Nintendo Switch Online's Expansion Pack has not been received too fondly by players or critcs. Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America's President, has given a formal statement regarding the backlash against the Nintendo Switch Online service, and how Nintendo plans on addressing it.
Last month, Nintendo launched the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack, allowing players to enjoy a handful of classic Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis titles on top of the NES and SNES ones that were already available. There was hesitation from the public prior to its release as many wondered where Nintendo would settle price-wise for the service, and the ramifications it would have for those games ever appearing on the Nintendo eShop. Problems ensued after release, as players discovered the service's poor emulation of Nintendo 64 games, making for many unhappy fans wanting their money back. To top it off, the initial reveal trailer surpassed 100k dislikes on YouTube, a representation of fan disappointment.
In an interview with The Verge, Bowser spoke about the situation regarding the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. After discussing some Nintendo's other pressing headlines like Nintendo Switch OLED supply and the success of Metroid Dread, Bowser speaks to writer Andrew Webster about the Expansion Pack's fan backlash. Bowser states, "We’re constantly looking for ways to make our online features and those games better and continuing to add value through more services and more games as we go forward. We take the feedback very seriously, and we’re continuing to look at ways to improve the overall performance. For us, it’s about quality and great content at a great value."
Previously, Nintendo promised improvements to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack. The news came from Nintendo's financial report for the second quarter of the 2021 fiscal year, while not mentioning the sales of the Expansion Pack itself, indicates the company was aware of the problems at the time of the report's construction. Bowser's statement in this case serves mostly to reiterate that Nintendo is working to improve Nintendo Switch Online and the Expansion Pack, without providing any time tables or predictions of when it will be ready.
An important aspect Nintendo must consider is that adding more content or reducing the price of the service alone are not viable solutions for this situation. Fixing Nintendo Switch Online necessitates a plethora of tweaks and revisions from the very top at a service level, to more specifically, the coding and functionality of the service itself. More available N64 games means nothing if the emulation to play them isn't improved. Nintendo has quite a hill to climb if it is to win back over on Nintendo Switch Online and its Expansion Pack.
Source: The Verge