Pokemon Let’s Go Pickachu and Let’s Go Eevee were some of the biggest announcements of the past week or so and one of the questions that came out of the announcements was whether the new games would require players to subscribe to premium Nintendo Switch Online service to be able to play online. The Pokemon Company has now confirmed that players will need to be subscribed to the service to use the games’ online features.
The Pokemon Company shared a statement with GameSpot that reads:
“Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee will have online play functionality. Battling and trading with other players over the Internet or locally will be available in these games. However, the feature set will be somewhat simplified in comparison to previous games in that there is no GTS, Wonder Trade, or Battle Spot (Rating Battle, Free Battle, and Online Competition, etc.) for example. Further details will be revealed at a later date. An active membership for the Nintendo Switch Online service, which is scheduled to begin in September of this year, will be required to access these features.”
The Nintendo Switch Online service, much like PS Plus and Xbox Live Gold, will allow subscribed users to access online play for compatible games. The service will also give subscribers access to cloud saves, a Nintendo Switch Online smartphone app, special offers on games, and access to a selection of classic NES games with included added online play. A total of 20 NES games will be available when the service launches, with more titles planned.
The service is set to launch sometime in September with several pricing plans including one ($3.99), three ($7.99), and 12-month ($19.99) memberships for individual accounts as well as a 12-month family membership ($34.99) for a group of up to seven accounts.
Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee are scheduled for release on the Nintendo Switch on November 16, 2018. The game will feature integration with the Pokemon Go mobile game, which will allow players to transfer Pokemon they’ve capture via the mobile game over to their Let’s Go account.
