You need it for one thing: playing with other people over the internet. That is the whole answer. Every game in the house runs without a membership. Four people on one sofa need no membership. A child playing alone for six hours needs no membership.
The confusion is understandable, because the other two consoles work differently and because Nintendo bundles several unrelated things into the same subscription. So here is what is behind the paywall, what is not, and whether it is worth giving as a present.
What a membership is required for
- Online play with other people. Nintendo’s own support articles for its party games say it exactly: a Nintendo Switch Online membership and a copy of the game are required on each system to play online. The same requirement is printed on the Mario Kart World page — internet, a Nintendo Switch Online membership and a Nintendo Account are required for online features.
- GameChat on a Switch 2. Nintendo’s features page lists the membership as a requirement for online features including GameChat, the chat and screen-sharing function on the new console’s C Button.
- Cloud save backups and the classic libraries. Both are part of the membership rather than the console.
What works perfectly well without one
Everything else. Single-player games. Local multiplayer — the four-player sofa kind. Downloading and buying games from the eShop. Playing a game on a plane. If the person you are buying for mostly plays alone or with the people in their own house, they do not need this and would rather have the game.
What it costs, and which tier to pick
From Nintendo’s own membership page:
- Individual — $19.99 a year. Online play, cloud saves, and the NES, Super NES and Game Boy libraries.
- Family — $34.99 a year, up to eight Nintendo Accounts. The same benefits for a whole household, and the obvious choice the moment two people play.
- Expansion Pack — $49.99 individual, $79.99 family. Adds the Nintendo 64, GameCube, Game Boy Advance and SEGA Genesis libraries, plus select DLC.
Nintendo does the family arithmetic on its own page: split eight ways, the family membership is less than $5 per person a year. One condition comes with that, from Nintendo’s support pages — the family membership covers the Nintendo Accounts in the owner’s family group, and a member who leaves that group is no longer covered.
The Expansion Pack trap worth knowing before you gift it
The Expansion Pack includes DLC that households treat as owned, and it is not. Nintendo’s own FAQ for the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass says that unless it is purchased separately, that content cannot be played after an Expansion Pack membership ends.
So a year of Expansion Pack as a gift is genuinely generous — 48 extra Mario Kart courses, four retro libraries — but it ends. If nobody renews it, things disappear, and a child is the last person to understand why. Give it knowingly, and tell the adult in the house what happens in twelve months.
The other piece of value is more quietly useful: Nintendo says Expansion Pack members get selected Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrade packs at no extra cost, which matters to a household that has just changed console.
Is it a good present?
On its own, it is a thin one — there is nothing to unwrap and it can read like paying somebody’s bill. Beside a game, it is one of the best-value gifts here.
The ideal pairing is a game whose online mode is the point: a party game, a racing game, anything a child will want to play with friends who live elsewhere. The game is the present; the membership is the part that makes the present work on the first evening rather than the first argument. Our guide to gaming subscriptions lines Nintendo’s membership up against PlayStation Plus and Xbox Game Pass if you are buying for a mixed household, and eShop cards explained covers the let-them-choose route.
Two questions that sit either side of this one. If the answer is yes and the next thing you need is the bill, how much Nintendo Switch Online costs lists all four of Nintendo’s published prices and shows why the Family tier is cheaper than two individual memberships. And if what you actually want to know is whether the console works at all in a house with no broadband, a Switch does not need wi-fi to play — with one Switch 2 packaging exception that is worth knowing before you buy a game.