I have commented in an earlier post how console manufacturers have become greedier and greedier with their online services.
During the 7th generation of consoles (Xbox 360, PS3) it was only Microsoft who was greedy: On the Xbox 360, playing online multiplayer games, as well as the vast majority of apps that connect to the internet were locked behind a subscription paywall. (This included all third-party online service apps, such as Netflix and YouTube, and even the system's own web browser, which was completely asinine, given that the browser did not need anything from any Microsoft server.) Meanwhile the PS3 had no paid online subscription of any kind: All online services, online multiplayer games, video rentals and streaming, web browsers and so on and so forth... everything was usable at no extra cost.
With the 8th generation of consoles (Xbox One, PS4) things changed. Microsoft loosened the restrictions slightly and actually started to offer some online services at no extra cost, sometimes even at their own expense (such as offering a cloud backup service for game save data), while Sony went the greedy route and copied Microsoft in putting online gaming behind a subscription paywall. (They did not go all the way to the deep end like Microsoft did with the Xbox 360, though, in that third-party applications, such as Netflix and YouTube, or the system's web browser, do not require Sony's online subscription to work. Only online gaming does.)
As an incentive for the paid PlayStation online subscription, you do get 3 or 4 complimentary games every month (which are usable as long as you have a subscription). Most usually there is an actual triple-A title among them, sometimes two. Some of these games are actually ones that I don't mind playing.
Anyway, with the current generation of consoles, Nintendo has decided to join the bandwagon, and is now putting online gaming behind a paywall for their Switch console. And they are advertising this "feature" as if it were the greatest thing ever.
Which makes little sense given that up until this point (the Switch has been out for about a year and a half) online gaming has been free of charge. What I mean with this is that what makes little sense is the advertising: It makes it sound like online play is a new feature introduced with this scheme. It conveniently leaves out the part where so far you could actually play online games, at no extra cost. That's stopping now. This is borderline misleading advertising. And quite directly a slap in their customers' collective faces.
The paid service offers some other things as well. One of them is automatic backupping of your game save data into an online cloud system.
The Xbox One offers this service at no extra cost. In the PS4 this service is behind the online subscription paywall. However, the PS4 does support backing up your save files to an external USB storage device, so there's at least that. The Nintendo Switch has so far not offered any kind of backup system for your save files.
Therefore the Switch is the only current-gen console where you cannot backup your save files in any way without paying a subscription. And what's worse, while the PS4 keeps your backups in the cloud for up to 6 months after your subscription ends, if you don't renew, apparently Nintendo intends to remove your data immediately in that situation (according to their own FAQ.)
It only makes things worse that the Nintendo Switch isn't really a console that would offer many online services. Unlike the other two desktop consoles, there is no web browser, nor are there any online streaming services, free or paid (such as YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, and so on.)
Hey, but like with the PS4, you do get complimentary games with your online subscription, yay! Except that these aren't current games, indie, triple-A or otherwise. These are NES games running on an emulator. Yeah, NES games.
During the 7th generation of consoles (Xbox 360, PS3) it was only Microsoft who was greedy: On the Xbox 360, playing online multiplayer games, as well as the vast majority of apps that connect to the internet were locked behind a subscription paywall. (This included all third-party online service apps, such as Netflix and YouTube, and even the system's own web browser, which was completely asinine, given that the browser did not need anything from any Microsoft server.) Meanwhile the PS3 had no paid online subscription of any kind: All online services, online multiplayer games, video rentals and streaming, web browsers and so on and so forth... everything was usable at no extra cost.
With the 8th generation of consoles (Xbox One, PS4) things changed. Microsoft loosened the restrictions slightly and actually started to offer some online services at no extra cost, sometimes even at their own expense (such as offering a cloud backup service for game save data), while Sony went the greedy route and copied Microsoft in putting online gaming behind a subscription paywall. (They did not go all the way to the deep end like Microsoft did with the Xbox 360, though, in that third-party applications, such as Netflix and YouTube, or the system's web browser, do not require Sony's online subscription to work. Only online gaming does.)
As an incentive for the paid PlayStation online subscription, you do get 3 or 4 complimentary games every month (which are usable as long as you have a subscription). Most usually there is an actual triple-A title among them, sometimes two. Some of these games are actually ones that I don't mind playing.
Anyway, with the current generation of consoles, Nintendo has decided to join the bandwagon, and is now putting online gaming behind a paywall for their Switch console. And they are advertising this "feature" as if it were the greatest thing ever.
Which makes little sense given that up until this point (the Switch has been out for about a year and a half) online gaming has been free of charge. What I mean with this is that what makes little sense is the advertising: It makes it sound like online play is a new feature introduced with this scheme. It conveniently leaves out the part where so far you could actually play online games, at no extra cost. That's stopping now. This is borderline misleading advertising. And quite directly a slap in their customers' collective faces.
The paid service offers some other things as well. One of them is automatic backupping of your game save data into an online cloud system.
The Xbox One offers this service at no extra cost. In the PS4 this service is behind the online subscription paywall. However, the PS4 does support backing up your save files to an external USB storage device, so there's at least that. The Nintendo Switch has so far not offered any kind of backup system for your save files.
Therefore the Switch is the only current-gen console where you cannot backup your save files in any way without paying a subscription. And what's worse, while the PS4 keeps your backups in the cloud for up to 6 months after your subscription ends, if you don't renew, apparently Nintendo intends to remove your data immediately in that situation (according to their own FAQ.)
It only makes things worse that the Nintendo Switch isn't really a console that would offer many online services. Unlike the other two desktop consoles, there is no web browser, nor are there any online streaming services, free or paid (such as YouTube, Twitch, Netflix, and so on.)
Hey, but like with the PS4, you do get complimentary games with your online subscription, yay! Except that these aren't current games, indie, triple-A or otherwise. These are NES games running on an emulator. Yeah, NES games.
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