Getting access to online multiplayer

You might have gotten a new console this holiday or just decided you wanted to play online
Getting access to online multiplayer

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

We sometimes publish affiliate links and these always needs to follow our editorial policy, for more information check out our affiliate link policy

You might also like

Counter-Strike 2 is out, but why is it number 2?
Video Games

Counter-Strike 2 is out, but why is it number 2?

Stop UAC password prompt when launching Genshin Impact
Video Games

Stop UAC password prompt when launching Genshin Impact

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass Wave 2: Review
Video Games

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Booster Course Pass Wave 2: Review

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — Booster Course Pass DLC won't start
Video Games

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — Booster Course Pass DLC won't start

Happy Mario day, but why is today Mario day?
Video Games

Happy Mario day, but why is today Mario day?

Back when... Universal sued Donkey Kong, but Kirby fought back
Video Games

Back when... Universal sued Donkey Kong, but Kirby fought back

Transferring save data from a broken Nintendo Switch #Teardown
Video Games

Transferring save data from a broken Nintendo Switch #Teardown

Comments

Sign up or Login to post a comment

There are no comments, be the first to comment.