This is so true. I mean people ALREADY complain about paying the insanely cheap $20 a year for online play, cloud saves, the '99' games, and the over 100 NES/SNES games. And you can play the games online (something that is going to get very popular with the N64 games as that was always the dream with all those amazing 4 player N64 games). That's such a good deal and people complain about it. $20 a year is nothing. $1.67 a month. And the family membership makes things even crazier - three people on the family subscription and you're paying under a dollar a month!

Now, the addition of AC DLC to the new subscription is bizarre and stupid. Not everyone owns AC so they are making the thing cost more for something the majority of people can't use. Non-AC owners will be subsidizing AC owners. This only sort of makes sense if they start adding new DLC from a variety of games (so most people would get some DLC benefit eventually) in order to bring in more people to Switch Online, but I doubt that'll happen. With what is available on day 1 of expansion pass, $50 is expensive compared to the super cheap current subscription cuz you're only getting a few N64 and Genesis games and the price is going up 150%. That makes no sense. Take out the AC DLC and it'd probably be $40 which is much more reasonable.

But now you gotta think what is coming in the future. Well, we don't know, but there will obviously be more N64 and Genesis games. We already know of the next round of N64 games. Once there are like 20+ N64 games and 30+ Genesis games $50 starts seeming much more reasonable (though still the AC DLC is a sour point for anyone who doesn't have AC). Then we have to think about the possibility of GB and GBA being added. At this point $50 for the entire retro collection of Nintendo systems, plus Genesis, plus the Switch stuff you get (online play, cloud saves, the '99' games) starts seeming like an amazing deal.

Once the N64 and Genesis games library is more built out, and they add in another let's say 50+ games from GB and GBA, they could easily separate the retro game membership from the other Switch Online stuff and sell it on it's own for $50 or $60 a year and that'd be a steal.

So while I agree that based on what is available at launch, jacking up the price 150% is bad relative to the current cost, ya gotta remember more games will be added, and hopefully GB/GBA will be added to this as well without another jacking up of price. And also the current $20 price is insanely cheap for what you get. People just loooove to complain. And the subscription model is sooo much better than the old VC model of you having to buy every single game you want for $5 to $10 each!! (this is why Netflix pretty much destroyed the movie rental industry - people like subscription models better where you get everything for a low cost), I bet all the people complaining about 'not owning' the games think nothing of paying like $100/year or more a month for Netflix even though they don't own anything there either.

Nintendo is making two mistakes though. Adding the AC DLC that only benefits some people was a stupid move as it makes everyone who doesn't have AC feel like they are being charged extra to subsidize the people who do own it. And also not announcing Nintendo's plans for this service - that's a huge mistake. At least they did announce the next round of N64 games. But it would put any reasonable person at ease with regards to the $50 price is Nintendo said hey next year we are launching another 15 N64 games and 20 Genesis games, along with a few more NES and SNES games, and then in 2023 we will add a handful of more games to each system as well as add GB and GBA games. A simple public commitment like that, so that people know what we will be getting for the price, is all it would take to get rid of all reasonable objections to the new price tier.

Rant over. But yeah basically Rolstoppable is right. Mostly I think maybe this next 6 months or so people will complain about the price, but once there's a bunch more games added $50 will start seeming reasonable. There just isn't a $30 value difference between the two tiers at launch unless you play AC. Remember, since this isn't the VC anymore, Nintendo doesn't have to rebuild the library every system and you don't have to rebuy games all over again. This will (presumably) be Nintendo's permanent retro games service, it's only going to keep getting more games and systems in the future. Even if it isn't worth it to you now, it probably will be worth it in a year (so stop complaining and just wait until more games come out!), and will probably seem super cheap in 2-3 years assuming they don't make another tier to add GB and GBA. Personally I'll probably hold off until they've doubled the number of N64/Genesis launch games. Yeah we can fault Nintendo for being very slow on this whole thing and not being transparent about what is coming, but just as the $20 service is insanely cheap for what you get now, I expect the $50 service to be the same once a bunch more games are added. Think about 100+ NES/SNES games, 30+ N64 games, maybe 40+ Genesis games, 50-100 GB/GBA games, all for $4.17 a month (not to mention the non-retro games services)! When this thing is fully built out it'll be amazing for the price. Nintendo is just stupidly slow in getting everything out.

So stop complaining about the very valid criticisms you've already laid out and go ahead and shell out the money now for an overpriced service that you admit isn't it worth it for most Switch owners now, and hope that it gets as good as you say it will years from now, even though you also admit that Nintendo's messaging about future plans for the service has been and continues to be poor?

And how long do you think it will take for GB/GBC and GBA games to hit the service, given that it's taken years for N64 and Genesis to finally come, even though they were there much, much earlier for the Wii and Wii U virtual consoles? Are we supposed to shut up and pay for this service for several years while waiting for them to come and validate the price, while hoping the price doesn't hike up again?

Man, Square Enix (Marvel's Avengers), EA (Titanfall), Activision (Destiny) love people who think like this. Everything you said is no different from their "live services" and "roadmaps", followed by their promises that things will get good eventually, so keep paying for the barebones content now.

That is the best burn I've seen anyone give in ages.

I hope they get the message