During a recent Nintendo Direct, Nintendo dropped a bit of a good news/bad news scenario on Nintendo Switch owners who also happen to be Assassin’s Creed fans. The good news is that the series’ newest upcoming entry, next month’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, will be coming to the Switch console. The bad news is that it will only be available as a cloud streaming game, and only in the region of Japan.
The Japan-only cloud streaming approach mirrors the way in which Capcom’s Resident Evil 7 was brought to the Switch a few months ago. Another bizarre element of the Resident Evil 7 Switch streaming version was that it couldn’t be bought outright. Instead, fans could only “rent” the game for specific time periods (six months cost about the equivalent of $20 USD), a model which most Japanese consumers and companies apparently prefer. For Odyssey, Switch owners who want to stream the game will be able to purchase a rental subscription for about $6.50 a day, though a permanent purchase option will reportedly be offered as well.
Some are speculating that releasing Switch ports of games like Resident Evil 7 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey in this manner is Nintendo’s way of testing the viability for a more large-scale streaming service that would be similar to Sony’s own PlayStation Now. At the very least, it affords Nintendo fans a way to play games they otherwise couldn’t due to the Switch’s limited performance capabilities.
The Nintendo Switch cloud streaming version of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey will launch on the same day as the standard console and PC versions, October 5. The Switch port will most likely include the recently unveiled Exploration mode feature, though there’s no word yet on if or how the Switch version will also be getting the DLC included in Odyssey’s season pass.