Nintendo’s Boss Promises the Switch Won’t Have the NES Classic’s Supply Issues

So, Nintendo's Switch is pretty fantastic. Or, rather, it could be if it gets some killer games. But after watching the company's livestream today and playing around with the new console, we had questions. Fortunately, Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America's president and chief operating officer, was there to answer them.

Read on for our discussion about Switch's online gaming service (for which Nintendo will charge a monthly fee), why Nintendo didn't put enough NES Classic systems into the market, and what the future is for the Nintendo 3DS handheld now that Nintendo's home system is also portable.

Nintendo's online service for Switch will charge a monthly fee and one of the incentives is one free classic game "per month." Does that mean you lose access to that game after a month?

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Reggie Fils-Aime: Correct. It means that essentially you’ve got access to that game for a period of time, and then after the month there’s a new selection. You’ll have the opportunity to buy it, but [after] that month we’ve moved on to another game.

I think it would be helpful maybe to step back. Because I think it’s important there’s an understanding of the bigger vision. The bigger vision is that we are going to provide an overall online service, subscription-based, that not only will capture the multiplayer opportunity, but also the voice chat capability that we’re going to provide through a global app. We think that that’s just as important as access to Virtual Console content.

The reason for that is, it continues to reinforce our commitment to online, and do so in a way that will enable the consumer to enjoy their Nintendo Switch and to still be able to play those connected experiences—like Splatoon, like Kart, like fill in the blank—while they’re on the go. Instead of having some sort of bulky gamer headset, you’ll be able to do it right off your smartphone, put in your earbuds that you use for your standard mobile device. We think that’s a pretty sweet solution. That’s part of the overall opportunity that we see in a subscription service.

I hear from a lot of people like me who’ve spent a thousand dollars on classic games on Wii and Wii U…