Nintendo has announced plans to increase the price of its Nintendo Switch Online service in Japan.
Switch Online is Nintendo‘s subscription service for Switch and Switch 2, which offers such features as online multiplayer, cloud saves, voice chat via mobile and GameChat.
It also provides access to Nintendo Classics, Nintendo’s on-demand libraries of retro NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Boy and Mega Drive / Genesis games.
The price for Switch Online has remained the same ever since it launched back in March 2017, but Nintendo has now announced that the price will be increasing in Japan.
As of July 1, the price of a Switch Online will increase to the following (dollar price equivalents for comparison only):
- Individual plan (1 month) – was ¥306 ($1.89), now ¥400 ($2.47)
- Individual plan (3 months) – was ¥815 ($5.04), now ¥1,000 ($6.19)
- Individual plan (12 months) – was ¥2,400 ($14.86), now ¥3,000 ($18.58)
- Family plan (12 months) – was ¥4,500 ($27.87), now ¥5,800 ($35.93)
- Switch Online + Expansion Pack (12 months) – was ¥4,900 ($30.35), now ¥5,900 ($36.55)
- Switch Online + Expansion Pack – Family Plan (12 months) – was ¥8,900 ($55.13), now ¥9,900 ($61.33)
At the time of writing, Nintendo has yet to confirm whether other regions will also be getting a Switch Online price increase.
It may be, however, that Japan is the only major market that will get the price hike, possibly to the ongoing weakness of the yen, which has been near its lowest levels (compared to the US dollar) since 1986.
As the yen continues to struggle, the result is a larger discrepancy in price between digital services on Switch Online. As a result, a 12-month Switch Online plan currently costs the equivalent of $14.86, whereas in the US it costs $19.99. Next week’s price increase in Japan will take it up to around $18.58.
It seems possible, then, that Nintendo’s price increase will be limited to Japan, in order to ensure the price of Switch Online is closer aligned between regions.
Nintendo recently increased the price of Switch and Switch 2 in Japan, a move that took effect on May 25 and saw the price of the ‘Japan-only’ region-locked Switch 2 rising from ¥49,980 ($309) to ¥59,980 ($371).
Whereas Switch Online price increase hasn’t yet been confirmed for the West, a hardware price increase has – starting on September 1, the price of Switch 2 consoles will rise in the United States, Canada and Europe.
