The Nintendo Switch Online service is honestly a bit of a sore spot for many Switch owners. But why is that? The simple answer is that many Switch owners feel it’s unnecessary, given how it started. If you recall, the Switch came out in 2017, and when you got it, the only thing you needed to connect to the internet was a wi-fi connection, which many players happily had access to most times. Then, Nintendo revealed their service to “allow” online play and give you retro gaming titles. It was $20 at the time, and while slightly annoying, players partook.

Then, there was the announcement of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, a service that cost more, and the only benefit to it was getting access to more retro gaming titles like from the N64. Plus, certain DLC content would be instantly accessible through the expansion. This was a worthy addition to things to some, but to others, it wasn’t. Things have gotten better over time with the service, but the question remains, how many Switch owners got the service?

With the latest financial data from Nintendo, we got our answer. According to the head of Nintendo, Shuntaro Furukawa, the online service has over 36 million users. For comparison, the service had 32 million years in the same briefing last year. So that’s about a four-million-player growth when you factor in the precise numbers.

Furukawa seemed delighted by this and noted that they wanted to add more to the Switch’s online capabilities to entice more people to play it:

“By expanding the range of available play options like this, we believe we can create opportunities for users to continue playing Nintendo Switch for a long time.”

But let’s look at the actual hard numbers, shall we? The Nintendo Switch has sold over 114 million units across its three styles as of the end of September. That means a little over 1/3 of the users have Nintendo Switch Online. While that may sound impressive, it’s honestly not.

Given how many popular games have online capabilities on the Switch, that indicates that people are buying the games but are not partaking in the online services.

More people have bought Mario Kart 8 Deluxe than there are those who have bought the Switch Online service. That game is heavy on the online elements if you didn’t know.

So one can only wonder what Nintendo really feels about the “turnout” for the online service.”

Source: Nintendo