Topic: Pre-orders and timezones

Was thinking about regional eshops and timezones as I stared at my SM3DW preorder icon last night that refused to play until midnight.

I understand that the general rule is that preorders unlock at midnight in the timezone of the region where the game was purchased.

I am in the UK and my question is - if I had a second account in say Australia, and if I bought a preorder game from the Australian eshop, could I then play that game from Australian midnight (ie much earlier in the UK)?

And if so, would it only work on my Australian account and not my primary UK account, or would that not matter?

@BongoBongo When it comes to first party full retail titles that always release at midnight on launch day, yes, buying them with an Australian account would allow you to play them at midnight Australian time and it shouldn't matter which profile you use to play it I'm pretty sure.

@BenAV Woah thanks. Why did I never think of this before! Imagine playing BOTW2 the day before everyone else because you bought it from Australia! Could go one step further and get it from NZ!

Also the prices on the NZ and Australian eshop generally seem cheaper than UK as long as you can get a decent exchange rate (and as long as they would accept UK cards).

@BongoBongo Not sure if New Zealand get it earlier or whether they just get lumped in with the Australian release.

Card might be an issue as generally the eShop doesn't like cards from other regions. I can't use my Australian debit card in any other eShop so I always have to buy eShop credit online first when I'm buying from different regions.