Twitch Prime has already provided subscribers an impressive assortment of rewards, including free monthly games and prizes like free Fortnite and PUBG skins. But today Twitch may have revealed its best reward yet: up to 12 months of free Nintendo Switch Online subscription. This reward is entirely free to Twitch Prime subscribers, so long as their account is active at the time of claiming.

Technically the Nintendo Switch Online subscription is split into two chunks. The first 3-month free Nintendo Switch Online subscription is available immediately to Twitch Prime subscribers. The second, 9-month subscription requires that users stay subscribed to Twitch Prime for an additional 60 days from the time of claiming the initial 3 months. This is so the full reward is only provided to dedicated Twitch Prime subscribers as opposed to those taking advantage of Amazon's free 30-day trial for Amazon Prime and Twitch Prime.

Additionally, in order to claim the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, users will have to provide their credit card information to Nintendo. Users can then immediately turn off auto-renewal, but if those that don't will be charged once their free subscription has ended.

The last caveat to claiming the Nintendo Switch Online subscription is that there are deadlines associated with when both the 3-month and 9-month subscriptions can be claimed. The 3-month subscription must be claimed by September 24, 2019, while the 9-month subscription must be claimed before January 22, 2020. It's plenty of time both for year-round and off-and-on subscribers, but it's worth being aware of.

Here's the process for how Twitch Prime subscribers can claim the free Nintendo Switch Online subscription.

Twitch Prime

The first step in claiming the Nintendo Switch Online subscription is to be subscribed to Twitch Prime. Twitch Prime is a premium service associated with either an Amazon Prime or Amazon Prime Video Membership. These can be purchased through Amazon's storefront or by clicking the "Try Prime" button on the official Nintendo reward website, which provides a free 30-day trial to new subscribers.

After purchasing an Amazon Prime subscription or starting a free trial, users can click "Sign In" on the Nintendo reward website to link their Amazon and Twitch accounts and activate their Twitch Prime membership. In addition to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription reward, Twitch Prime also provides a number of other benefits. Those include a free monthly Twitch channel subscription, free games, a unique chat badge, and exclusive emoticons.

Claim the Nintendo Online Subscription

After securing a Twitch Prime subscription, the first step in getting the Nintendo Switch Online subscription is to head to the official rewards page and click "Claim Now" to start the process. Only the first 3 months of the subscription will be available, with the additional 9 months to become available after 60 additional days subscribed to Twitch Prime.

Connect to Nintendo Switch

After clicking "Claim Now" Twitch Prime users will be required to link their Twitch and Nintendo accounts by logging in. The next step will require users input a credit card or Paypal account into their Nintendo Account. Nintendo requires payment info in order to activate a subscription, even if it's free.

After inputting credit card information into their Nintendo Account, the Twitch Prime subscriber can then redeem the 3-month subscription to Nintendo Switch Online. In order to do this, the user must already own a Nintendo Switch and have it linked to their Nintendo Account. The redemption will not work otherwise, so there's no redeeming it now in the hopes of acquiring a Nintendo Switch later.

Return 60 Days Later

In order to redeem the additional 9 months of Nintendo Switch Online subscription, Twitch Prime users will have to wait 60 days while maintaining their Twitch Prime subscriptions. These 60 days are cumulative, so it doesn't need to be 60 days in a row. So long as 60 days are accrued between when the first 3 months are claimed and January 22, 2020 then the 9-month subscription can also be claimed.

Turn Off Automatic Renewal

This isn't a required step, but it's a useful one nonetheless. After redeeming the 3-month subscription, go to the official Nintendo Account website, click "Shop Menu" from the list on the left, scroll down and select "Your Subscriptions" from the lower menu. From here, the user can click a button to turn off the automatic renewal of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription. Otherwise, after the free subscription period ends the user would be charged for an additional 3 months.

That's everything required to redeem up to 12 months of free Nintendo Switch Online subscription for users of Twitch Prime. A Nintendo Switch Online subscription allows Nintendo Switch users to play games with online multiplayer, record save files to the cloud, and play a growing library of free NES games with newly added online functionality. A 12-month subscription for Nintendo Switch Online typically costs $19.99, with 3  months costing $7.99, and so makes for another great bonus for Twitch Prime subscribers.