Region Locking and Online Services
Here’s one of the best announcements from today’s event: the Nintendo Switch will end region locking, which means that players will be able to import their Switch games from all over the world, and play them on their console safely with no headache. This also means that players can essentially buy their consoles from any territory without the fear of not being able to play region-specific games when they bring the console home.
Nintendo also announced that the Switch will have paid online services to allow players to engage in multiplayer activities with their friends. Players will be offered a trial period with this paid service, but will have to pay a subscription fee after the trial period is over. Nintendo didn’t offer up a lot of details on this front, but mentioned that more will be coming at a later date. We did learn that subscribers will get a free NES or SNES game each month.
It’s also worth noting that the company declined to mention whether the Switch will feature a proper achievement or trophy system, and whether they’ll be implementing a proper online friends network without the need of those troublesome 3DS friend codes. Another interesting tidbit mentioned during the event was that up to eight Switch systems could be connected together for a local multiplayer gaming session.
The Switch will also allow players to take in-game screenshots and share them on their social media feeds.
