In recent days Nintendo has been on everyone’s lips and not exactly in a positive way. Recently this brand announced the prices that its Expansion Pack will have, a complementary service of Nintendo Switch Online that will allow its users to play some titles of Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis and will even come with the paid content of Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Some believe that the price is fair and that you can simply not pay it if you do not like it, however, there are other players who have expressed their discontent more verbally and want Nintendo to take action on the matter.
Is it really that expensive? What is left for us to do as players?
What is Nintendo Switch Online and the Expansion Pack?
Let’s start with the basics, what is Nintendo Switch Online and what does it include?
It is a Nintendo for Switch service that allows online gaming, playing pre-selected Nintendo and Super Nintendo titles, saving your data in the cloud and using the Nintendo Switch Online app, as well as exclusive offers.
This service, until now, has a cost of 100 Mexican pesos per month or 500 per year. 900 if it is the family plan for up to 8 users.
Now, what the Expansion Pack offers is playing pre-selected titles from Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis, as well as access to the paid expansion of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, called Happy Home Paradise.
On paper it does not sound bad, as there are more than 15 Nintendo 64 titles and they will be added to the catalog, however the price for this addition, along with the base service that is necessary, is 1,189 pesos per year or 1,899 for the family plan and this is when the complaints started.
For example, the video for this reveal so far has 74,000 dislikes against just 16,000 likes. And well, not to mention the amount of negative publications on the Internet.
The most common complaints are that they are closer to the prices of their competitors, Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, without offering closely the same. Others mention that “they have held these games hostage for years and now they can’t even keep them”, as we remember that it is a digital service and Nintendo can remove or add it to the catalog at will.
We are talking about an increase of more than double in Mexico due to a retro addition in which we really do not have a real control over what we are obtaining in the medium term.
Nintendo Switch Online vs. PlayStation Plus vs. Xbox Game Pass
As for your competitors, PlayStation Plus has made its own additions to the service, where Instant Game Collection stands out, a service where you can play some new titles at no additional cost, or even play a collection of PlayStation 4 classics on PlayStation 5. This addition had no additional cost for users. subscribers.
Or Game Pass also made its own addition by adding EA Play to its catalog, also at no additional cost.
These add-ons added much more value to their subscribers than some titles from 25 years ago, and the best part is that they come at no extra cost.
Now, in terms of prices, Plus has an annual cost of 40 dollars, that is, a little more than 800 pesos. This service adds to its catalog at least two games a month, allows you to play online and if you have a PS5, you have access to several of the most memorable classics of the previous generation.
Finally, Gold has a cost of 1,049 pesos per year and offers elements similar to Plus, but its premium service, Game Pass Ultimate, allows you to enter a rotating catalog of more than 300 titles, many of them available from day 1, such as Forza Horizon 5, Back 4 Blood, and Halo Infinite. It is on PC, on mobile and on Xbox One or Series. This has a cost of 229 pesos per month, without the option to buy for one year.
It’s worth it?
Well, we already compared Nintendo Switch Online with the competition and it did not do well in terms of value against price, but it is very clear to us that Nintendo has its own strategy. Let us remember that it is the brand that protects its prices with the most effort.
But, after analyzing the comments and analyzing the dislikes, could it be that Nintendo has relied more on its usual tactic? Perhaps those games of 25 years ago no longer have the same value for all their players and had to offer something more.
Well, after all, not all of your base has Animal Crossing. And what’s more, Nintendo generally has fewer online multiplayer titles than its competitors.
Truth be told, only time will tell if this Nintendo price and value tactic still works.
However, one thing is for sure, Nintendo will pay much more attention to your number of Expansion Pack subscriptions than to your dislikes and comments on social networks. Voting with the portfolio is the most direct way to talk to brands about what we support and what we don’t.
Now tell us: will you subscribe to the Expansion Pack service? Do you think it is expensive? What Nintendo 64 games would you like to see in the catalog?