cross-posted from: https://ani.social/post/35665810

Nintendo is so proud of the feature that it even included a little C button right on your Joy-Con (which was a point of excited speculation before the reveal) so you can jump into Game Chat whenever you like.

Unfortunately, it also tried to bury the fact that this Game Chat feature will actually require a Nintendo Switch Online subscription once the free trial period ends on March 31, 2026.

Now, you may be wondering what the button does if you don’t have a subscription? Thankfully, Nintendo’s vice president of player and product experience, Bill Trinen, was interviewed by Polygon on that very same topic. Trinen explains that the button will let you “find out about the NSO subscription there and get a sense of some of the functionality.” It’s basically a button that asks you to pay up.

It’s basically a button that asks you to pay up

We’ve gotten to the point where button functions are microtransactions…

This is why I emulate games and just use Linux

  • MushuChupacabra@piefed.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    So the button doesn’t work after I pay for the console/controller?

    I’m not in the market for one of those, so it’ll be a no from me.

    I have no demand for your supply.

  • brax@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    People need to start asking companies why they are including features on things that they can’t afford to maintain.

    Why did Nintendo include a “C” button that they’re forcing users to pay for after they already bought the controller? Maybe they should charge more for said controller or remove the button instead?

    Conversely, Nintendo’s switch is occupying space in people’s homes… How do these people go about charging Nintendo a monthly rate for the space they occupy (and the power they need to operate/charge, and a monthly user fee for the people to play on Nintendo’s device). If we don’t own them, we should really be charging Nintendo for the privilege of having their things in our homes and being used right? Goes both ways

  • daannii@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    They have been charging a subscription for online features since at least covid.

    This isn’t anything new.

    I have a 3ds and you could play animal crossing with anyone online for free. But when I got the new switch one during covid I was surprised to learn you can’t do that without a subscription. And they basically had all the online game features requiring it.

    They used to have all the old consule games as free. But then started requiring a subscription for those. And then decided nah, we will make it so n64 and others will require an even more expensive subscription.

    I can’t recall the cost but the base level one is fairly cheap but probably still over priced since I literally only use it for animal crossing which I take long breaks from. I’ve played a few of the old Nintendo and SNES games but not enough to make it worth $30.

    Maybe $30 a year ?

    I always say a switch is like a inkjet printer. Sure it’s a lot cheaper than a laser printer (gaming PC). But the ink (games) cost 10x more so ultimately you don’t save any money.

  • starblursd@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    I agree. It’s stupid either way, but the point of game chat is to use while playing games online multiplayer and in order to play online multiplayer you need to switch online subscription as is true with most consoles. Just the fact that it’s attached to a physical button that launches an ad if you don’t have it though, yeah that’s pretty garbage.

    During the free trial, I suppose one could use it to just use the console as a video chat, but who is actually using that over something like discord?

    • Riskable@programming.devEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      Forcing people to pay for in-game chat is absurdly greedy. There’s no other way to frame it.

      The actual cost of maintaining chat infrastructure is so low it might as well be free. So why are they charging for it? The answer: Pure greed. The purest!

      • papalonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        9 days ago

        In fairness they’re not charging for in-game chat, they’re charging for online access. I still think paying for online access is ridiculous, but the monthly fee is not a “access game chat” fee, it’s “access online multiplayer” fee and game chat is included in that.

  • Donebrach@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    9 days ago

    Why is this being spammed everywhere? It’s not news that Nintendo’s online service is paid. It’s been that way for a fucking decade.

    • RichardDegenne@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      9 days ago

      It’s new that there is a physical button dedicated to a paywalled feature. I don’t think I can find any other example of this on a console