You don’t have to pay for Nintendo Switch Online to play ‘Fortnite’

Nintendo

• Nintendo’s about to launch its first ever paid online
  service, Nintendo Switch Online, for $20/year. 
• The new service is required to play various Switch
  games online, including “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” and “Splatoon
  2.”
• “Fortnite” is apparently excluded — a major exception
  to a huge shift in playing Nintendo games online.

Nintendo’s upcoming online service forces Switch owners to pay
$20/year to play games online. 

Enjoy playing “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” online for free? How about
“Splatoon 2?” Enjoy it while you can: When Nintendo Switch Online
launches on September 18, those games will no longer work online
without a paid account.

There is, however, one major exception: “Fortnite.”

That’s right — the free-to-play smash-hit “Battle Royale”
game won’t require the paid online
service on the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo announced as much
quietly,
in an FAQ that
CNET discovered on Friday — it specifically calls out
“Fortnite” as an exception to Nintendo’s new paid online service
requirement. 

No other games are included as exceptions, which leaves open some
interesting questions: For starters, what other types of games
will be able to circumvent the paid service? Nintendo isn’t
saying — we asked, but haven’t heard back as of publishing.

Huh?
Getty Images/Michael Kovac

So far, it looks like the vast majority of games with online
components will require the Nintendo Switch Online paid
service. 

As previously mentioned, Nintendo’s own “Mario Kart 8 Deluxe” and
“Splatoon 2” will both require the paid service. Additionally,
third-party games like the upcoming “Diablo 3” will apparently
require the service. “Fortnite” appears to be an exception
because you don’t have to pay to play it — it could be a tough
sell to charge Nintendo Switch owners a fee to play a
free-to-play game. Assuredly, it doesn’t hurt that “Fortnite”
continues to be the biggest game in the world right now.

The red-hot blockbuster “Fortnite” finally arrived on Nintendo’s
Switch back in June, nearly a full year after the game launched
on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. 

It was a peanut butter and chocolate-esque pairing: The
explosively popular “Fortnite” with the explosively popular
Nintendo Switch console. The game is even playable across
platforms — Switch players can join up with friends on Xbox One,
PC, Mac, and even smartphones (only the PlayStation 4 is
excluded). 

Even without paying for Nintendo Switch Online, all Switch owners
can access a handful of online services through their
consoles. You can buy digital games on Nintendo’s eShop
storefront, maintain a list of online friends, share in-game
images and video to social media, and a handful of other stuff.
Apparently we can add “play ‘Fortnite’ online” to that list as
well.