Known Nintendo insider Emily Rogers commented on the pricing announcement for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass. Which many people have dubbed the Expensive pass.
The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, which was unveilied, costs $49.99 / £35.99 per year for individuals and $79.99 / £59.99 for the family plan and includes NES, SNES, intendo 64 and SEGA Mega Drive games. Also included is the normally paid downloadable content pack for Animal Crossing: New Horizons titled Happy Home Paradise.
Licensing costs
Emily noted on Twitter that she had heard that licensing costs could be behind the higher than expected price of Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass. She had heard that SEGA had benefitted quite nicely from the deal with Nintendo and presumably other third party game developers such as Konami and Capcom.
3rd parties titles (Konami, Capcom) are also being licensed for Genesis NSO. So the licensing costs begin to add up after awhile.
And who knows what licensing agreement/arrangement Nintendo had with Rare/Microsoft…
— Emily Rogers (@EmilyRogersBlog) October 15, 2021
The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack launches on 25th /26th October and Animal Crossing: New Horizons – Happy Home Paradise launches 5th November
We stand by our initial opinion; for a Single User the price simply put is way too high when compared to a family version which is then only slightly more expensive and get’s you 8 times the entire set.