Nintendo Switch Online subscribers in Japan will have to pay a slightly higher fee to renew their subscriptions starting from October, as the service's standard price is due to rise.
Japanese Nintendo reports that Nintendo has been sending emails to Switch Online subscribers in Japan to notify them of the change; prices will be increasing from 1st October thanks to an increase in the country's consumption tax. At present, Japan's consumption tax stands at 8%, but this will be bumped up to 10% next month.
Thankfully, with the Switch Online service's pricing being relatively low in the first place, we doubt the change will have too much of an effect on many players. A 12-month subscription currently costs ¥2,400 (approx. £18.10) and this will rise to ¥2,448 (approx. £18.46). By our calculations, a Family subscription will therefore rise from its usual ¥4,500 price to roughly ¥4,584 (approx. £33.90 to £34.53).
Naturally, Switch Online subscribers based in any other country won't be affected and will be able to renew or pick up a new subscription at the original pricing.
Hopefully all those SNES games will be worth the extra cash!
[source japanesenintendo.com]
Comments (60)
Thought this would be a subscription increase in regards to the SNES games added. Honestly, I wouldn't be too upset with that but it doesn't seem like a giant jump. If they added some N64 games to the mix I would gladly pay an extra 5-10 bucks.
Did the cost of the subscription increase, or did the tax associated with it increase?
The good ol’ boiling frog routine...
The online subscription provides so little value for money, I'd need a really compelling reason to bother renewing
I wonder if you could add a couple years to your sub at the current price to avoid having to pay the mark up when it hits
I doubt we'll get an increase in the UK but I have several years stacked.
No offense guys but this seems like a non article. Prices going up because of taxes are not the same as an actual price increase which is what the article title implies.
Maybe just an article about how the tax increase will effect the cost of gaming as a whole in Japan would be better. Apparently Japan's last tax increase resulted in a bit of a recession. Would be interesting to get a comment from some Japanese devs who may be concerned how this may dampen sales.
@gspro15198 for $20 a year? I’d say the value is pretty damn good with SNES games added to it. Better than PS Plus for $60 a year
So the price isn't actually going up, the tax on it is (and taxes are included in list prices in Japan). Bit of a misleading headline.
Clicks are clicks, am I right?
@Yorumi
Typical misleading Nintendo life click bait title
@Yorumi It's absolutely deceptive. In fact, unless they also want to stick up a few hundred more articles - one for each and every game and accessory and how their price is going up too - it wouldn't be unfair to call it a dirty piece of clickbait that any self-respecting site ought to consider beneath itself.
That headline scared me for a second
@Shmupsnstuff
It is!
they should get jobs in the British tabloids, every year it's the hottest summer in 100 years or the coldest winter and every other day a asteroid is going to smack in too the earth! Nintendo life writers would be right at home
Fearmongering for clicks.
Typical journalism.
I was expecting this article to be something about the rumoured price increase as a result of adding SNES games becoming reality but turns out it's just tax increase.
@thesilverbrick That's what I was trying to figure out, too.
@Silly_G lol Fear-mongering? I think that's a bit of an over-exaggeration. Yet here you are, clicking away and even posting a comment. Interesting!
What's with the fearmonger clickbait headline? Nintendo isn't raising the price, which this headline implies. It's the tax that is going up.
I clicked on this based on the implication to see if other countries were going up too, but nope, it's not even Nintendo doing it. Congrats on your clicks -.-
At least it's because of the country's new tax law, not Nintendo deciding the subscription cost isn't enough to cover maintenance.
@Mr_Muscle : I have a tendency to click and comment on articles on this website, but if they fall out of line, I make no apologies for reacting accordingly.
"Japan tax makes everything cost more"
K...?
Good thing i have 3 years of Nintendo switch online stacked not worry about a price increase if it comes to the states
@Yorumi Even though the subtext, which is clearly visible before you click the headline, says "luckily, it's not too big a jump."
@Yorumi But the headline isn't misleading. They said the facts, right off the bat. Japan will face greater renewal prices. Then they say "luckily it's not too big a jump." There's literally no dishonesty, at all. I get that there is dishonesty in games journalism elsewhere, but this isn't it, lol. They even cited where they got the information at the end of the article.
Yep, it's not just this but everythng in Japan, in the eShops etc. everywhere is going up.
"Japanese (...) will face increased (...) prices"
Could've been an article mentioning the tax increase, noting that if you buy JP eShop content (or JP anything in general), it'll be more expensive next month.
When consumption tax went up from 5% to 8% a couple years back, most eShop prices changed then too.
@DockEllisD
Amazon Japan's already charging preorders at the 10% tax rate so price guarantee won't do anything, by the way. For foreign pre-orders it seems currently they're calculating 'pretax price +10% -8%' which is wrong, but I'm hoping that'll get sorted come October.
You will see the $20 is basically a BETA pricing like how PC Game Pass is only $5 now. They just not calling it a BETA.
Just Darksiders 3 for free this month made PS+ effectively the same price as Switch Online for the year.
Not even sure what they doing with the money. The iOS app not had a single update with a new feature in 2019!
