Nintendo is bringing back their Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program, with a curious addition.
They made the announcement on Twitter:
We will perform another test in the #NintendoSwitchOnline: Playtest Program. From 8:00 AM PT on July 21st, Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack members can apply to participate on a first-come, first-served basis.
As explained in their about page, the requirements to participate in the Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program are mostly the same. Only two things have changed.
One, as you may have guessed, you can use a Switch 2 instead of a Switch to participate in the playtests. This will definitely be interesting, as gamers and dataminers will see if the Switch 2 gets an improved, or possibly, an identical experience on the more powerful console.
The other difference is that the number of countries and regions that can participate in the playtest have increased. As we reported, the original playtest was originally available in these countries and regions:
- US
- UK
- Japan
- France
- Germany
- Italy
- Spain
Today, all of the abovementioned countries can participate, and they have added three more:
- Canada
- Brazil
- Mexico
The playtest will be held from July 28, 2025, 6 PM PT, a Monday, to August 10, 2025, 5:59 PT, a Sunday. That will be roughly two weeks to run these playtests.
We won’t review all the shared information about the playtests already, but it’s well known that Nintendo is working on an online multiplayer experience that has been compared to Roblox, but also has a communal goal aspect.
Nintendo has so far still not allowed Roblox on their platforms, even after Microsoft and Sony have allowed them onto Xbox and PlayStation. All of this hints at Nintendo wanting to make their own Roblox-like game experience instead.
This is all interesting knowing that Minecraft has been on Nintendo since the 3DS and Wii U. But then again, while Minecraft and Roblox are definite competitors, they are somewhat differentiated as well.
These playtests are expected to culminate in releasing a game that will keep gamers who aren’t upgrading from the Switch to the Switch 2 for whatever reason to keep playing on the Switch. And subsequently, this could hypothetically continue and even increase sales of the original Switch.
So it’ll be interesting to see what this playtests will show us. I’ll go out on a limb and predict that, in fact, the playtest will be completely different the second time around. Because Nintendo is actively developing it, and they’re attempting to replicate the Early Access/beta process that Minecraft and Roblox went through before they became huge hits.
Their very guarded process, knowing that each playtest will get information leaked, seems to be focused on making a high quality product. We’re hopeful to see the final product from these playtests, but we have to wonder; how long do we have to wait before we find out what that final product is?
