Nintendo may be battling declining Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions with their new music app 

While we were all waiting for news about the Nintendo Switch’s successor last week, Nintendo decided to surprise-launch Nintendo Music. The brand-new music streaming app lets you listen to a growing library of Nintendo game OSTs on mobile devices. Nintendo Music itself is free, but it requires a paid Nintendo Switch Online membership and Nintendo Account. 

As Nintendo fans have been asking for a way to legally stream their favorite Zelda and Mario tracks for a while, Nintendo Music meets a clear demand. However, for Nintendo, the new app may also be a way to encourage people to stay subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online amidst increasing cancellations. This theory was suggested by Japanese game blogger Papen.  

Papen highlights the fact that Nintendo has lost 4 million Nintendo Switch Online members in the past year. As of September 30, 2024, the number of Switch Online subscribers was 34 million, however, this total was 38 million at the same time last year (source: Nintendo). Nintendo’s financial briefing presentation for the first half of FY2025 cites “a year-over-year decrease in membership, partly due to fewer new releases in the past year focusing on online play.” 

Furthermore, 2024 was the first year Nintendo saw a decline in Switch Online subscriptions. Prior to that, the number had increased every year since the service launched in 2018, as visible in the graph below (courtesy of Papen): 

Nintendo is currently in a transition period where new developments for the Switch have slowed, but its successor has yet to be revealed. Given the circumstances, Papen speculates that Nintendo is positioning Nintendo Music as a way to “maintain a touchpoint” with customers throughout this phase, i.e. to keep people subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online through their mobile devices.