I got clickbaited
@Mr_Muscle “Luckily it’s not too big of a jump” doesn’t indicate that it’s tax related, so it’s still misleading
@gspro15198 I can Understandyou if you dont play any online games that use the service... Mario Maker, Mario Kart, Splatoon, etc...
Even then, now with SNES games, I see myself paying those 20 bucks just for playing them officially...
@Yorumi Who made you click the article?
This is a terrible headline, can you include that it is due to tax somewhere in the headline or tagline so it doesn't sound like Nintendo is raising the prices? (also this wouldn't be exclusive to the online services since it is a TAX hike so its a bit of a non article anyway.)
Eh, they'd be better off maintaining the price rather then make a fuss about that extra dollar.
@Mr_Muscle Headline is absolutely misleading. Maybe not dishonest if we want to get technical. But its absolutely misleading on what it implies versus what is actually going on.
And yes, you can maybe make the argument it's not if this was a first time thing or isolated issue. But Nintendo Life has been guilty of some real clickbaity headlines as of late.
48 yen? Nintendoomed, right?
Imagined if they actually raised the price on Nintendo distributed eShop games instead, with say... 15%? Like they did in Sweden recently. Paying about $9 more for the already expensive Smash Bros. Now that's something!
@ReaperExTenebris Might want to read the article
Welp this might be something even though i don't really get it..
@thesilverbrick only taxes increased, not really Nintendo fault
(2400/108)*110= 2444.444 which is about the new price so it is only tax difference
Tax increase forces an extra 36 pence onto the renewal of Japanese Nintendo Online Service is a really naff headline lol.
@ReaperExTenebris bro, read the article
Nintendo didn’t do anything wrong
The taxes went up, not the basic price
@Yorumi Not changing the subject, just reminding you that you are participating actively in something you dislike. When I see something I don’t like, I just keep scrolling. If clicks are the problem, participating by giving something you don’t like, “a click,” is only supporting the thing you don’t like. You keep responding to me, which means you’re giving the same article that you don’t support, more clicks. Might want to rethink your position.
Idk how japan does their pricing, but if they factor in taxes with the shown price then this article is not click bait like people are claiming because the listed price will increase. Now if they don’t factor tax in with the shown price and it isn’t calculated until purchase then I can understand why people feel this article is click bait.
@UmbreonsPapa I think it’s weird that if someone thinks an article is clickbait before they click it, comments on the article just to then complain, “oh man it’s clickbait!”
@Mr_Muscle Wow, you can’t argue his point, so now you’re trying to kick him out of the article so he can’t argue you.
@PuppyToucher It’s clickbait because the header implies Nintendo is increasing the price of the subscription, when they have nothing to do with the tax increase.
@Yorumi I kinda feel bad for this user being pick on for no reason stop picking on Yorumi..
@ShinyUmbreon Do you feel an affinity with his avatar?
@Anri02 It's just i keep seeing people mean to him i just want them to stop..
it's amazing that with a few paragraphs to read people still don't read the article and write longer replies than the original post.
Netflix doesn't inform me of my monthly costs with tax as McDonalds doesn't include taxes in their prices
@Anri02 I mean the subscription price is increasing, yes it is due to taxes, but if taxes are already calculated into the listed price then that listed price is going up. Now it may not be Nintendo’s fault taxes have gone up but it would be their fault the subscription price increases because they could... you know, just eat the loss.
Again this assumes taxes are already factored into the list/shown price. If not, then I agree it’s click bait.
@PuppyToucher No the price is not increasing the tax is. It doesn't matter if they factor tax in with the subscription or not, the article header is written in a way to specifically make people think that Nintendo is increasing the price of their subscription, when the truth is nearly everything in Japan is now going to cost more because of a tax increase. They could have mentioned it was tax related in the sub-header, but instead they chose to just say it wasn't a big increase. It's clickbait no matter how you look at it, and Nintendolife needs to be called out on practices like this.
Well, this wouldn't surprise me in the US what with Tronald Dump hitting those countries with those extra fees and the recent law changes in the taxes between states with internet purchases.
However this has often been N's routine, start charging slight increases (until the public swallows it comfortably) then raise it again, ... ad nauseum. They've been doing it with games for years now. They know business wise-the public will accept absolutely anything, in small doses, they would never accept all at once. Human Nature 101. This is why Our Amendments are so carefully protected. (in theory)
@SyFyTy Um, the price increase is due to a tax increase in Japan. Nintendo has absolutely nothing to do with it.
@Indielink Consumption taxes in general always discourage sales on consumer items. But Japan, much like America, is a nation ruled by wealthy elite. A 2% consumption tax increase is almost nothing to the super wealthy who rule nations.
FORTY EIGHT EXTRA YEN?
That's like, half a can of lukewarm BOSS coffee from a vending machine!!
NINTENDOOOO~~
This was a tax increase, not a price increase.
Not just this, but EVERYTHING (well, a lot of things) in this country will be more expensive starting next month. Because the last time they increased the sales tax (which was like a year ago) it didn't help the economy at all... but this time it totally will, right??? Barf.
@thesilverbrick sounds like the tax is what increased
oh.. oki.. I guess.
It's a piece of sad news for me. I read the review of nintedo from gamivo.com and start playing it. But now I think I should disconnect it.
Tap here to load 60 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...