Getting access to online multiplayer
You might have gotten a new console this holiday or just decided you wanted to play online
All consoles today requires an paid membership to play online. These subscriptions often come with added benefits, in addition to just allowing you to play online. Unless you're playing on a computer or mobile, then no subscription is needed for most titles
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo offers two memberships Nintendo Switch Online and Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack, both memberships can be bough for one users or for a family of up to 8 people
Nintendo Switch Online
With this membership, you'll be able to play online and backup your save date to the cloud. You'll also get access to Nintendo Entertainment (NES) and Super Nintendo (SNES) titles
Membership is available for 1, 3 and 12 months
Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack
You'll get everything from Nintendo Switch Online and in addition, you'll also have access no Nintendo 64 and SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis titles
Membership is available for 12 months
Xbox One / Xbox Series X|S
Xbox have two offers to play online, Games with Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
Games with Gold
With Games with Gold, you'll be able to play online, backup your games in the cloud and you'll get some free games monthly
Membership is available for 1, 3 and 12 months
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate include Games with Gold and in addition gives you access to a was library of games to play as long as you've an active membership
With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate you get access to both PC and Xbox games
PlayStation 4 / PlayStation 5
PlayStation offer one membership to play online, PS Plus
PS Plus
With PS Plus you'll be able to play online, get free PlayStation 4 titles monthly (sometimes PlayStation 5 titles) and store discounts
Membership is available for 1, 3 and 12 months
PS Now
This is PlayStation's streaming subscription, but does not include online play
Here you'll get access to a selection of PS4, PS3 and PS2 games
Do you need a membership?
That depends on your usage. If you don't really play online, some of the additional features can still be good to have. Such as cloud backup (saved me a few times) and access to additional titles for free
In the end, it all comes down to your usage. Many of these services offer free trial or have a huge discount for the first period for new members. These offers varies by regions and time of year, so take a look in your game store to see what's being offered to you
Tags: #Nintendo #Xbox #PlayStation
