modern platforms? Yeeeaaah no, not even getting PCE's unabridged Cadash port would feel quite worth it.

Switch online is god awful why would anyone want this? just emulate their games it would be better than wasting money for NSO

Just bring back free online already. I don't care if I have to pay for advanced features like Voice chat. Just stop releasing premium online games that then require you to spend more money to even play the dang game.

@GameOtaku

Please don’t tell me what I’d be “better off” doing. I told you how I personally feel. I didn’t call you wrong for wanting virtual console, did I? I can assure you that I’m getting more value from NSO than I am from waiting for a virtual console release of a game, then spending £5 a pop minimum for Super Mario Bros or Super Metroid or Mario 64. Because I actually play the games added, for vastly varying degrees of time. Compared to most subscriptions I’ve had over the years, £35 for the year is a pittance when it includes 200+ games and growing, some DLC and now a fun additional music service. I’m sorry but I can’t pretend to feel ripped off by that, even if it’s seen as “smart” to be anti-subscription nowadays.

At this point, the only reason why I still have the expansion pack membership is for my kids. I would much prefer the lower tiered membership option. That would sacrifice some of my kids' gaming enjoyment, and I can't do that.

@Jprhino84
Ownership is important. Why not have both services? You could buy games you enjoy and then when you decided not to sub again you could still have those games to enjoy. Remember with a subscription you have to pay year after year regardless if anything is added that you would enjoy. I dont see the service as value when I lose value by not having internet connection at all times with my switch thanks to the weekly check in required even if I paid $50 a year for the highest tier if not get my money’s worth.

@GameOtaku : Or better yet, physical compilations.

The Classic Mini consoles should never have happened when they could have just given us the option to have those games in the form of Switch cartridges instead.

@SillyG
We’ve seen time and again where collections have been passed over on the switch with the hope they’d be added to NSO. However most like the Disney Afternoon Collection never see a switch release or like Konami and Capcom release multiple ports of the same games on various eshop collections and nso. (Like for example Street Fighter 2 on the anniversary collection and the Capcom arcade or Bloodlines beibg on the Castlevania collection and on the $50 a year expansion)

The expansion pass is still a ripoff and always has been, and would be even if the online infrastructure wasn't ass.

I hate how they changed the "turn off automatic renewal off" to "unsuscribe", I literally have just subscribed with a yearly sub code, I'm not "unsubscribing". They make it confusing and a hassle to turn off automatic renewal.

If they fixed the voice chat, and added more games quicker I’d be in, + Saturn + Dreamcast + GameCube
As it stands it’s a lot of garbage just the play online.

I dropped from the $50 plan down to the $20 plan when I renewed. I kept it at all mostly just so I can play Splatoon 3, and even that was being questioned when deciding to renew. Most of the emulation options I find work better on other platforms (Banjo Kazooie and Banjo Tooie on the Xbox 360/One or Game Pass, for example, and my 3DS/Wii are still alive and kicking for Zelda and such), and I buy my DLC outright when it's available and I intend to use it, so there is zero draw on select DLC being available as part of the plan. I would still purchase emulated games I really enjoy if they were available to be permanently purchased. Just saying.

I will say, the music app for phones was a nice addition to the subscription service! Certainly feels like I'm getting more value than paying $20 a year solely for the privilege of playing Splatoon 3 online, at least, and I've been using it to play music regularly. I also like the online backup of saves, although I don't feel that feature should be paywalled in the first place; made it less of hassle when transferring to new Switches as I upgraded. And I do use a custom player icon, too; which again, is nice, but I feel shouldn't be paywalled in the first place.

@Lizuka You seem to have misunderstood what Nintendo said or not read beyond the headline. Expansion pack subs have increased steadily. They haven't dropped. There's no need to come up with reasons for why it might have dropped if it didn't happen.
NSO subscribers as a whole have decreased slightly, the base tier.

@SabreLevant Interesting that several hundred games is "a select few" to you. Also you get free game trials and vouchers to get first party games at a discount, which makes the yearly subscription free if you use it even once.

@BTB20 Pick any of the systems and find it's a curated list with a select few games! You can't reasonably argue NSO emulation competes with the emulation that's out there? (e.g. you have to pay for not one but two tiers of a subscription to play GameCube- oh wait.)

I don't know about the game trials, are they just demos or full versions? They're not free regardless of course because you pay for the service 🤔

As for subscribing to an online service in order to get a discount on Nintendo premium-priced games... that may or may not be a cost-saving depending how you look at it!

Don't get me wrong by the way, happy owner of a Switch here otherwise, but NSO rubbed me the wrong way from day one - under a lens I just see poor value, and otherwise extortionate practices (my first two points on online multiplayer and cloud saves stand)

I think I pay something like a £10er a year for the sub + expansion pak. Honestly it's great value. I've a family account and 6 friends all use it, they ping me the money when it re-news.
Mario kart dlc, animal crossing dlc, old retro games, cloud saves and now the music app all get used on a regular bases.
Compared to prime, Netflix, PSN, gamepass and the multitude of other subscriptions it's ridiculous value for money.

Retroarch is better than anything Nintendo has to offer. They have had many years to make money off those old titles. That being said to play online you have no choice but to have NSO.

@BTB20 What Nintendo is saying is that the number of subscriptions has decreased, but that a higher percentage of their subscribers is paying for the expansion option now.

@SabreLevant I agree with you and with 95% of the comments here. The value is extremely poor. Nintendo shouldn't charge for online gaming when only a couple of games support it and when the online services and servers are bare bones. The perks are ridiculous: demos and a couple of micro games. They are also charging for cloud saves, something that only Sony did until then. The biggest selling point is the retro library, but that consist in renting spotty emulation of very old roms released in dribs, with every alternative being a better option.

@Banjo- They didn't say anything about any percentages anywhere. This article doesn't either.

Nintendo's exact wording is this:
"Although we did observe a year-over-year decrease in membership, partly
due to fewer new releases in the past year focusing on online play, many
people continue to enjoy Nintendo Switch Online.
Additionally, the number of people opting for the higher-tier Nintendo
Switch Online + Expansion Pack has been steadily increasing since the
service began in 2021."

They say the number increased, not the share of total subscribers.

@BTB20 You misunderstood the quotations.

"In saying this, there has been a "year-over-year decrease in memberships"

· This means that the number of subscribers has decreased.

"Fortunately for Nintendo, the number of 'Expansion Pack' subscribers apparently steadily increasing since the launch of this higher-tier"

· This means that a greater amount of the decreased number of total subscribers (a higher percentage) is paying for the expansion option.

I love the idea of playing retro NSO titles online, but I need matchmaking! I would love a dedicated app where I jump on, and not even know what retro game I'm playing before being thrown into an online match with other people! It could echo the fun of Smash, Mario Party and WareWare, but with retro NSO titles.

@Banjo-
"A greater amount of the decreased number of total subscribers (a higher percentage) is paying for the expansion option."

Ok? So what's your point? That's still not what Nintendo or anyone said, even it is the case. It doesn't mean anything. NSO subscribers went down from 38 million last year to 34 million this year. And the number of people who chose the expansion pack went up from what it was last year.

I made this comment because the first commenter here clearly thinks that the expansion pack subscriber count went down, which it didn't.

@BTB20 OK, after yesterday and today I realise it's pointless talking to you.

We cancelled ours. Just not getting used anymore because there haven't been many exclusive games we like that use online features. Maybe if they announce a new console with launch games, we'll return