The Nintendo Switch has been out for over a year now and stands out as one of the most successful consoles the video game industry has ever seen. For the first year of its existence, it was nearly impossible to get your hands on one as Nintendo was unable to gather enough resources to meet the high demand the hybrid console had. Fortunately, demand for the Nintendo Switch has declined and anyone that still wants one can easily get their hands on one. Even though the Switch has some of the most highly anticipated games such as Metroid Prime 4 and Super Smash Bros. still on the horizon, Nintendo will still need to implement more innovation to make sure the Switch is solidified as one of the best Consoles ever made.

Well, Nintendo has recently made some major announcements regarding one of the company’s weak points. The Internet Service that they provide.

Even before the Nintendo Switch launched Nintendo made it clear that multiplayer gameplay that utilized an internet connection would be free initially, but the company planned on implementing a paid service. Nintendo has now announced that they will be implementing the paid service starting in September 2018. The paid service will be available in many different forms to accommodate consumers. There will be a year subscription that will cost $19.99, a 3-month subscription that will cost $7.99, and a monthly subscription that costs $3.99. There will also be a family package available exclusive in a year subscription that will allow up to 8 family members to share the subscription for $34.99.

Considering the lackluster history of Nintendo’s internet service, you may be asking yourself how the Nintendo’s internet service for the switch will compete with the much more expensive internet service provided by Sony and Microsoft.

Along with the ability to play multiplayer games online, the new internet service for the switch will also grant switch owners to a library of classic Nintendo games, but it should be noted that these games will not be free. Nintendo’s new internet service will also allow subscribers to cloud save their game data, which is huge as, with any new gaming console, the Switch still has some bugs and some of these bugs can cause save data to become corrupt rendering it useless. Cloud saving would ensure that subscribers to the internet service have a secure means of saving their game progress. While Nintendo’s new internet service does not offer free games like PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live, the price is extremely competitive and this is a huge step forward towards a promising internet service provided by Nintendo.

As of now, Switch owners seem to have mixed feelings when it comes to the internet service the will be hitting the Nintendo Switch this September. Considering that the online games that can really utilize the internet service at this point are Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Splatoon 2, the service may not seem worth it as most gamers got what they wanted out of the game and are waiting for the next major entry in the Nintendo Switch gaming library. Once Super Smash Bros. and Metroid Prime hit store shelves, most Switch owners will be forced to subscribe to the internet service in order to get the most out of the games. Nonetheless, we can only remain optimistic about the future of Nintendo internet service presence.