Yesterday, Nintendo of America announced on Twitter that Nintendo Switch Online would be launching today, September 18. Although they didn’t specify a time at which the new online service would launch, it has yet to go live, much to the dismay of fans who are eager to get online. So, when is the exact Nintendo Switch Online launch time today?
Nintendo Switch Online: What Time Will Nintendo Switch Online Launch?
Today, the official Nintendo of America Twitter account has posted yet another tweet, which had the following to say:
“#NintendoSwitchOnline will launch later this evening. In preparation, Nintendo Switch eShop is scheduled for maintenance starting at 5pm PT and will be unavailable for up to 3 hours. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding.”
Unfortunately, for fans in parts of the U.S. and Europe, it seems that Nintendo Switch Online is likely to launch while they’re asleep. This means that they’ll need to wait until tomorrow to play online, despite yesterday’s announcement that the service would be ready by today. It is unknown as to whether this was always planned, or if there have been issues in relation to Nintendo’s schedule. However, the apology for the inconvenience caused implies the latter.
Either way, the Nintendo eShop will be unavailable until potentially 8:00 p.m. PST. This means that it will be unavailable until 11:00 p.m. EST, and 3:00 a.m. BST. Due to the fact that players need to update their systems after the service goes live post-maintenance. and then they have to actively sign up for the service, it seems that a lot of American players will have to wait until tomorrow, September 19, to subscribe. However, the tweet does say “up to three hours,” so perhaps the maintenance will be conducted in less time.
For the first week, the new Nintendo Switch online service will be available to all Nintendo Switch players for free. After this initial free trial, players will have to purchase a subscription in order to continue playing their games online.
