Buying digital games from the Nintendo store.

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gbwelly

1243 posts

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#249454 11-May-2019 16:52

I see you can buy digital versions of games for the Nintendo Switch, through their store.

Has anyone got any experience or tips on this? I see I can pay with Paypal, but there is a concerning line in there:

You'll need a Nintendo Switch, Wii U, or Nintendo 3DS family system, a Nintendo Account (registered for use in the U.S. or Canada)

It happily lets me set my location to the U.S. but I am worried I might end up buying a bunch of stuff only to lose it at some point when it decides I'm not really in the U.S.

Anyone doing this, what has your experience been like?

jamesrt

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#2235078 11-May-2019 17:33

As far as I know, the only reason it would be telling you that the Nintendo Account needs to be registered in the US or Canada is because you're on the US/Canadian store, and not the NZ one. Even if you set your location to the US, it may not let you proceed with the purchase if your credit card and/or paypal country details don't match the purchase country.

Having said that, we have a Switch, with some games purchased via the NZ store, and another game purchased (via someone who borrowed the physical device) from another country - the game works fine. Once the Switch has the game installed, I don't believe it cares about the country any more; but the Nintendo Store certainly does!

You can only purchase from the store in the country/region that matches your Nintendo Account country, and it does check that the credit-card or PayPal region are from the same region.

Isn't DRM great?

everettpsycho

615 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2235086 11-May-2019 17:54

The switch has no region locks on its titles. The eshop is ridiculous and you can change regions as much as you like and keep all the games on one account even after changing regions. The only real issue is some regions you will struggle with payment. It's gone as far as Nintendo inflating the prices in South Africa as they were cheaper and a number of switch owners were switching to buy much cheaper games.

I use a UK account on mine and I have no issues at all. I've even bought UK physical game and that works too so I don't believe the cartridges are region locked either.

One thing to be weary is the funds on your account, if you swap regions you will lose any money you have on there so it's worth paying as you go instead of loading up on credit.

gbwelly

1243 posts

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#2235090 11-May-2019 18:05

That is great news, thanks for the info. I have been spoilt by Steam, and going back to cartridges felt like going back a decade.

MurrayM

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#2235754 13-May-2019 09:09

I recently got a Switch and I too was interested in getting digital copies of games rather then cartridges.

So far I've bought a couple of digital games and the process has gone smoothly. I've stuck with the NZ store so far and have my PayPal account hooked up to it. I've only bought games when they're on special.

There's a nice service on Reddit that lets you list the games you're interested in buying and it will email you when they go on special. That's saved me some dollars.

everettpsycho

615 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2236339 13-May-2019 23:29

This site's useful for comparing of you decide to region switch. Varies region to region on each title but it can be up to $20 difference between regions.

https://eshop-prices.com/prices?currency=NZD

I believe you can use resolut cards in most shops too to pay.