Lando would be fuming
The more information that comes out about Nintendo’s “Switch Online” program, the more aggravated I get. This morning, I saw a few sites reporting about online check-ins for playing NES games, so I took to the newly updated official FAQ to corroborate those claims. They weren’t lying. If you intend to play NES games on your Switch offline, you’ll need to do a weekly check-in to retain access.
If that wasn’t enough, your save data stored in the cloud will only be available as long as you’re an active subscriber. That sounds similar to how Sony handles things on the PS4 until, but could potentially mean your data gets deleted when your subscription lapses. Maybe the wording is just tricky (which is completely on-brand for Nintendo), but the FAQ certainly states, “Save data stored via the Save Data Cloud backup is available for as long as you have an active Nintendo Switch Online membership.”
The only plus side here is that it is now officially confirmed that the family membership plan doesn’t need to be on a single Switch device. You can share that plan with seven of your friends across a variety of consoles and there won’t be any limitations. I’m suspecting a lot of people are going to take advantage of that, which would certainly lower the cost of entry and almost make up for how ridiculous this service is.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) [Nintendo]
