Nintendo Switch Online has over 32 million subscribers
Nintendo has attracted another 6 million subscribers to Nintendo Switch Online since we last heard about the company's figures this time last year.
During a recent management briefing, Nintendo announced the online subscription service that allows players to play with friends and access legacy titles on the Nintendo Switch hardware – the inventively-named Nintendo Switch Online – has topped 32 million subscribers.
During the briefing, the company announced that it planned to "continue to improve and expand both Nintendo Switch Online and Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, striving to provide services that satisfy customers".
This follows Nintendo's reveal of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack – a new membership plan featuring N64 and Genesis games with optional controllers. The expansion has all the benefits of a Nintendo Switch Online membership (such as online play, access to library of NES and Super NES games, and more), as well as allowing members to play select titles like Mario Kart 64 online with up to four players for the first time ever.
Nintendo uses the Expansion Pack tier of Nintendo Switch Online to offer bonus content for its games, too, with the most recent example being the paid Animal Crossing: New Horizons - Happy Home Paradise DLC. This would otherwise cost £22.49 / €24.99 if purchased separately.
The price for the Expansion Tier – which runs at £34.99 / €39.99 / $49.99 for a 12-month Individual Membership – has been criticised for being particularly expensive – especially when it doesn't have the perks of other, similar subscription services like PlayStation Plus or Xbox Live Gold.
Those criticisms probably fall on unhearing ears, though, given the company has attracted 32 million subscribers – up 6 million from the same time last year when we last heard an update on numbers from the studio.