Stability is appealing
It’s time to check in with Switch Online: the service that seems like it’s stuck a generation or two behind.
Speaking on a recent financial briefing conference call, Nintendo presidentShuntaro Furukawa, naturally, remains hopeful. Although Nintendo refuses to break down exactly how many people are subscribed via the family plan or other means, and reiterated that they still refuse to provide specifics as of this month; Furukawa says that Switch Online has now reached “beyond 15 million accounts,” and that the number of people with a Nintendo account (including free-to-play mobile customers) is over 100 million.
Specifically calling out Pokemon Swordand Shieldas well as Animal Crossingfor the growth, Furukawa says that Nintendo is still planning on “adding elements that make games even more fun to play and increase the appeal of the service itself.”
Switch Online is in such a weird spot right now. A lot of users would contend that the “mystery perks” as I call them (denoted by the mystery block in the Switch Online banner) are few and far between, and don’t inspire confidence in the growth of the service. Then you have the matter of Smash Ultimatecompletely missing EVO, which many have speculated is due to the poor quality of Switch Online connections.
Nintendo got into the whole online service thing really late, and is seemingly following a playbook from a generation or two prior. It has a long road ahead of it if it really wants to push up that individual subscriber count: “it’s cheap” isn’t really a selling point anymore.
Q&A Summary [Nintendo]