Nintendo’s online network is and always has been free, but as Guns ‘n’ Roses once warned us, nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain. Or free online services, for that matter.
Speaking at an investors’ meeting yesterday, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata suggested that the company may decide to introduce a paid subscription model for the Nintendo Network at some point, although it would be aimed at only the more hardcore market.
“We have a wide variety of consumers, from the ones who enthusiastically play video games to those playing more casually, who are not always interested in them but try to play a game only when it has become a public topic or play it just during certain periods, like a year-end season and summer vacation. We therefore believe that services which ask our consumers to obtain paid memberships are not always the best,” he said.
“We cannot promise here that Nintendo will always provide you with online services free of charge no matter how deep the experiences are that it may provide, but at least we are not thinking of asking our consumers to pay money to just casually get access to our ordinary online services.”
A week ago, Iwata said that online services for the Wii U would be free, so that’s presumably still holding.
Source: Nintendo
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