The year's first Nintendo Direct debuted earlier this month, featuring a lot of news on previously announced games, DLC expansions, and remasters of older titles. This has led some to speculate that the successor to the Switch may be coming out before too long. If this is the case, the next Nintendo console will need to launch with Nintendo Switch Online right out of the gate.
Originally released in 2017, the Switch did not come with any major online features and players were able to jump online for free. This changed when Nintendo Switch Online launched in 2018, including the ability to play older Nintendo Entertainment System titles - eventually expanding to Super Nintendo as well. The controversial Expansion Pack tier launched in 2021, charging more for access to Nintendo 64 games. One issue is it took Nintendo a while to roll these features out, and if the next console does not launch with them included, it could be detrimental to the company.
A Sucessor to the Nintendo Switch
This month's Nintendo Direct had more news for Pikmin 4, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom getting an official release date and $70 price tag, and the company a new trailer for Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe. It was also revealed that the classic GameCube game Metroid Prime has been remastered for Switch, meanwhile Nintendo Switch Online opened up libraries for Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games. While much of this was great for fans, it doesn't seem like a ton of new games are being developed for the Nintendo Switch.
Roughly speaking, Nintendo releases a new console every six years. The Wii, for example, launched in 2006 while the Wii U launched in 2012. The Switch launched in 2017 and after six years on the market it's not a stretch to assume the company is developing a new product. Rumors have also been circulating that Nintendo will begin to focus on the Switch's successor, so the proverbial writing seems to be on the wall. Regardless, the Switch's successor will need an online feature at launch in order to compete with Sony and Microsoft.
Nintendo Switch Online's Competition on PlayStation and Xbox
While Nintendo may the oldest of the companies, both Sony and Microsoft tend to outperform it in terms of sales. Microsoft launched Xbox Game Pass in 2017, which became something akin to the Netflix of video games. Players could play any title that was part of the library so long as they maintained their subscription, which now accounts for roughly 15 percent of the Xbox's revenue according to a 2022 interview with Phil Spencer.
On Sony's front, things were not quite as smooth. The PlayStation Plus service eventually started to give away a couple of free games every month, and the company also launched PlayStation Now in 2014 so players access to a library of older titles. Unlike Game Pass, exclusives are not available on PlayStation Now at launch. Last year, Sony merged these two verticals and created a three-tiered PS Plus subscription.
With both PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass fully entrenched in the gaming sphere, Nintendo can't start from zero again with its next console. When the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X both launched, their online services were included. The number of new games added to Xbox Game Pass each month has slowed down a bit, and the PlayStation Plus Collection will soon be going away, but their immediate availability on the new consoles created a standard that Nintendo cannot ignore.
Ultimately, no one but Nintendo knows whether the company intends to launch a console anytime soon. But if it does, it will need to do so with its online function intact. Nintendo is not a small player in the industry, and the addition of Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles to Nintendo Switch Online will likely see numbers climb higher as fans of these older games flock to relive their nostalgia. If Nintendo fails to keep Nintendo Switch Online with its next console at launch, it could very well lose its momentum and have to rebuild its subscriber base from scratch.
Source: The Verge
