You Can Start Building Your Nintendo Account Family Group Ahead Of The Switch Online Launch

Well....
Since i play alone by mostly, i just only pay $ 20 for 1 year.
Pretty cheap. 😀

Hopefully it's easy to add/remove people after the fact. I'm thinking so when my kids' friends come over with their switches (which happens a lot) if they don't have it we can just add them to ours while they're at our house and remove when they leave. I know that's an odd scenario but maybe it'll work that way.

i have not decided yet. if, i wanted to buy the family one or the regular one yet.

and before anyone tells me why?

1. Online (if thats even better.)
2. Cloud Saves

yeah, thats pretty much it.

For £31.49 per year I should get more family benefits. Only one of us can use the Switch at any one time, so only one of us can use Nintendo Online services at any one time. In essence, this isn't costing Nintendo any extra to provide the service to families, they're just charging a premium for it.

At its current price, I'd at least like to have an incentive to get more Switches, like a family game library.

"this will cost £31.49 / $34.99 per year, which represents a saving of £5 / $5 per user, if eight people sign up."

That's some interesting maths.

I know I'm excited for this. My gf and I are signing up for the family plan.

Im glad I know people 😏

@McHaggis This is why I'm so glad I bought my girlfriend a Switch as well. The family plan is perfect for us as we can use it between us at the same time and effectively add friends to the group as well. This ends up being super cheap between four of us and dirt cheap if we end up capitalizing on the maximum of eight! $4 and some change per year is awesome.

@McHaggis
I am so confused by your comment. You only have one switch at home, why would you buy the more expensive family pack and not just the normal one then?

Added my 2 kids to the Family account. Which makes it almost as good as Club Nintendo, which let us pool our points.

Which is kind of weird in that I already had them added to my "Parental Control app" that I set up in October when we got the Switch. So it seems like the app and the account system aren't connected at all. At least for now.

We have two Switch in our house, and I have two nephews in two other homes who have a Switch, so we'll be able to take advantage of this.

If I have one switch, but three accounts on it, I need to buy the family membership?

@iMarkU, @Kal_el_0724, @jswhitfield8

We have one Switch, but separate accounts, which is required to have your own online profile. Are you saying that I only need to buy one subscription and my kids will be able to play online using their profiles? If so, that's better but should probably be made clearer so that families aren't paying the family price for a single Switch.

EDIT: according to the FAQ,

If I purchase an Individual Membership, can other users playing on the same Nintendo Switch also use the Nintendo Switch Online service?
No, this is not possible.

The article is misleading, because this isn't a recent change. I set up my family group last year when Splatoon 2 was released.

So has it been confirmed you can add anyone you want? As in don’t have to live under the same roof? I can’t remember if you have to enter your address when signing up. Everyone has mentioned this but I’ve never seen a confirmation that you actually can. If you can add anyone, I’m surprised Nintendo would be so lenient.

@McHaggis Ah that explains. The FAQ on the website of Nintendo says:

Q: If I own multiple Nintendo Switch systems, will I need a separate membership for each one?
A: No. Nintendo Switch Online can be used on any device by signing in with the Nintendo Account that purchased the membership.

It sounds like its tied to the account, however if this is the case and you only have one Switch, I would recommend just making a "online play"-account and buy it on that account for 20 euros.

@iMarkU thanks, it seems we both found the same page. I don't think it would be fair to my kids for them to share a single profile, especially being at different skill levels in Splatoon. All the hard work done by one to rank well would be undone by another.

3 kids and me and my 3 nephews. I have a slot left

@JasonLee99 that would be prejudice against families that don't live together though.

Got my family group set. 3 users to start with and a 4th being added later this year. Can’t beat $8.75 per user for a year of online, retro games, cloud saves, & discounts/deals.

This isn't new at all. My family group has been set up since I created accounts for my kids.

@McHaggis Wow. That is terrible. I can't help feeling that rather than adding value Nintendo's is purposefully crippling there system in order to sell it back to us.

Added my JP account to the group and will probably add the US one (when I finally get around to registering it). 35 dollars still sounds like a manageable charge per year, so I do ponder buying it to have online games access, cloud saves and discounts on all three.

@chardir and that’s where I’m confused a little. Would I need the family subscription as my children’s account are linked to my Nintendo network account. The kids are basically child account under me

So I have a switch and my daughter has a switch and my nephew has a switch. We all live under different roofs. If I get a family plan can we all play with each other online at the same time... or is it limited to only one switch online at a time? Anyone know?

@1UP_MARIO I was originally hoping child accounts would be included under the standard subscription, but the announcement of the family subscription means I'm 99% sure they won't.

@AcridSkull Spotify legally does not allow it, because they don't consider you a household then. A lot of people still do it, but Spotify tends to check more and more often nowadays.

My nephew hasn't shown much interest in the switch but if he ever does I'll consider a family account.

