In 2018, Nintendo Switch Online will kick off as a fully fledged paid service. All users who wish to play online will have to pay USD19.99 a year, and will also receive other benefits including access to retro games that support online multiplayer and exclusive deals.

As this is the first time Nintendo is charging for online play, an investor asked what kind of reactions Nintendo is getting and what kind of changes the company expects to see once Nintendo Switch Online fully goes live.

Here’s Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima’s response to the question:

The shift to for-pay for the Nintendo Switch Online service was originally planned to begin in the autumn of 2017, but we pushed that back into 2018. With the

paid online service starting, we are taking time to prepare services that offer our consumers greater satisfaction. We cannot announce anything specific at this time, but in essence, the shift to for-pay will allow us to provide better services to our consumers.