Video gaming in 2022 started with a bang. In what was Microsoft’s biggest acquisition in the company’s lengthy history, the tech and gaming giant acquired industry-heavy hitter Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion, dwarfing its previous purchase of ZeniMax Media in 2020. As Microsoft collected properties and businesses like Thanos and his infinity stones, Sony was making moves with PSVR2 and Project Spartacus, a potential answer to Xbox Game Pass.
All the while, Nintendo is being Nintendo – Stalwart, steadfast, and uncompromising while waves rock the industry. What is clear is that Nintendo has no interest in jumping on the “Game Pass” bandwagon that Microsoft currently monopolizes, and Sony is trying to find a solution too. Despite the changes being practically nil, we believe Nintendo should come forward with a game pass of its own.
Poor State of Current Offerings
To say that Nintendo doesn’t offer a digital library of games customers can access through subscription is technically not accurate. As a part of the Nintendo Switch’s online package, players who purchased an online membership have access to the classic library of NES and SNES console games, each offering dozens of iconic titles of the past.
Customers who opt for the Nintendo Switch Online expansion pack will gain access to Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles, further increasing the player’s library of classic games. For a console’s online subscription package, both offerings (Switch Online and Expansion Pack) are fantastically cheap compared to their competitors. As a reference for comparison, an annual bill of Nintendo’s online services is $19.99 and $49.99 for the regular and expansion pack, respectively. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions cost around $166 a year. Playstation Plus rests at the middling $59.99 a year mark.
When comparing the prices purely from a financial standpoint, Nintendo wins by a country mile, however, looking at the price tag alone would be doing the competitors’ membership perks an injustice.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate holders have access to over 100 quality Xbox titles on both PC and Xbox systems, with games spanning multiple generations; Xbox Live membership for online play; day one access to first-party titles; discounts; and more. It has grown to over 23 million subscribers in October 2021, nearly doubling what it was a year prior.
Playstation Plus gives players online access in-game; two free games per month; discounts on certain titles for PS Plus holders; Playstation Exclusive welcome wagon games for PS5 owners; and in-game perks for particular games among other miscellaneous perks. PS Now is another subscription players can opt for with a similar budget, but that service is mainly for streaming games within the Playstation library. However, since it’s much more reliant on internet speeds to stream games (or sometimes outright disregards it) and is less “required” to get the full Playstation experience, it will not be used as the point of comparison to Nintendo and Xbox’s offerings.
Stacking up all those perks to what Nintendo offers, it becomes apparent why Nintendo’s online package is so cheap in comparison, even if you own the comparatively “robust” expansion pack. Speaking of the expansion packs offerings, owners have complained how the emulated N64 and Sega Genesis games suffer from graphical issues and input lag, despite being games from generations ago. The titles also suffer from a lack of quality-of-life improvements like button mapping and proper saving due to being emulated.
Although Nintendo has rectified issues plaguing the service, the fact that they exist when held to the standard of its competition is not a good sign. When what it offers doesn’t function as intended, it devalues benefits and reasons to own the expansion pack, given its price hike compared to the basic online subscription. Games from over two decades ago are hardly subscription sellers, even less so when they don’t play properly. While the basic subscription may be worth it for online gaming purists, the Expansion Pack and its price tag are hardly justified.
Nintendo Online Expansion Damage Mitigation and Incentive
The Nintendo Switch Expansion Pack was reviled from the moment it was unveiled. Though the like/dislike ratio is hidden on YouTube, the announcement video sits at an overwhelmingly 90% dislike percentage which speaks for itself and echoes volumes about how customers see this move from Nintendo.
While other companies offer actual downloadable content that runs as intended, Nintendo offers measly emulation of aged software for a 150% price spike. Though we do not condone the act of personal emulation (which can be constituted as an act of piracy in certain circles), we can see why so many people would reject the Expansion Pack to play older games.
So, what can Nintendo do?
As Gabe Newell put it, “The easiest way to stop piracy is to offer a service that’s better than what they’re receiving from pirates.”
The expansion pack needs a massive overhaul and revamp, and that can come in the form of a Nintendo Game Pass, encompassing more of Nintendo’s true staying power: its games. Nintendo has a compelling library of titles that would all be worthy of a game pass smorgasbord. It would not only flex Nintendo’s long line of heavyweights but also celebrate its legacy as a company.
At the same time, it will give players a way to play classic titles that are not half-baked emulation practices. Nintendo is notorious for not giving older games an easily accessible avenue on its modern hardware and when it does, the games are locked behind paywalls under the guise of “HD” or “remaster”. On top of this, “old-ish” games hardly ever get digital discounts or sales, especially for flagship series, maintaining original prices despite retailers practically everywhere selling the games for a fraction of the cost. It’s born from the philosophy of the late Satoru Iwata where he states (from his book Ask Iwata):
“After a piece of hardware is released, the price is gradually reduced for five years until demand has run its course. But since the demand cycle never fails, why bother reducing the price this way? My personal take on the situation is that if you lower the price over time, the manufacturer is conditioning the customer to wait for a better deal, something I’ve always thought to be a strange approach. Of course, this doesn’t mean that I’m against lowering prices entirely, but I’ve always wanted to avoid a situation where the first people to step up and support us feel punished for paying top dollar, grumbling, “I guess this is the price I pay for being first in line.”
Though Nintendo’s motives behind maintaining prices are probably a lot less noble than Iwata painted it to be (as Nintendo games will always sell like hotcakes), a paid subscription service could be the perfect answer to this dilemma.
It still puts money in Nintendo’s pocket, and it allows all subscribers to access the same amount of content for the same price as everyone else. Having an actual Game Pass type of subscription to ultimately replace the Online Expansion Pack will heal the bitter taste it left in everyone’s mouth and give players a practical and exciting reason to purchase the darn thing.
Future-Proofing
What keeps Nintendo fans coming back year after year, even in the face of disappointing business practices and executive decisions by the company itself, is the vast array of stellar games Nintendo has put out over the years. Though Microsoft and Sony can tout all they want about the sheer number of free titles they offer, quality games will always outshine mere quantity. Luckily for Nintendo, it has them in spades.
A Game Pass of Nintendo’s proportions has the potential to blow Xbox’s out of the water. The amount of console-selling games on that pass has the chance to draw in even more customers and subscribers, for both the pass and console. People straight-up bought the Nintendo Switch purely for games like Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, and more. An avenue that offers all of that and more of Nintendo’s timeless greats and marvels in a convenient package would be a massive boon to the console itself and its owners, especially as fans eagerly await Nintendo’s answer to the next-gen question.
Microsoft is in a solid spot with its acquisition, gaining many new additions to its growing library of first-parties. Sony is coming up with its answer to Microsoft’s formula with a potential game pass alternative of its own, combining elements of PS Now and PS Plus. Nintendo CANNOT be doing nothing; that’s the reality of this industry. Microsoft would not have acquired Activision Blizzard if something didn’t give it the impetus to do so. Sony would not be developing Project Spartacus if something didn’t give it the motivation to do so. Nintendo is not sitting idly by, for sure. It’s only a matter of time until it shows its hand.
And when it does, we hope there’s a Nintendo game pass involved.
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