@McHaggis I have 3 switches, one for me and each of my 2 boys. It would have been nice to not buy rocket league, mk8, Minecraft, etc... 3 different times. I hope that is what this whole service is suppose to be like.

As far as I understood it, if you have one account you just have to pay 20 € regardless of the number of users connected to that account. Which makes sense to me cause you can only be logged in on one system at a time. Same with the users. So people having one switch but more users (e.g. Dad plus two kids) should therefore only buy the 20€ subscription. The 35€ option is more likely for a household of more switches or people having more accounts (not the same as users).
Maybe Nintendo should clarify that using visuals.
I don't think I need to spend more for my Russian Eshop user under mmain account

Between my family and close friends, we have 5 Switch consoles, so we're definitely going the Family route. This does make it much cheaper than PSN, which is great.

I'm a little confused. I am under the impression that Nintendo only allows one system per ID. If we want to use it on a different one, we have to Un link it and link it to a new system. So when the online goes live, will we be able to sign in to any switch we chose without deactivation? Would be great imo.

I'm guessing that me and friends can't simply use the same family account on a bunch of different Switches..? That would be nice, although too obvious a loophole.

@Donutman that would be awesome. I would go out and buy another 3 Switch consoles between now and Xmas so we can all have one each in my household.

@NintendoPete They did. Here's their answer. You're not going to like it.

Question: If someone buys an individual membership, can other users on the same Nintendo Switch system use that Nintendo Switch Online membership?

Answer: Individual memberships can only be used by the Nintendo Account holder who purchased the membership.

However, you can share the Nintendo Switch Online features across all the Nintendo Accounts in a family group by purchasing a family membership.

I like this line: "As the purchaser of a Family Membership, you will need to be at least 18 years old and save your credit card or link your PayPal account to your Nintendo Account via Nintendo eShop." I'm not too sure I trust Nintendo OR my family members that much.

Source: https://www.nintendo.com/en_CA/switch/online-service/pricing/

The fact that there is still so much confusion from even the hardcore of nintendo gamers is telling. I feel they need to come out and really simplify and dumb this down because there should be much more clarity at this point.

Any other benefits to this like gamesharing? Would be really nice if we were able to share games like on Steam (no concurrent play though), Playstation and Xbox.

@AcridSkull must have went to a skoo-al in Hendon like

I’ll be getting the family account becuase I’ll be paying for mine and my daughter anyway. I’m sure I’ll get a couple more to join as well

Will it let me create a family account for 8 freinds

@McHaggis its meant for family with lots of switch's.

Well, I tried to add my son to my family group but I am not getting the confirmation email. I have tried 5 or 6 times to resend the email.

I think that's the biggest question Nintendo needs to clarify is about the "family accounts". So does it mean you can just add anyone to your account to add up to 8 different users/switch units to share the online service? And then all 8 can be online at the same time? Or is there a limitation on the people that can be added...like same location or something? The price is great as it is, especially the family plan price...but the setup of the family plan, I think, needs more clarity from big N. I'm ready to set up my family account right now, since I have 3 Switches in the house (mine and my 2 daughters all have Switches now) so we can all play Minecraft together whether together or apart (my phone local hotspot wifi works great with my Switch if I'm not at home).

@JarJarBlacks yes you will still need a family plan if you do not wanna pay $20 each on all 3 accounts so would you rather go with $35 per year? for all 8 accounts for the price of one or $20 each per year? which is 60bucks per year if you go with the $20 on each account

@Mjoen you can still play together with the family plan as long as you link their accounts to the plan it should work it "do not" have to be the same switch it can work on different switches

@Kal_el_0724
Hmm ... I understand the answer a bit differently. The question is about users, but in the answer they are talking about different accounts within a family. The way I understand it is that different users belong to one account holder (again e.g. dad and two kids -> 3 users -> one account holder and thus just one membership required). I assume that Nintendo misunderstood users as in 3 people using one switch with 3 different accounts and not 3 people sharing one account by having 3 profiles.

Or that is wishful thinking from my part

@McHaggis Well, we have two switches... so two family members can play at the same time. I understand that might not apply to you yet, but it would.

Also, even though if you have one switch only one can play at a time, they're still storing everyone's data separately, so you're not just sharing one set of save files...

What Nintendo needs to do is have you share all purchases under a family account, me and my brothers all share one switch, and the reason I haven't even thought about buying another is because all my games are locked on that device

< is not a family man

@Donutman you will still have to guy 3 copies of each game. The family plan simply lets you only buy once subscription to Switch Online, rather that 3 at $20 a piece. I feel your pain though. I have a Switch for myself and my 2 sons (daughter getting on in Nov too) so I’m literally buying every game 3-4x. Getting to be a very expensive hobby.

@james_squared wonder if you could link a pre-paid/reloadable credit card? This way you minimize your losses should the information be compromised.

