I was on here back when it was the VC Archive in 2007 and among all the complaints about the speed of releases there were supporters of a subscription service. I always thought they should offer the option of buying games individually alongside the subscription but I assume revenues are better from NSO than VC. The subscription model has always found its supporters.

https://www.vg247.com/our-dreams-for-virtual-console-on-nintendo-switch

https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/03/03/the-nintendo-switchs-virtual-console-should-be-a-subscription-service/

https://thewiiu.com/topic/16460-wii-u-virtual-console-subscription-service/

https://www.nintendojo.com/features/editorials/how-nintendo-switch-can-improve-virtual-console

https://www.change.org/p/nintendo-nintendo-switch-virtual-console-subcription-service

By electrolite77

"I wish they’d make more SNES ones but the rest of their NSO controllers have been sat in stock on the UK website for months now."

for some reason the gatekeeping turns me off to the entire enterprise, much how I don't buy "limited edition" or anything from LRG. It's not strictly rational but OTOH I have so much old Nintendo gear, they are their own worst competition when it comes to getting me to buy new stuff. ✌️

By The_Nintendo_Pedant

By CaleBoi25

any documentation of people balking at virtual console and requesting "Netflix for retro games" instead?

this is not how I remember it. ✌️

By The_Nintendo_Pedant

By MyMemory

By MyMemory

Inventory management has always been their thing. There’s probably a support group for Managers of retail chains in the 80s and early 90s suffering from PTSD. I wish they’d make more SNES ones but the rest of their NSO controllers have been sat in stock on the UK website for months now.

By electrolite77

It says “ They already did that and everyone balked at the prices and wanted the netflix of retro video games instead. The audience of people who would throw even a few bucks for roms a la carte has surely only shrunk further since then.”

It wasn’t agreeing with you

By electrolite77

Not a controller, but I'll never forget the day I found sealed new copies of silhouette mirage and tail concerto for 10 dollars each at FYE circa 2004, opened them, played them, and sold them a couple years later for "profit."💀

By The_Nintendo_Pedant

this user will argue with you all day, only to twist your words, play the "victim," and then block you. (ask me how I know.)

By The_Nintendo_Pedant

Not to mention Nintendo is, by no means, a struggling or poor company. As @nib0 said, they definitely have the infrastructure to support more regions, at least when it comes to the e-Shop. Nintendo is just making a conscious decision not to do this.

By Questionable_Duck

By MyMemory

By SirLink

No one’s asking Nintendo to open a new office in every country. A simpler, customer-friendly step would be offering international shipping options from existing hubs, even if customers bear the higher shipping and customs costs. Plenty of global companies do this. For engaged fans willing to pay, it’s baffling that Nintendo doesn’t offer a direct, official option, pushing us instead toward scalpers on eBay.

The problem isn’t that Nintendo can’t customize markets. It’s that customers outside of key regions are still charged full price for NSO subscriptions while being locked out of a significant part of the subscription’s value proposition. That asymmetry is frustrating for loyal, long-time subscribers who feel they’re paying into an ecosystem but not reaping the full benefits.

As for the “journalistic integrity” claim, this was an opinion column, not an investigative deep-dive. Opinion writing is supposed to foreground personal experience, spark debate, and amplify frustrations shared by a community of players. Criticism that the article lacks a technical breakdown of trade law or logistics misses the point. There’s room for both detailed industry analysis and experiential opinion pieces on a platform like Nintendo Life.

Far from spreading misinformation, the piece explicitly acknowledges Nintendo’s progress (region-free hardware, expanding eShops) while calling out inconsistencies in how benefits are distributed. Readers are free to weigh the grievances against the business realities. If anything, criticism like this can encourage more informed conversation about what’s feasible and what isn’t, which strengthens community dialogue rather than weakening it.

By nib0

Edit:
I see Ryu got attacked for his insightful comment. Ridiculous. Don't let the trolls dissuade you in future, Ryu! As per his second comment, this article should have investigated the reasons anyway. Yes, I can read a whinge-fest anywhere by any online clown. NL should do better, and typically does!

By HalBailman

"If they made more of them and put them on the shelves, they'd stay there forever and their price would eventually plummet, as shops would want to get rid of them at the end."

ahhh, the good old days... 🥲

By The_Nintendo_Pedant

That being said I like conversations, but if assumptions and name calling (one can get one’s point across without insults of accusations) get thrown around I lose interest quickly and don’t feed it anymore. Manners cost nothing. If you have something to say, you don’t have to pound on the table.

Look I want cheap games and all the merch too, but like world peace, that is a pipe dream. So I prefer to just be realistic.

That being said having played games for 37 years of my life, regional access has come a long way. From a neutral perspective, it is mildly impressive frankly as we get games that might have skipped regions or systems the first time around. And what companies haven’t directly bridged themselves, other companies have simply with shipping and storefront access.

Side stepping video games, as my original comment addressed global business as a whole, I have a whole apartment of Sailor Moon merch that 14 year old me would have sold a kidney to even be able have access to purchase (as I was working by then). Like, yeah a lot of stuff is annoying but is not that bad.

By Ryu_Niiyama

A great write up on this.

At least VPNs or other accounts for other eshops/other services is accessible these days, compared to the past other then importing of course, and whatever limits there or emulating what you can also.

Was made clear to me with the 3DS in Taiwan I think it was, AKFamilyHome covered it and I was like yeah that makes sense how restricted or unlockable it was.

I mean China it was already clear with Switch or how prior things due to the video game console related state of things in the last, but you don't always know about other countries/markets with different consoles or what the norm is for them compared to the rest of the world with more access.

It's not always a case of oh we didn't get access to Virtual Boy or RPGs in European or whatever it was more we didn't get access to PS Premium and get Deluxe so no PS3 streaming kind of limited access to still some other things, but still enough of these other things type but on a different scale in other regions what they can offer to them rather then just 'this suits this region, this culture, etc.' and more other factors of why a product/service isn't accessible to those markets..

By SuntannedDuck2

If you’re replying to post #37 there you may want to read it again.

By electrolite77

One can always find something to complain about if they're deliberately looking.

By JaxonH