I'll be getting the family plan so I can play online and my brother can play online. We each have our own Switches, so we'll benefit nicely.

This is what I'm getting him for his birthday this year; we're both born in September!

@BensonUii It lets you add accounts from multiple regions?

@BensonUii Thanks! 😊 I'm gonna add my UK and JP accounts.

At $20 for one user I would gladly pay the price of admission. But having two other Switch's at home the $34.99 seems unusually cheap. I went ahead and added a friend too. May add my Japan and UK accounts in the future, we'll see.

Boy, that escalated quickly.

@McHaggis Don't forget they want you to buy Switches for everybody in the family. THAT'S where the family account becomes a good deal. My brother and I each have our own systems... that's $5 a year saved already. My dad's considering one too, and adding him will be a breeze. Fantastic deal thst way.

I need a family sharing policy for digital purchases before I even consider getting a Switch for each of my kids.
Also it is not clear if kids accounts under a parent account need the family subscription to be able to play or just a single subscription will suffice.
For different users with different Switches I understand, but if with only just one Switch shared among all users we still need to pay for a family subscription I won’t be happy at all, since only ONE person can use the online at a given time and paying multiple times seems abusing on Nintendo’s part.
I’m contacting Nintendo’s customer service directly to try to clarify this.

@maruse It'll never happen. That'd cost them far more money than it would make them.

@Heavyarms55 I'm aware of that. That's probably why I'll never own more than one Switch.
Nintendo's vision of multiple Switches in a household is never going to happen unless they start thinking about "families" as a whole instead of each member individually.

@maruse I disagree. While I understand where you are coming from. You are assuming the Switch will remain at the price it currently is. But eventually that price is going to drop, and drop further. It would not surprise me if by 2021-2022 the Switch is half its current price (possibly with hardware revisions and newer versions holding the current pricetag) When that happens, many families will begin to pick up more than one Switch for their kids.

@Heavyarms55 But that's an hypothetical "if". I'm talking about the are and now. At it's current price right now, it won't happen. It is completely unrealistic except for the handful of families that need not care much about costs. For the "common" mid-class family (which is the biggest market) it is a really hard pillow to swallow.

@maruse The 3DS started at close to the current Switch price tag too, if you recall. You're right in that, at the current price, not a lot of people will buy more than one Switch for their kids. But Nintendo, and most electronics companies traditionally lower the cost of their products as time goes by. I wouldn't be surprised if the first price drop, probably to 250 dollars, happens this holiday season.

@Stuffgamer1 in my house, i(dad) went to midnight launch the buy my switch. I wouldn’t let my kids touch it pretty much at all, since it is mine. They got one each for xmas. Along with a stack of games. They also have 2x 3ds, a Wii U, PS3+4...so again I said the switch was all mine. I play everyday on my lunch break. That’s near 45minutes every day I wouldn’t have been playing if I left it home for the kids. Yes, I am an addict.

@maruse

It's clarified on the Nintendo faq. Different users on same switch = family plan. What's not clarified is if family plan means only 1 user online at a time which would totally nerf it. I guess I still have a hard time thinking Nintendo is going to let me find 7 friends and pay only $5 annually for all the benefits.

READ THIS:

I just spoke with Nintendo on the phone. I have an account with my profile and four additional profiles for my wife and my three kids on our one Switch. According to the Nintendo rep, ONLY YOUR MAIN PROFILE associated with your account will be able to use the online features under that account. I was told I have to set up entirely separate accounts for them and then add them to the family plan. Just one problem — they will not be able to share my games on the Switch! Since I only purchase games by download, if they want to have their Breath of the Wild save uploaded to the cloud, they will have to EACH OWN THEIR OWN COPY OF THE GAME or I will have to buy a physical copy of every game I already own; the save they already have on the Switch for Breath of the Wild (and many others) under my account CANNOT be backed up to the cloud.

This is an awful policy. I'm very upset about this. There is no way I am buying physical copies of games I already own (or multiple downloads of the same game) just so my wife and kids can back up their saves to the cloud. What a huge mess.

Seems like a good option. My spouse doesn't play online as much as me though.

@Anti-Matter Nintendo just DID clarify it for me. And please don't "now now" me, I'm probably twice your age.

@doctommaso That's so Nintendo that I will not say that is not true. But I cannot rely completely on the people on the phone.

@doctommaso
if that is true, this would be extremely bad. But I don't trust people working at customer service - usually they are not well informed. I am still convinced that the main account plus its profiles can use the internet for 19€. If not then Nintendo is making a huge mistake in my opinion

@doctommaso "Since I only purchase games by download" This is what makes me not believe that. ANY user of a Switch can use any game in the system, no matters who bought It or how.

@ASTURmatr Even if you sign in under different accounts? I thought digital games were locked to the accounts that purchased them, not to the hardware...

@NintendoPete Completely agreed on all accounts, I'm trying to come down off the ledge. lol